Céline lived in Salt Lake City until she was 11, when her family moved to Evanston, Illinois. She returned to Utah for her freshman year of college, where she neglected her studies in favor of photographing for the Daily Utah Chronicle. After a year, she returned to Chicago to attend Columbia College. There she earned a BA in photography in 1996.

Work in event marketing took Céline all over the country, and she has lived in Portland, Oregon, St. Louis, Missouri, and Bozeman, Montana. But she’s always considered Utah her home.

Céline has also worked for many years with the Sundance Film Festival, beginning as a volunteer driver in 2000. Since 2007 she has been the Festival’s juror coordinator.

Céline moved back to Salt Lake City in 2006 with her husband and now divides her time between taking care of their 2 sons and her art. She never leaves home without her Holga. 

http://celinedownen.smugmug.com/

Through photography, Celine Downen documents the cultural landscape that once was. After noticing that the places she loved were changing and disappearing, she took it upon herself to preserve these locations through her lens. Each picture highlights an earlier age that brings the nostalgia of a once lively and thriving location. Using images of vintage motel signs, old drive-in movie theatres, and other commercial and cultural artifacts, Downen creates captivating mini Holga Giclee prints mounted on solid bamboo. The resulting artifacts, as Downen calls them, are important to preserve so they can be enjoyed in our lives forever.