Christopher Williams

In the 1970s Christopher Williams studied under pioneers of American conceptual art like John Baldessari, Michael Asher and Douglas Huebler. This background in American conceptual art is a central context for the reading of his photographs. In contrast to the text-based conceptualism of the 1970s, Williams has worked with images, and photography has been at the core of his whole oeuvre. His work also differs from conceptual art in its highly aestheticized approach to photography and its seductive, almost over-produced aesthetic.

John Stezaker

John Stezaker’s work re-examines the various relationships to the photographic image: as documentation of truth, purveyor of memory, and symbol of modern culture. In his collages, Stezaker appropriates images found in books, magazines, and postcards and uses them as ‘readymades’. Through his elegant juxtapositions, Stezaker adopts the content and contexts of the original images to convey his own witty and poignant meanings.

Fazal Sheikh

For Fazal Sheikh, portrait photography has become a tool for human rights activism. Through the slow and deliberate process of his large-format work, Sheikh creates compelling images of individually named refugees, at times allowing the images to speak for themselves, at times providing unfiltered testimonials from his subjects. Sheikh aims to raise public awareness of the less publicized stories of inequities, infractions, and consequences of persecution.

Tod Papageorge

Tod Papageorge (b. 1940 in the US) was nominated [for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize] for his 2008 exhibition “Passing Through Eden: Photographs of Central Park” in the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London. He lived in New York City for more than 25 years. “Passing Through Eden” is a body of photographs produced between 1966-1992.

John Davies

Narrative landscape photographer, John Davies, captures the British landscape in a permanent state of flux. His black and white photographs, taken between 1979 and 2005 show the vast, complex and majestic scenery of industrial and post industrial Britain. He establishes centred and classical geometries within his unique vision that take on an almost magical and mystical appeal. His works are coolly detached and highly seductive in their display of rare moments of calm and quiet amidst the inevitable change of these modern landscapes.