Twelve photographers
CHRIS STEELE-PERKINS
Born 1947, Rangoon, Burma. Lives and works in London.
Son of an English military officer and of a Burmese mother, Chris Steele-Perkins moved from Rangoon to London in 1949. He graduated with a major in psychology from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he studied between 1967 and 1970.
In 1971 he moved back to London and started working as a freelance photographer, specializing in theatre. He started his first project abroad in 1973 when he was commissioned by several relief agencies to cover the situation in Bangladesh. In 1975 he started working with EXIT, a documentary group dedicated to the study of social problems in British inner cities. Part of his work with EXIT would be published seven years later under the title Survival Programmes.
Chris Steele-Perkins joined the Paris-based Viva agency in 1976. For a brief period, he experimented with conceptual photography, collaborating with photographer Mark Edwards. In the piece Film Ends, the two artists show how photographers make use of the final frames of their film, which are often exposed randomly in order to finish the roll and process it as soon as possible.
Chris Steele-Perkins published his first book in 1979: The Teds examined the last generation of Teddy boys, the flashily dressed and sometimes violent youth, whose style emerged in the 1950s. He joined Magnum Photos during the same year and would become a full member in 1982. Chris Steele-Perkins soon began working extensively in developing countries, documenting areas of conflict in the Middle-East, Africa, and Central America, among other places. His reportages received public acclaim and won several awards, including the prestigious Oskar Barnack Prize in 1988 and the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1989.
Chris Steele-Perkins also released his first book of color photographs in 1989, The Pleasure Principle. In this, book, the photographer highlights the present hedonistic and idealistic tendencies at work in British society, thus attempting to express his own particular relationship with his England. He then completed a large-scale project on Afghanistan, which was published in the year 2000. The photographer also spent considerable time in Japan, during which he portrayed diverse aspects of the country, ranging from everyday scenes of urban life to awe-inspiring landscapes. In 2001 he published Mount Fuji, an exploration of the country’s most famous natural icon.
Released in 2004, his latest book, Echoes, marks a distinct shift from his past approach. Compiling pictures taken with his family during the year 2001, Echoes is an intensely personal and sentimental body of work.
© Chris Steele-Perkins / Magnum Photos
Exhibitions (selection):
1999 Robert Capa Gold Medal Winners Exhibition (group show), traveled in Japan.
1999 Nomansland, Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan.
1999–2000 Afghanistan, Side Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; Ffotogallery, Cardiff, UK; Visa pour l’Image, Perpignan, France.
2002–2003 Mount Fuji, Grandship, Shizuoka, Japan; Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, UK; Impressions Gallery, York, UK; Darlington Arts Centre, UK; Pierce Hall Art Gallery, Halifax, UK; National Theatre, London, UK.
2003–2004 The Teds, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, USA; Noorderlicht Festival, Groningen, The Netherlands; 292 Gallery, New York, USA.
Publications (selection):
The Teds. Travelling Light, London, 1979;
Dewi Lewis, Stockport, 2003.
Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities. Open University Press, Maidenhead, 1982.
The Pleasure Principle. Cornerhouse, Manchester, 1989.
Afghanistan. Marvel, New York, 2000; Westzone, London, 2001; Shobunsha, Tokyo 2001.
Fuji. Umbrage, New York, 2002.
Echoes. Trolley, London, 2004.
Son of an English military officer and of a Burmese mother, Chris Steele-Perkins moved from Rangoon to London in 1949. He graduated with a major in psychology from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he studied between 1967 and 1970.
In 1971 he moved back to London and started working as a freelance photographer, specializing in theatre. He started his first project abroad in 1973 when he was commissioned by several relief agencies to cover the situation in Bangladesh. In 1975 he started working with EXIT, a documentary group dedicated to the study of social problems in British inner cities. Part of his work with EXIT would be published seven years later under the title Survival Programmes.
Chris Steele-Perkins joined the Paris-based Viva agency in 1976. For a brief period, he experimented with conceptual photography, collaborating with photographer Mark Edwards. In the piece Film Ends, the two artists show how photographers make use of the final frames of their film, which are often exposed randomly in order to finish the roll and process it as soon as possible.
Chris Steele-Perkins published his first book in 1979: The Teds examined the last generation of Teddy boys, the flashily dressed and sometimes violent youth, whose style emerged in the 1950s. He joined Magnum Photos during the same year and would become a full member in 1982. Chris Steele-Perkins soon began working extensively in developing countries, documenting areas of conflict in the Middle-East, Africa, and Central America, among other places. His reportages received public acclaim and won several awards, including the prestigious Oskar Barnack Prize in 1988 and the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1989.
Chris Steele-Perkins also released his first book of color photographs in 1989, The Pleasure Principle. In this, book, the photographer highlights the present hedonistic and idealistic tendencies at work in British society, thus attempting to express his own particular relationship with his England. He then completed a large-scale project on Afghanistan, which was published in the year 2000. The photographer also spent considerable time in Japan, during which he portrayed diverse aspects of the country, ranging from everyday scenes of urban life to awe-inspiring landscapes. In 2001 he published Mount Fuji, an exploration of the country’s most famous natural icon.
Released in 2004, his latest book, Echoes, marks a distinct shift from his past approach. Compiling pictures taken with his family during the year 2001, Echoes is an intensely personal and sentimental body of work.
© Chris Steele-Perkins / Magnum Photos
Exhibitions (selection):
1999 Robert Capa Gold Medal Winners Exhibition (group show), traveled in Japan.
1999 Nomansland, Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan.
1999–2000 Afghanistan, Side Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; Ffotogallery, Cardiff, UK; Visa pour l’Image, Perpignan, France.
2002–2003 Mount Fuji, Grandship, Shizuoka, Japan; Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, UK; Impressions Gallery, York, UK; Darlington Arts Centre, UK; Pierce Hall Art Gallery, Halifax, UK; National Theatre, London, UK.
2003–2004 The Teds, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, USA; Noorderlicht Festival, Groningen, The Netherlands; 292 Gallery, New York, USA.
Publications (selection):
The Teds. Travelling Light, London, 1979;
Dewi Lewis, Stockport, 2003.
Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities. Open University Press, Maidenhead, 1982.
The Pleasure Principle. Cornerhouse, Manchester, 1989.
Afghanistan. Marvel, New York, 2000; Westzone, London, 2001; Shobunsha, Tokyo 2001.
Fuji. Umbrage, New York, 2002.
Echoes. Trolley, London, 2004.