BIO

John Harrison has been making photographs for over thirty years. His photography practice is balanced between a documentary and a participatory approach, attempting to reflect contemporary issues through photography, whilst involving people in the direction of the photographic practice. Whilst much of John’s early photography was centred on the town of Blackburn, Lancashire, UK – the town he grew up in over 40 years ago – his recent work is situated more broadly in North West England (see examples on the Archive page).

John’s photography has been exhibited at several UK and international venues, including; Chapel Gallery (Lancashire); Clitheroe Castle Gallery (Lancashire); Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery (Lancashire); Dalby Forest (North York Moors); Kunstammlung-Neubrandenburg (Mecklenburg); PRISM Contemporary (Lancashire); St Ethleburga’s (London); Millepiani Gallery (Rome). Photography from recent projects have been exhibited at The National Festival of Making (Blackburn. 2024), Open Eye Gallery (Liverpoool, 2024), and OXO Tower Gallery (London, 2024), as well and in various physical and online exhibitions: PROGRESS: Contemporary and Future Societies (Rome. 2023), Docu-Magazine’s Best of Documentary and Street Photography (Online. Volume 9), and LenCulture’s Editor’s Pick (Portrait Awards. 2023).

John has presented his photography and research at several UK conferences including; Centre for Doctoral Research Annual Conference (2017); Cultural Difference and Social Solidarity Network (2018); National Festival of Making (2018); The Talbot Collection Conference (2018); British Textiles Biennial (2019). John studied at the Newport School of Documentary Photography (University of South Wales) and completed a practice-based PhD programme at the Northern Centre of Photography, University of Sunderland: Delineating Slowly: Developing a Socially Engaged Photography Practice to Respond to Visual Representations of Blackburn (Lancashire, UK)

TALKS

Photography: Place, Memory and the Indexical. Cultural Difference and Social Solidarity Conference, May 2018.

A Visual Wiki: Blackburn’s Places of Significance. The Talbot Photography Collection Conference, February 2018.

Bellwether Portfolio Review. The Crit House. Hosted by Jeff Larason, with Photojournalist Ed Kashi, Glenn Ruga (Social Documentary Network) and Dr John Harrison. September 2022.