BIOGRAPHY
British photographer Paul Hart has photographed the natural world for over thirty five years. He is interested in our relationship with the landscape from both a cultural and an environmental perspective and is recognised for his long-term landscape projects. He works primarily with the black and white analogue process, using large and medium format film cameras, and his practice involves all aspects of the photographic process from the negative through to the gelatin silver print. His series usually concentrate on one specific geographical region where he photographs intensively over a number of years.
Hart studied at the London College of Printing (UK) and Nottingham Trent University (UK) graduating in 1988 with a BA (Hons) in Photography. His work is internationally exhibited - recent solo shows include ; THE FENS (Etherton Gallery, Tucson, USA), EDGELANDS (Fen Ditton Gallery, Cambridge, UK) and POETRY OF PLACE (The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK) and major group shows ; LANDSCAPE TRAUMA (Centre for British Photography, London, UK), HUMAN NATURE (The Hyman Collection, London, UK) and the SUMMER EXHIBITION (The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK). His photographs reside in important collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, The MoMA Library Collection, the Martin Parr Foundation and the Hyman Collection.
Hart is recipient of a number of international awards and nominations; in 2023 he was nominated for the Foundation Louis Roederer Photography Prize for Sustainability (France) and in 2019 was awarded the inaugural Wolf Suschitzky Prize (UK/Austria). He has been shortlisted for both the HARIBAN Award (Japan) and the Mark Rothko Memorial Trust Award (Latvia). His work has featured in numerous publications including The Telegraph, National Geographic, Aesthetica, LensCulture and BBC News. He supports a number of environmental charities and regularly collaborates with the environmental non-profit organisation VITAL IMPACTS.
Hart is author of five monographs. His first book TRUNCATED (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2009) is long out of print. In 2020 he concluded the Fenland Trilogy published as stand-alone monographs : FARMED, DRAINED and RECLAIMED (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2016-20) with contributions by Steven Collier Brown (USA), Francis Hodgson (UK) and Isabelle Bonnet (France). The trilogy received international critical acclaim and the first two books have been reprinted.
His most recent series FRAGILE (2020-24) is published by Dewi Lewis and will be released at Photo London (Somerset House) May 2024.
“Paul Hart is a photographer interested in the slow harvesting of hidden truth from the ordinary places that most of us pass by. He works in an unfashionable idiom with slow cumbrous equipment (not just old-fashioned analogue photography, but medium format analogue photography, slower still) in an unfashionable place. He seeks to find the bits of the land that speak their stories, and to transmit their importance in views in which, typically, the absolute lack of melodrama demands slow looking and brings slow revelation. Hart’s placid, formally peaceful landscape is pregnant with stories that lurk in the mud or the mist. His magic lies in soliciting from his viewers the same half-historical, half-romantic reaction to ploughed fields and straight drainage ditches as he has to them himself.”
“Among many other resonant lines in Walden, Thoreau wrote, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” These words find fulfilment in the dedicated, delicate vision of Paul Hart. While other photographers dash to the corners of the earth to “discover” something new, Hart has realised that the challenge of seeing is great enough on its own and can be realised by simply opening your door and taking a fresh look at the world which is waiting, right in front of you.”
Paul Hart | CV
1961 | Born : Deal (UK)
EDUCATION
BA (Hons) Photography : Nottingham Trent University (UK) 1985 - 1988
BA (Hons) Photography : London College of Printing (UK) 1985
Art & Design Foundation Diploma : Lincoln College of Art (Lincoln, UK) 1983 - 1984
MONOGRAPHS
Fragile : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport, UK) first edition - upcoming April 2024
Reclaimed : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport, UK) first edition 2020
Drained : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport, UK) - first edition 2018, reprinted 2019
Farmed : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport, UK) - first edition 2016, reprinted 2019 - out of print
Truncated : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport UK) - first edition 2009 - out of print
PUBLICATIONS / ESSAYS
Among The Trees : Sophie Howarth - Hoxton Mini Press (London, UK) October 2023
This Pleasant Land : Rosalind Jana - Hoxton Mini Press (London, UK) October 2022
Another Country : Gerry Badger - Thames & Hudson (London, UK) May 2022
Denatured Landscape : Isabelle Bonnet - Reclaimed : Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) 2020
Into the Woods : Martin Barnes : V&A/Thames & Hudson (London, UK) Sept 2019
Picturing the Polder : Francis Hodgson - Drained : Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) 2018
Looking at Images : Brooks Jensen : LensWork Publishing (Anacortes, USA) Oct 2014
Constructing Fate : Collier Brown - Farmed : Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) 2016
Meetings with Unremarkable Trees : Gerry Badger - Truncated : Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) 2009
COLLECTIONS
The Hyman Collection (London, UK)
Martin Parr Foundation (Bristol, UK)
V&A Museum (London, UK)
Ivor Braka Collection (Norfolk, UK)
Austrian Cultural Forum (London, UK)
INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARY COLLECTIONS
MoMA Art Library (New York, USA)
TATE Library (London, UK)
Rencontres d’Arles Library (Arles, France)
V&A Museum National Art Library (London, UK)
Martin Parr Foundation Library (Bristol, UK)
Wilson Centre for Photography (London, UK)
Oakland Museum of California (Oakland, USA)
AWARDS
2023 Foundation Louis Roederer Photography Prize for Sustainability (France/UK) / Nomination
2019 Hariban Award (Kyoto, Japan) / Shortlist
2018/19 Wolf Suschitzky Photography Prize (London/Vienna) / Winner
2018 Mark Rothko Memorial Trust Award (Daugavpils, Latvia) / Shortlist
2016 Prix de la Photographie (Paris, France) / 1st Prize & People’s Choice Award
2016 Tokyo International Foto Awards (Japan) / Third Prize
2016 Moscow Foto Awards (Russia) / Third Prize
2009 Prix de la Photographie (Paris, France) / Second Prize
2008 Prix de la Photographie (Paris, France) / Second Prize
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Tree Art Gallery at the The Harley Foundation - Truncated (Welbeck Estate, Notts, UK) April 19 - July 14
2022 Etherton Gallery - Paul Hart : The Fens (Tucson, USA) April - July
2020 Fen Ditton Gallery - Edgelands (Cambridge, UK) Sept - Oct
2019 Fen Ditton Gallery - Land Lines (Cambridge, UK) Oct (invited artists Fay Godwin / Mark Steinmetz)
2019 The Photographers’ Gallery Print Room - Drained (London, UK) July
2018 The Photographers’ Gallery Print Room - Poetry of Place (London, UK) Jan - Feb
2013 Atlas Gallery - Truncated (London, UK) Jan - March (on-line)
2012 Jaggedart - The Naked Land (London, UK) - Feb - March
2006 Jaggedart - Nature’s Solace (London, UK) - Nov - Dec
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS / ART FAIRS
2023
PARIS PHOTO : Grand Palais Éphémère - Dewi Lewis Publishing (France) Upcoming Nov
Centre for British Photography - Landscape Trauma (London, UK) June
PHOTO FORWARD : Bergamot Station Arts Centre - Etherton Gallery (Santa Monica, USA )
2022
PARIS PHOTO : Grand Palais Éphémère - Dewi Lewis Publishing (France) Nov
Festival della Fotografia Etica : Our Interconnected World : VITAL IMPACTS (Italy) Nov
Auckland Photography Festival : VITAL IMPACTS (NZ) upcoming June
Photo London : Somerset House - Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) May
FOTO WIEN - Rethinking Nature : Festival Centre (Vienna, Austria) March
Hastings Contemporary - A Generous Space : ASP Shows (UK) until April
2021
PARIS PHOTO : Grand Palais Éphémère - Dewi Lewis Publishing (France) Nov
Carpintaria de São Lázaro - Rethinking Nature : Imago Lisboa (Portugal) Oct
Fen Ditton Gallery - WATER / LAND (Cambridge, UK) Oct
Casino Luxembourg - Rethinking Nature : European Month of Photography (Luxembourg) May
2020
Fen Ditton Gallery - Plant Life (Cambridge, UK) Oct
Photo London Digital - Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) Oct
2019
Hull International Photography Festival - RPS International Print Exhibition 161 (UK) Oct
Photo London : Somerset House - Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) May
Royal Academy of Arts - Summer Exhibition (London, UK) June
Municipal Gallery - RPS International Print Exhibition 161 (Dublin, Eire) July
The Photographers’ Gallery Print Room - Spring Salon Show (London, UK) May
Midland Arts Centre - RPS International Print Exhibition 161 (Birmingham, UK) March
Austrian Cultural Forum - Wolf Suschitzky Photography Prize (London, UK) Feb
Royal Photographic Society RPS International Print Exhibition 161 (Bristol, UK) Feb
2018
Fen Ditton Gallery - Trees Observed (Cambridge, UK) Sept
Royal Academy of Arts - Summer Exhibition (London, UK) June
Photo London : Somerset House - The Photographers’ Gallery (UK) May
Centre Culturel ARCADE - La Campagne (Sainte-Colombe, France) May
The Photographers’ Gallery Print Room - Spring Salon Show (London, UK) April
2017
University of Cambridge - Artificial Things : ART at the ARB (UK) - Jan
The Photographers’ Gallery Printroom : Summer Salon Show (London, UK) -Aug
2016
The Photographers’ Gallery Print Room - When Frost was Spectre-grey (London, UK) Dec
PARIS PHOTO : Grand Palais - Eric Franck / Augusta Edwards Fine Art (France) Nov
Na Kashirke Gallery - Moscow International Foto Awards (Russia) Aug
Espace Beaurepaire - Prix de la Photographie Awards (Paris, France) July
Photo London : Somerset House - Eric Franck Fine Art (UK) May
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - International Garden Photographer Awards (London, UK) Jan
2015 - 2009
The Photographers’ Gallery Print Room - Winter Salon Show (London, UK) Sept 2015
The Photography Show by AIPAD : Eric Franck Fine Art (NYC) April 2015
Atlas Gallery - Collected Works (London, UK) March 2014
Royal Academy of Arts - Summer Exhibition (London, UK) June 2013
London Art Fair : Business Design Centre (London, UK) Jaggedart | Jan 2012
Paris Photo : Grand Palais : Eric Franck Fine Art (France) Nov 2011
London Art Fair : Business Design Centre : Jaggedart (UK) Jan 2011
London Art Fair : Business Design Centre : Jaggedart (UK) Jan 2010
Paris Photo : Carrousel du Louvre : Eric Franck Fine Art (France) Nov 2009
The Photography Show by AIPAD : Eric Franck Fine Art (NYC) April 2009
Acte 2 Galerie : Prix de la Photographie Awards Exhibition (Paris, France) July 2009
RESIDENCIES & COLLABORATIONS
VITAL IMPACTS : 2022 - present
Wolf Suschitzky Photography Prize Residency : Vienna (Austria) : 2021
Ilford Photo International marketing campaign images : 2011 - present
Getty Images represent Hart’s early horticultural photography : 1995 - present
SELECTED PRESS
2022
Black + White Photography #271 : Front Cover (UK) November (print)
PARIS PHOTO : Grand Palais Éphémère - Dewi Lewis Publishing (France) Nov
L’Oeil de la Photographie - The Fens exhibition feature : Jean Jacques Naudet (France) April (on-line)
Kwerfeldein - The Fenland Trilogy : Aileen Wessely (Germany) 28 March (on-line)
Amateur Photographer Magazine : An Absolute Lack of Melodrama : Damien Demolder (UK) Jan (print)
2021
ARTDOC Photography Magazine : RECLAIMED Documentary Stories : Sept (on-line)
2020
Blind Magazine - Denatured Landscape : Isabelle Bonnet / Jonas Cuénin (France) Dec (on-line)
BBC News - The Beauty of the Fens : Phil Coombes (UK) Sept (on-line)
PhotoBook Journal - Reclaimed : Douglas Stockdale (USA) Sept (on-line)
All About Photo - Edgelands : Sandrine Hermand-Grisel (USA) Sept (on-line)
Black + White Photography #241 : The Trilogy : Francis Hosgson (UK) May (print)
L’Oeil de la Photographie - Reclaimed : Gillies Decamps (USA) April (on-line)
2019
L’Oeil de la Photographie - Land Lines : Jean Jacques Naudet (France) Oct (on-line)
Aesthetica Magazine - Landscape Histories : Eleanor Sutherland (UK) Sept (on-line)
Black + White Photography #233 - On Show/Land Lines : Tracy Calder (UK) Aug (print)
B&W Minimalism Magazine #16 - Drained (USA) April (print)
fLIP Magazine #42 - Drained : Tim Butcher (UK) April (print)
Photobook Journal - Drained : Douglas Stockdale (USA) March (on-line)
L’Oeil de la Photographie - Drained : Jean Jacques Naudet (France) Feb (on-line)
2018
Black + White Photography #222 -The Flat Country : Francis Hodgson (UK) Nov (print)
RPS Journal vol 158 - My Place : Rachel Segal-Hamilton (UK) Oct (print)
On Landscape 167 - Featured Photographer (UK) Sept (on-line)
Daily Telegraph Saturday Review - Viewfinder : Iona MacLaren (UK) 03/02/18 (print)
LensCulture - Rooted in the English Landscape : Alex Streckker (France) Jan (on-line)
Aesthetica Magazine (UK) Poetry of Place : Eleanor Sutherland (UK) Jan (on-line)
L’Oeil de la Photographie - Paul Hart’s Poetic Landscapes :Jonas Cuénin (France) Jan (on-line)
2017
Papier Magazine 21 - Apprenez à parler aux arbres : Aurélie Luneau (France) - (print)
LensCulture - Farmed : Alexander Streckker (France) Feb (on-line)
LensWork # 128 - Farmed : Brooks Jensen (USA) Feb (print)
Adore Noir Magazine 36 - Farmed : Chris Kovacs (Canada) Feb (print)
2016
Photomonitor - Farmed : Christiane Monarchi (UK) Nov (on-line)
L’Oeil de la Photographie - Farmed : Jean Jacques Naudet (France) Oct (on-line)
OD Review v1.7 - Paul Hart’s Second Nature : Collier Brown (USA) July (on-line)
Black + White Photography #191 - How The Land Lies : Elizabeth Roberts (UK) June (print)
Photomonitor - Photo London Highlights : Simon Bowcock (UK) May (on-line)
Daily Telegraph - Bleak Beauty of The Fens : Anna Pavord (UK) 14/05/16 (print)
i-newspaper - Farmed : Sophie Batterbury (UK) 13/05/16 (print)