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 which usually culminate in the publication of a monograph. His work examines human-altered topography and our occupation and stewardship of the land, often concentrating on one specific geographical region where he photographs intensively over a number of years.
Hart works solely with the black and white analogue process, using medium format film cameras, and his practice involves all aspects of the photographic process. He is known as a leading printmaker and his work resides in major public and private collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the MoMA Library, the Hyman Collection and the Martin Parr Foundation.
Hart studied at the London College of Printing (UK) and Nottingham Trent University (UK) graduating in 1988 with a BA (Hons) in Photography. Recent solo exhibitions include ; Truncated (Harley Foundation Museum, UK), Paul Hart : The Fens (Etherton Gallery, USA) and notable group exhibitions ; the 2024 Summer Exhibition (Royal Academy of Art, UK) and Landscape Trauma (Centre for British Photography, UK).
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 Daily Telegraph, National Geographic, Aesthetica and BBC News. He supports a number of environmental charities and regularly collaborates with the environmental non-profit organisation VITAL IMPACTS.
Hart has authored and designed 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) was published in May 2024 by Dewi Lewis and the publication was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2025.
“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
2024 / FRAGILE : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport, UK) first edition
2020 / RECLAIMED : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport, UK) first edition
2018 / DRAINED : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport, UK) - reprinted 2019
2016 / FARMED : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport, UK) - reprinted 2019 - out of print
2009 / TRUNCATED : Dewi Lewis Publishing (Stockport UK) - out of print
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2023 / Among The Trees : Sophie Howarth - Hoxton Mini Press (London, UK) October
2022/ This Pleasant Land : Rosalind Jana - Hoxton Mini Press (London, UK) October 2022
2022 / Another Country : Gerry Badger - Thames & Hudson (London, UK) May 2022
2019 / Into the Woods : Martin Barnes : V&A/Thames & Hudson (London, UK) Sept 2019
2014 / Looking at Images : Brooks Jensen : LensWork Publishing (Anacortes, USA) Oct 2014
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)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
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
INSTITUTIONAL EXHIBITIONS
2024 SOLO / The Harley Foundation - Truncated (Welbeck Estate, UK) April 20 - July 14
2023 GROUP / Centre for British Photography - Landscape Trauma (London, UK) June
2022 GROUP / Hastings Contemporary - A Generous Space (Hastings UK) April - May
2019 SOLO / Austrian Cultural Forum - Wolf Suschitzky Photography Prize (London, UK) Feb- April
2019 GROUP / Royal Photographic Society IPE 161 / Municipal Gallery DLR Lexlcon (Ireland) & Midland Arts Centre (Birmingham)
AWARDS
2024 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2025 (UK) / Nomination
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
MAJOR GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 A Conversation with Trees / Fen Ditton Gallery / Sept (Cambridge, UK)
Royal Academy of Arts - Summer Exhibition (London, UK) June - Aug
2023 Twenty First Anniversary Show / Jaggedart / April - June (London)
2022 Water Land / Fen Ditton Gallery / Oct (Cambridge, UK)
2020 Plant Life / Fen Ditton Gallery / Oct (Cambridge, UK)
2019 Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition / June - Aug (London)
Spring Salon Show / The Photographers’ Gallery Print Room / April (London)
2018 Trees Observed / Fen Ditton Gallery / Sept (Cambridge, UK)
Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition / June (London)
La Campagne / Centre Culturel ARCADE / April (Sainte-Colombe, France)
2017 Artificial Things / ART at the ARB University of Cambridge / Dec (UK)
Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition / June (London)
2016 When Frost was Spectre-grey / The Photographers’ Gallery Print Room / Dec (London)
2014 Collected Works / Atlas Gallery / March (London)
2013 Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition / June - Aug (London)
2010 Winter Show / Jaggedart / Dec (London)
2009 Life in the City / Will’s Art Warehouse / Sept - Oct (London)
2004 Summer Photography / The Photographers’ Gallery Print Room / Aug (London)
2003 Size Matters / Stephen Lacey Gallery / Nov - Dec (London)
ART FAIRS / FESTIVALS
2024 British Art Fair / Saatchi Gallery / The Tree Art Gallery / Sept (UK)
Photo London / Somerset House / Dewi Lewis Publishing / May (UK)
2023 Paris Photo / Grand Palais Éphémère / Dewi Lewis Publishing / Nov (Paris)
Photo London / Somerset House / Dewi Lewis Publishing / May (UK)
Photo Forward / Etherton Gallery / Bergamot Station / Feb (Santa Monica, USA)
2022 Paris Photo / Grand Palais Éphémère / Dewi Lewis Publishing / Nov (Paris)
Our Interconnected World / Festival della Fotografica Etica / Nov (Italy)
Vital Impacts / Auckland Photography Festival / June (NZ)
Photo London / Somerset House / Dewi Lewis Publishing / May (UK)
Rethinking Nature / FOTO WIEN Festival Centre / March (Vienna, Austria)
2021 Paris Photo / Grand Palais Éphémère / Dewi Lewis Publishing / Nov (Paris)
Rethinking Nature / Imago Lisboa Festival Touring / Oct (Portugal / Luxembourg)
2020 Photo London Digital / Dewi Lewis Publishing / Oct (UK)
2019 Photo London / Somerset House / Dewi Lewis Publishing / May (UK)
2018 Photo London / Somerset House / The Photographers’ Gallery / May (London)
2017 Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition / June (London)
2016 Paris Photo / Grand Palais / Augusta Edwards / Nov (Paris)
Photo London / Somerset House / Eric Franck Fine Art / May (UK)
Photography Show by AIPAD / Eric Franck Fine Art / April (NYC)
2008 Paris Photo / Carrousel du Louvre / Eric Franck Fine Art / Nov (Paris)
CRITICAL ESSAYS
2020 / Denatured Landscape : Isabelle Bonnet - Reclaimed : Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK)
2018 / Picturing the Polder : Francis Hodgson - Drained : Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) 2018
2016 / Constructing Fate : Collier Brown - Farmed : Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) 2016
2009 / Meetings with Unremarkable Trees : Gerry Badger - Truncated : Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) 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
2024
Frames Magazine #17 / Fragile / Tomasz Trzebiatowski / upcoming Oct (print- USA)
Black + White Photography #289 : Our Fragile Nature : Tracy Calder (UK) April (print)
Fotografi Magazine - Man and Nature - Cover & 14 page interview : Kristin Skåmedal (Norway) April (print)
National Geographic - What’s that lurking in the mist? : Kit Chapman February (on-line)
2023
Aesthetica Magazine - Landscape Trauma : Eleanor Sutherland (UK) July (on-line)
2022
Black + White Photography #271 : Front Cover (UK) November (print)
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)