Anna Fox (born 1961) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

documentary photographer Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional pho ...

, known for a "combative, highly charged use of flash and colour". In 2019 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

Career and work

Fox completed her degree in Photography at

West Surrey College of Art and Design Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College (SIAD) was an art college in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2005. It was formed from the merger of West Surrey College of Art and Design (1969–1995) and Epsom School of Art and Design (1893� ...

Farnham, Surrey Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tribu ...

in 1986 under tutors

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

, Paul Graham and Karen Knorr. Fox first came to attention with her 1988 documentary study of London office life on the mid-1980s, ''Work Stations: Office Life in London''. She is perhaps best known for her ''Zwarte Piet'' series made between 1993 and 1998, published as the book ''Zwarte Piet'', which documents 'black face'

folk culture Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

traditions in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Between 2001 and 2003 she published four monographs in her "Made in" series: ''Made in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

'', ''Made in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

'', ''Made in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

'' and ''Made in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

''. From 2009, Fox photographed for two years at

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...

in Bognor Regis for her book ''Resort 1 - Butlin's Bognor Regis''. She currently works as head of photography at

University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Inst ...

in Farnham. A retrospective 300-page book ''Photographs 1983-2007'' by

Val Williams Val Williams is a British curator and author who has become an authority on British photography. She is the Professor of the History and Culture of Photography at the London College of Communication, part of the University of the Arts London, and ...

was published by

Photoworks Photoworks is a UK development agency dedicated to photography, based in Brighton, England and founded in 1995.

in 2007. In November 2009 Fox was shortlisted for the 2010

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...

, held at the Photographers Gallery, London, and the 2012 Pilar Citoler Prize. In 2019, Fox was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the

. The critic

Sean O'Hagan Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and f ...

, reviewing ''Resort 1 - Butlin's Bognor Regis'' in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', said "Her work often hones in on the particular to suggest the universal, such as her series The Village (1991–1993), in which rural England becomes a pastiche of itself even as the individual lives glimpsed therein seem vividly real." David Chandler, in his essay ''Vile Boodies'', in the book ''Anna Fox Photographs 1983-2007'', said Fox is "widely regarded as an important part of what might be called the 'second wave' of British colour documentary photography" and that she "helped form its particular style of combative, highly charged use of flash and colour".

Publications

Publications by Fox

*''Work Stations: Office Life in London Photographed by Anna Fox.'' Camerawork, 1988. . *''Street Dreams: Indian Vernacular Studio Photographs.'' Booth-Clibborn, 1997. . Edited by

. *''Cockroach Diary.'' Shoreditch Biennale, 2000. . *''Zwarte Piet.'' London: Black Dog, 2001. . *''Made in Europe.'' Milton Keynes Gallery, 2001-2003. Five small paperbacks. Made in Milton Keynes 2001, . Made in Gothenburg 2002, . Made in Kaunas 2002, . Made in Florence 2003, . Made in Los Cristianos 2003, . Photographs and texts made by teenagers in five European cities. *''Resort 1 - Butlin's Bognor Regis.'' Amsterdam: Schilt, 2013. . Text by Stephen Bull. *''Portraits from an Island.'' Newsprint catalogue with essay, 2015

Other publications

* ''Anna Fox Photographs 1983-2007.'' By Val Williams. Brighton:

Photoworks Photoworks is a UK development agency dedicated to photography, based in Brighton, England and founded in 1995.

, 2007. . With texts by David Chandler, Val Williams, Jason Evans and

Mieke Bal Maria Gertrudis "Mieke" Bal (born 14 March 1946 in Heemstede) is a Dutch cultural theorist, video artist, and Professor Emerita in Literary Theory at the University of Amsterdam. Previously she also was Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands ...

. *''Basics Creative Photography 03: Behind the Image: Research in Photography.'' London: AVA, 2012. . With Natasha Caruana. *''Langford's Basic Photography: The guide for serious photographers.'' By Michael Langford, Fox, and Richard Sawdon Smith. **Waltham, MA: Focal Press, 2015. . Tenth edition.

Exhibitions (selected)

*1990: ''In Pursuit,'' solo exhibition,

Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established in ...

, London, 30 November 1990 – 19 January 1991. *2009: ''Cockroach Diary and Other Stories,''

Ffotogallery Ffotogallery is the national development agency for photography in Wales. It was established in 1978 and since June 2019 has been based in Cathays, Cardiff. It also commissions touring exhibitions nationally and internationally. Its current dire ...

Turner House Gallery Turner House Gallery is an art gallery in Penarth, near Cardiff, Wales. Details The gallery was built in 1887/8, designed by architect Edwin Seward in a Queen Anne style for the rich local flour merchant, James Pyke Thompson. Pyke Thompson used ...

, Penarth, Wales. *2011: ''Resort,''

Pallant House Gallery Pallant House Gallery is an art gallery in Chichester, West Sussex, England. It houses one of the best collections of 20th-century British art in the world. History The Gallery's collection is founded on works left to the city of Chichester by ...

, Chichester, UK, 25 June – 2 October 2011. *2011: ''Resort,'' James Hyman Photography, London, 12 October – 12 November 2011.

Awards

*2019: Honorary Fellowship of the

, Bristol.

References

External links

*
Fox at James Hyman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Anna 1961 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Social documentary photographers Academics of the University for the Creative Arts British women photographers 20th-century British women artists 20th-century women photographers 21st-century British women artists 21st-century women photographers Women photojournalists