Will Steacy (born 1980) is an American writer and photographer based in New York City. His work is held in the collection of the
Museum of Contemporary Photography
The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) was founded in 1976 by Columbia College Chicago as the successor to the Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography. The museum houses a permanent collection as well as the Midwest Photographers Project ...
, Chicago.
Life and work
Steacy "descended from five generations of newspaper men. His great-great-great-grandfather started the Evening Dispatch in York, Pa., in 1876 and his father was an editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer." He received his BFA from the
Tisch School of the Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University.
Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...
, at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
in 2003. Before becoming a professional photographer, he worked as a union laborer.
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 ...
in ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' described Steacy's ''Down these Mean Streets'' (2012) as "a merging of his own photographs with newspaper clippings, journal entries and various found material pertaining to the long death of the American dream, from
Reaganomics
Reaganomics (; a portmanteau of ''Reagan'' and ''economics'' attributed to Paul Harvey), or Reaganism, refers to the neoliberal economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies are commonly associat ...
in the 1980s to the current economic recession."
In 2011 he photographed paper money, "removed from circulation but not yet destroyed, and photographed them with a large-format film camera".
For five years from 2009, Steacy documented the struggle and decline of ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
'' newspaper, published as a book, ''Deadline'' (2016), and as a tribute newspaper.
Publications
Publications by Steacy
*''Photographs Not Taken: A Collection of Photographers' Essays.'' Chapel Hill, NC:
Daylight
Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunligh ...
, 2012. Second revised edition. . With an introduction by Lyle Rexer and essays by Dave Anderson, Timothy Archibald,
Roger Ballen
Roger Ballen (born April 11, 1950) is an American artist living in Johannesburg, South Africa, and working in its surrounds since the 1970s. His oeuvre, which spans five decades, began with the documentary photography field but evolved into the ...
, Thomas Bangsted, Juliana Beasley,
Nina Berman
Nina Berman (born 1960) is an American documentary photographer, filmmaker, author and educator. Her wide-ranging work looks at American politics, militarism, environmental contamination and post violence trauma. Berman is the author of three m ...
,
Elinor Carucci
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Carucci has published four monographs to date; ''Closer'' (2002), ''Diary of a Dancer'' (200 ...
,
Kelli Connell
Kelli Connell (born 1974) is an American contemporary photographer. Connell is known for creating portraits, which may appear as self-portraits. Her work is held in the collections of the Columbus Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of ...
Amy Elkins
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Her photographs are formal portraits, through which she captures intimacy ...
,
Jim Goldberg
Jim Goldberg (born 1953) is an American artist and photographer, whose work reflects long-term, in-depth collaborations with neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations.
Among the many awards Goldberg has received are thr ...
,
Emmet Gowin
Emmet Gowin (born 1941) is an American photographer. He first gained attention in the 1970s with his intimate portraits of his wife, Edith, and her family. Later he turned his attention to the landscapes of the American West, taking aerial photogr ...
,
Gregory Halpern
Gregory Halpern (born 1977) is an American photographer and teacher. He currently teaches at the Rochester Institute of Technology and is a nominee member of Magnum Photos.
Halpern has published a number of books of his own work; ''Zzyzx'' won Ph ...
,
Tim Hetherington
Timothy Alistair Telemachus Hetherington (5 December 1970 – 20 April 2011) was a British photojournalist. He produced books, films and other work that "ranged from multi-screen installations, to fly-poster exhibitions, to handheld de ...
,
Todd Hido
Todd Hido (born 25 August 1968) is an American photographer. He has produced 17 books, had his work exhibited widely and included in various public collections. Hido is currently an adjunct professor at the California College of the Arts in San F ...
,
Rob Hornstra
Rob Hornstra (born 1975) is a Dutch photographer and self-publisher of documentary work, particularly of areas of the former Soviet Union.
Early life
Hornstra was born in Borne, Overijssel, Netherlands.
Career
Hornstra studied Social and Le ...
Nadav Kander
Nadav Kander HonFRPS (born 1 December 1961) is a London-based photographer, artist and director, known for his portraiture and landscapes. Kander has produced a number of books and had his work exhibited widely. He received an Honorary Fellow ...
,
Ed Kashi
Ed Kashi (born 1957) is an American photojournalist and member of VII Photo Agency based in the Greater New York area. Kashi's work spans from print photojournalism to experimental film. He is noted for documenting sociopolitical issues.
Persona ...
Erika Larsen
Erika Larsen (born 1976) is a transdisciplinary storyteller and photographer who is known for her intimate essays about cultures that maintain strong connections with nature. She immerses readers in cultures through her visual storytelling.
Lif ...
Deana Lawson
Deana Lawson (1979) is an American artist, educator, and photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is primarily concerned with intimacy, family, spirituality, sexuality, and Black aesthetics.
Lawson has been praised for her ability to co ...
Mary Ellen Mark
Mary Ellen Mark (March 20, 1940 – May 25, 2015) was an American photographer known for her photojournalism, documentary photography, portraiture, and advertising photography. She photographed people who were "away from mainstream society and t ...
Richard Mosse
Richard Mosse (born 1980) is an Irish conceptual documentary photographer.
Early life and education
Mosse was born in Kilkenny, Ireland. He lives and works in New York and Berlin.
He received a first class BA in English literature from King' ...
,
Zwelethu Mthethwa
Zwelethu Mthethwa (born 1960) is a South African painter and photographer. He was convicted of murder in 2017, and is currently incarcerated at Pollsmoor Prison.
Biography
Mthethwa, a native of Durban, graduated from the Michaelis School of Fi ...
,
Laurel Nakadate
Laurel Nakadate (born 1975) is an American feminist video artist, filmmaker, and photographer. She is based in New York City.
Biography
Laurel Nakadate was born 1975 in Austin, Texas and raised in Ames, Iowa.
Nakadate graduated with a Bachelor ...
, Ed Panar,
Christian Patterson
Christian Patterson (born 1972, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, U.S.) is an American photographer known for his ''Sound Affects'' and ''Redheaded Peckerwood'' series which have received solo exhibitions and been published as books. ''Redheaded Pecke ...
, Andrew Phelps,
Sylvia Plachy
Sylvia Plachy (born 24 May 1943) is a Hungarian-American photographer. Plachy's work has been featured in many New York city magazines and newspapers and she "was an influential staff photographer for ''The Village Voice''."
Biography
Plachy w ...
,
Mark Power
Mark Power (born 1959) is a British photographer. He is a member of Magnum Photos and Professor of Photography in The Faculty of Arts and Architecture at the University of Brighton.Simon Roberts, Joseph Rodriguez, Stefan Ruiz, Matt Salacuse,
Alessandra Sanguinetti
Alessandra Sanguinetti (born 1968) is an American photographer. A number of her works have been published and she is a member of Magnum Photos. She has received multiple awards and grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Life and work
Born ...
,
Aaron Schuman
Aaron Schuman (born 1977) is an American photographer, writer, curator and educator based in the United Kingdom. His books of photography include ''Folk'' (2016), ''Slant'' (2019) and ''Sonata'' (2022).
Life and work Early life and education
Aaron ...
,
Jamel Shabazz
Jamel Shabazz (born 1960) is an African-American fashion, fine art, documentary and street style photographer. His work has been published in books, shown in exhibitions, and used in editorial magazine works. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. ...
,
Alec Soth
Alec Soth (born 1969) is an American photographer, based in Minneapolis. Soth makes "large-scale American projects" featuring the midwestern United States. ''New York Times'' art critic Hilarie M. Sheets wrote that he has made a "photographic care ...
,
Amy Stein
Amy Stein (born 1970) is an American photographer. Some of her photo series include ''Stranded'' and ''Domesticated.'' Her work has been shown at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.. In 2007 she was one of fifteen "emerging artists ...
,
Mark Steinmetz
Mark Christopher Steinmetz (born 1961) is an American photographer. He makes black and white photographs "of ordinary people in the ordinary landscapes they inhabit".
Steinmetz's work was shown in a group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, ...
,
Joni Sternbach
Joni Sternbach (born 1953) is an American photographer whose large-format camera images employ early photographic processes, including tintype and collodion. Using an 8×10 Deardorff large format camera, Sternbach focuses on in situ portraits of s ...
,
Hank Willis Thomas
Hank Willis Thomas (born 1976 in Plainfield, New Jersey; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to identity, history, and popular culture.
Early life and education
Hank Willis Th ...
,
Brian Ulrich
Brian Ulrich (born 1971) is an American photographer known for his photographic exploration of consumer culture.
Life and work
Ulrich was born in Northport, New York, and lives in Providence, Rhode Island. He received a BFA in photography from Un ...
Massimo Vitali
Massimo Vitali (born 1944) is an Italian photographer based in Lucca.
Life and work
Vitali was born in Como, Italy. He studied photography at the London College of Printing. He initially worked as a photojournalist for the Report Agency in the 19 ...
, Hiroshi Watanabe, Alex Webb, and Rebecca Norris Webb.
*''Down These Mean Streets.'' Zürich: B.frank, 2012. Photographs by Steacy with newspaper clippings, journal entries and various found material. . Edition of 400 copies.
*''Deadline.'' Vol. 1. Zürich: B.frank, 2015. Photographs by Steacy and essays by various journalists. . Newspaper format.
*''Deadline.'' Vol. 2. Zürich: B.frank, 2016. Photographs by Steacy and essays by various journalists. .
Publications with contributions by Steacy
*''The Photographer’s Playbook: 307 Assignments and Ideas.'' New York:
Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.
An opt ...
, 2014. . Edited by
Gregory Halpern
Gregory Halpern (born 1977) is an American photographer and teacher. He currently teaches at the Rochester Institute of Technology and is a nominee member of Magnum Photos.
Halpern has published a number of books of his own work; ''Zzyzx'' won Ph ...
and
Jason Fulford Jason Fulford (born 1973) is an American photographer, publisher and educator, based in Brooklyn, New York City.
The primary format for Fulford's own photography is the book, which include ''Sunbird'' (2000), ''Crushed'' (2003), ''Raising Frogs For ...
.
Exhibitions
*''Down These Mean Streets,'' part of Looking for America – Diffusion, Cardiff International Festival of Photography, 2015,
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 ...
, Cardiff, Wales
Awards
*2011:
Photo District News
''Photo District News'' (or ''PDN'') was an American monthly trade publication for professional photographers. ''PDN'' was first published in 1980. The publication took its name from New York City's photo district, an area of photo businesses tha ...
30 Emerging Photographers to Watch
*2015: Special Jurors’ Mention, PhotoBook of the Year,
Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards
The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards is a yearly photography book award that is given jointly by Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation. It is announced at the Paris Photo fair and was established in 2012. The categories are First P ...
, for ''Deadline.''
Collections
Steacy's work is held in the following permanent collection:
*
Museum of Contemporary Photography
The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) was founded in 1976 by Columbia College Chicago as the successor to the Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography. The museum houses a permanent collection as well as the Midwest Photographers Project ...