Ed Gold (born 1969
) is a British
documentary photographer and
photo-essayist who lives
off-the-grid, exploring and documenting communities of people who live in remote areas.
Early life and education
Gold has an MA in Interactive Multimedia from
Central Saint Martins.
While he was in graduate school he was homeless. After he graduated he worked at odd jobs and as a labourer. During that time he started teaching himself photography.
He was working as a security guard in 2002 when he quit in order to become a full time photographer.
[ He has since chosen to forego a home base to live among the communities he documents.][
]
Photojournalism projects
Gold freelances for the BBC, with which he works on photography projects. When he documents a particular group of people, he embeds himself within their community for long durations, sometimes for up to three years.[
Gold has spent time living amongst the Iñupiat people in Wales, Alaska; with residents of Galena, Alaska, who live near the Arctic Circle; and with the Atchley family, who live in a remote area with no contact with the outside world apart from when they visit town once a year. While in the USA, he documented Harley-Davidson enthusiasts at the House of Harley in Anchorage and the US Army at the Northern Warfare Training Center.
Gold has made four visits to the ]British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
n First Nation reservation Prophet River where the Dane-zaa (historically referred to as the Beaver tribe by Europeans), are an Athabaskan-speaking group of First Nations people. His methods involve recording the experiences of those who live there, with associated portrait photography.
In 2011, on a visit to Donetsk in Ukraine, where he had come to look for traces of immigrants from Wales who had founded the city, Gold witnessed a group of pensioners in Donetsk town square, who were protesting about their pensions being cut. At the time of this photograph, one pensioner who had been on hunger strike had already died.
Gold spent July 2010 to July 2011 embedded with the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 Para), both at their base in Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''.
Colchester occupies the ...
and on the ground in Afghanistan. He followed the men from a single platoon before, during and after a tour of duty. In 2018 he returned to investigate how some of the lives of the young soldiers he had met had changed. One soldier who had first enlisted at age 15 lost both legs while on active service and Gold's work documents his time in the army and thereafter.
Gold lived and worked for a total of three years in Patagonia, in a community made up of descendants of Welsh people who arrived there in 1865. The main published output of this stay was the work ''Welsh Patagonia''. A copy is now stored in the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
collection of artists’ books.
Gold documented communities living off-grid in the UK when he visited Tinkers Bubble in Somerset. In 2023 he travelled by motorcycle to Ukraine to document a pyrolysis project and appeared in a documentary, ''To Save Horsie'', about the Kramatorsk railway station attack.
Gold publishes a magazine called ''Positive Futures'', which documents off-grid and alternative lifestyles.
Solo exhibitions
*1997: ''Essex Country Folk'', Colchester Institute
*2003: ''Life as it is'', Canolfan Beaumaris, Isle of Anglesey
Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...
*2004: ''Anglesey Bikers & Landscapes'', Canolfan Ucheldre, Holyhead
*2004: ''Best of Wales'', The Gallery, Mayfair, London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
[
*2004: ''Wales Steaming Ahead'', Bangor Museum][
*2005: ''Language of Heaven in the Land of Song'', Blaenau Ffestiniog
*2005: ''Anglesey Characters'', Theatr Gwynedd, Bangor, Gwynedd
*2005: ''Positive Futures'', ]Caernarfon
Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...
Library, North Wales
*2006: ''Gente del Valle'', Concejo Deliberante, Gaiman, Chubut
Gaiman is a town in the Chubut Province of Patagonia in Argentina. It has a population of 6,627 as per the . It is located in the River Chubut's lower valley (called in Welsh language, Welsh), about west of Trelew. Gaiman is a cultural and demog ...
[
*2007: ''Gente del Valle'', Muestra Agropecuaria, Gaiman Chubut
*2007: ''Gente del Valle'', Oriel Ynys Môn, ]Anglesey
Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...
*2008: ''Antiguos Hogares'', Museo Municipal de Artes Visuales, Trelew[
*2008: ''Retratos de Mar y el Valle'', Municipal de Arte, Puerto Madryn
*2011: ''People: Pashtuns & Paras'', Essex Record Office, Chelmsford][
*2017: ''Ed Gold: Other Worlds'', Firstsite, ]Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''.
Colchester occupies the ...
Publications
* ''Patagonia: Byd Arall / Otro Mundo / Another World''. Publisher: Gomer Press, Llandysul, UK 2012.
* ''Wales: Portrait of an Alaska Village''. Publisher: VP & D House, Anchorage, USA 2014.
* ''Welsh Patagonia''. Publisher: Fox Ash Press, Lawford, UK 2016.
* ''Yuendumu''. Publisher: Blurb, 2018
References
External links
BBC photojournalist Ed Gold speaks to the journalism class
2017 video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Ed
Social documentary photographers
British documentary photographers
1969 births
Living people
Alumni of Central Saint Martins
Photographers from London