Susan Bright is a British writer and curator of

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

, specializing in how photography is made, disseminated and interpreted. She has curated exhibitions internationally at institutions including

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

in London and the

Museum of Contemporary Photography A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, among others. Her published books include ''Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography'' (2017), ''Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood'' (2013), ''Auto Focus: The Self Portrait in Contemporary Photography'' (2010), ''How We Are: Photographing Britain'' (2007: co-authored with

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, an ...

), ''Face of Fashion'' (2007), and ''Art Photography Now'' (2005).

Education

She holds a Ph.D in Curating from

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

Career

The exhibition ''How We Are: Photographing Britain'' was the first major exhibition of British photography at

. The exhibition of ''Home Truths'' (

The 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 ...

and the

Foundling Museum The Foundling Museum in Brunswick Square, London, tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, Britain's first home for children at risk of abandonment. The museum houses the nationally important Foundling Hospital Collection as well as the Geral ...

and traveling to the

, Chicago, and

Belfast Exposed Belfast Exposed is a photography gallery in Belfast, established in 1983. It was Northern Ireland's first dedicated photographic gallery and in 2018 Sean O'Hagan in ''The Guardian'' described it as "the key independent space for contemporary pho ...

) was named one of the top exhibitions of 2013/2014 by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

.'' She regularly writes for museums and monographic books, and contributes to numerous magazines and journals.

Curated exhibitions

*''Icons of Pop'' (co-curated with Terence Pepper and Philip Hoare),

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

, June - September 1999 *''Artists of the 1990s'', National Portrait Gallery, London, January–June 1999 *''Published Portraits'', Association of Photographers Gallery, London, January 2001 *''Faith & Brazil Incarnate: Mike Abrahams & Christopher Pillitz'', Association of Photographers Gallery, London, April 2001 *''Gun Nation: Zed Nelson'', Association of Photographers Gallery, London, June 2001; *''Building Sights: London Architectural Photography'' Association of Photographers Gallery, London, September 2001; then toured with the British Council to Lithuania and Estonia); *''Truth and Lies: Jillian Edelstein'', Association of Photographers Gallery, London, February 2002; *''Enterprise Works,'' Barge House, London, November 2004; then toured to

Mailbox Birmingham Mailbox Birmingham, also known as The Mailbox, is a mixed-use development located within the city centre of Birmingham, England. It houses British luxury department store chain Harvey Nichols, and the BBC Birmingham studios. The scheme compr ...

;

Discovery Museum The Discovery Museum is a science museum and local history museum situated in Blandford Square in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It displays many exhibits of local history, including the ship, ''Turbinia''. It is managed by North East Museums. ...

, Newcastle;

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country's national academy of art. It promotes contemporary art, contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy ...

, Edinburgh, 2005. *''1+1=3: Collaboration in Contemporary British Portraiture,''

Fremantle Arts Centre The Fremantle Arts Centre is a historic building complex on Ord Street in Fremantle, Western Australia. The heritage-listed building complex was built using convict labour between 1861 and 1868 and was used as a psychiatric hospital, initiall ...

, Western Australia, March–April 2006;

Australian Centre for Photography The Australian Centre for Photography (ACP) was a not-for-profit photography gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia that was established in 1973 and which also provided part-time courses and community programs. One of the longest running c ...

, Sydney, April–May 2007. *''Face of Fashion: Corinne Day, Mert & Marcus, Steven Klein, Paolo Roversi & Mario Sorrenti'', National Portrait Gallery, London, February–May 2007. *''How We Are: Photographing Britain,'' co-curated with

, London, May–September 2007. *''Something Out of Nothing,'' Fotogalleriet ( no), Oslo, Norway, October–November 2007. *''Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood,''

, London;

, London, October 2013 – January 2014;

, Chicago, April–July 2014;

, Belfast, Northern Ireland, October 2014–January 2015.

Publications

*''Art Photography Now''. New York:

Aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

, 2005. . **London:

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, 2006. **''Art Photography Now: Revised and expanded edition''. Thames & Hudson, 2011. . *''How We Are: Photographing Britain from the 1840s to the Present''. Edited and with texts by Bright and

. London:

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, 2007. . With essays by

Gerry Badger Gerald David "Gerry" Badger (born 1946) is an English writer and curator of photography, and a photographer. In 2018, he received the J Dudley Johnston Award from the Royal Photographic Society. Life and career Badger was born in 1946 in North ...

and Martin Parr, and by

Kevin Jackson Kevin Andre Jackson (born November 25, 1964) is an American retired freestyle and folkstyle wrestler, and mixed martial artist. Following his competitive career, Jackson would become a wrestling coach. During his international career, Jackso ...

. *''Face of Fashion: Photographs by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott, Corinne Day, Steven Klein, Paolo Roversi and Mario Sorrenti.'' New York: Aperture, 2007. . With work by

Mert and Marcus Mert or MERT may refer to: People * Mert (given name), a Turkish masculine given name and a nickname * Mert (surname) MERT * Medical Emergency Response Team, British Armed Forces designation for in-theatre aeromedical evacuation units * Multi-En ...

Corinne Day Corinne Day (19 February 1962 – 27 August 2010) was a British fashion photographer, Documentary photography, documentary photographer and fashion model. Early life Corinne Day grew up in Ickenham with her younger brother and her grandparents ...

, Steven Klein,

Paolo Roversi Paolo Roversi (born September 25, 1947) is an Italian-born fashion photographer who lives and works in Paris. Early life Born in Ravenna on September 25, 1947, Paolo Roversi's interest in photography was kindled as a teenager during a family v ...

, and

Mario Sorrenti Mario Sorrenti (born October 24, 1971) is an Italian-American photographer best known for his spreads of nude models in the pages of ''Vogue'' and ''Harper's Bazaar''. Early life Sorrenti was born in Naples, Italy, and moved to New York City at ...

. *''Auto Focus: The Self-Portrait in Contemporary Photography''. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010. . *''Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood.'' 2013. . Edited by Bright. With essays by Bright, Stephanie Chapman, Nick Johnstone and Simon Watney and photographs by Janine Antoni, Elina Brotherus, Elinor Carucci, Ana Casas Broda, Ann Fessler, Tierney Gearon, Miyako Ishiuchi, Fred Hüning, Leigh Ledare, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Katie Murray and Hanna Putz, *''Feast for the Eyes.'' New York: Aperture, 2017. .

References

External links

*
Interview with 1000 Words Mag about ''Feast for the Eyes''

Interview with Urbanautica

Interview with Photo Curating

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, Susan Photography curators Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London 21st-century British non-fiction writers British women non-fiction writers Art writers