John Angerson

Born in Bristol in 1969 John Angerson started his career in the early 1990’s, covering the fall of the Berlin Wall and the changing geopolitical landscape of Eastern Europe. Since then, his practice has continued to explore the different languages of documentary photography, focusing on how specific communities form, shift and develop. His personal projects have garnered critical acclaim and have been exhibited at major art institutions in the UK and overseas. His monograph – ‘Love, Power, Sacrifice’ documented the Jesus Army over a twenty-year period and peers into a microcosm of fanatical religion. He now splits his time between shooting personal work, holding University lectures and workshops and shooting features and portraiture for a range of magazines, charities, and design agencies.

John exhibits internationally, with an exhibition of his ‘On This Day’ series planned to take place in China soon. He has been commissioned by many international publications including The Sunday Times, Rolling Stone, Der Spiegel, El Pais and others. His numerous recent awards have included Spectrum Imaging Award (2109), Chinese Photographer Magazine Award (2019), British Life Photography Award (2018), RPS International Photography Award (David Hockney Portrait 2017), Cream Design Awards (2017 & 2016).

Six books dedicated to his work have been published. A wide range of his superb photographs can be viewed on the artists website

John Angerson on his ‘Self Portrait’ created for the ‘SELFIES’ exhibition at 108 in 2019.

“We all collect something, our reasons and choices may vary, some like to collect memorabilia from a favourite team, artist or brand, as a way of expressing loyalty. For the philatelist searching for that elusive special stamp, the hunt can become an obsession. We are all collectors in some way. As humans, we often collect items for the satisfaction of locating and owning them. This only became possible once our ancestors gave up their nomadic lifestyles and settled in one place. Growing up in 1970s England, stamp collecting seemed to be everywhere. Most schools had a stamp club for the devotee and there was the weekly delivery of mixed bags of stamps from exotic places across the globe, sent directly to your door by mail order. These small paper marvels allowed a young mind to be transported into a glamorous world of travel and adventure.

This work was partly inspired by stamps within my father’s collection; an usual stamp block of King Edward VIII who abdicated in 1936 together with my favourite book from my teenage years – ‘The Man Who Would Be King’ by Rudyard Kipling about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan.”