Oliver Chanarin (born 1971 in London) is a British artist who works in collaboration with Adam Broomberg (born 1970 in Johannesburg). Together they are known as Broomberg & Chanarin and are based in London. Their practice is unusual in the degree to which authorship is shared: projects are conceived, researched and produced as a duo, so Chanarin’s individual contribution is best understood through the partnership rather than as a separate body of work. This collaborative structure has allowed them to work across photography, publishing and archival intervention without adopting a single, repeatable visual signature.

The duo’s reputation rests substantially on their photobooks, which often engage directly with existing texts and images. Rather than adding new photographs to a neutral page, Broomberg & Chanarin treat the book as a site where meaning is already encoded and can be renegotiated. Their work has been shown in numerous international exhibitions and is held in major public and private collections, but it is the book form that has brought them the most concentrated critical attention.

War Primer 2 is their best-known project. It was awarded the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize and is described as a book that physically inhabits the pages of Bertolt Brecht’s 1955 publication War Primer. By inserting contemporary imagery into Brecht’s combination of press photographs and four-line poems, the work stages a collision between historical and present-day representations of conflict. The intervention is both conceptual and material: the original book is not merely referenced but occupied, so that the reader encounters two historical moments on a single spread. For collectors, this makes War Primer 2 a significant example of the photobook as an artwork in its own right, where sequence, overlay and paper stock are integral to the argument.

Holy Bible, another key publication, received the International Center of Photography Infinity Award. Like War Primer 2, it demonstrates the duo’s interest in authoritative texts and the ways images can unsettle them. The award confirmed the book’s standing within photography’s institutional framework and helped establish Broomberg & Chanarin within a generation of artists for whom publishing is a primary medium rather than a secondary record of exhibitions.

They founded Chopped Liver Press, an imprint used to publish and sell their own books as well as those by other artists. This move reflects a broader shift in contemporary photography, where artists take control of production, distribution and design. Chanarin’s career with Broomberg is therefore significant not only for individual images but for a sustained argument about how photographic books are made, circulated and read. Collectors interested in the duo might begin with War Primer 2 for its conceptual density and material inventiveness, then look to Holy Bible and the Chopped Liver Press catalogue to understand the wider publishing practice. The work rewards attention to sequencing, reproduction quality and the dialogue between text and image, which are central to its meaning.

Oliver Chanarin (born 1971, London) is a British photographer who collaborates with Adam Broomberg. The Wikipedia entry states they met at Ravensbourne College and worked as photographers for Colors magazine. Their collaborative work spans documentary, conceptual, and archival approaches, often interrogating image politics. It notes their work is held by Tate, MoMA, and the V&A. In 2013 they won the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. They are represented by Lisson Gallery and Goodman Gallery. This source offers a concise, referenced overview of their joint career.

Goodman Gallery represents Broomberg & Chanarin and provides a biography of their collaborative practice. The gallery states that they have worked together since 2000 and highlights their engagement with photography’s histories, politics, and ethics. It lists selected exhibitions and publications, including their 2013 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize award. As their commercial representative, Goodman Gallery confirms its ongoing relationship with the artists and offers a professional overview of their career.

Lisson Gallery represents Broomberg & Chanarin and hosts a detailed artist page. The gallery describes their use of photography to investigate conflict, history, and representation, and lists their participation in major international exhibitions and public collections. It also records their 2013 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize win. As a contemporary art gallery, Lisson provides a curatorial and market-oriented perspective on the duo’s significance, documenting their representation, exhibition history, and critical recognition.

Tate’s artist page identifies Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin as a collaborative duo. It records that Broomberg was born in Johannesburg in 1970 and Chanarin in London in 1971, and that they live and work in London. The page confirms that Tate holds examples of their work in its collection. This institutional record is useful for verifying their birth years, birthplaces, and collaborative identity, and for confirming their presence in a major public collection.