Photographers

Gerry Badger (born 1946 in Northampton, England) is a British photographer, critic, curator, and one of the most influential writers on the history and theory of photography. Trained originally as an architect at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, he shifted toward photography and criticism in the 1970s, emerging as one of the central voices interpreting the medium’s evolution through the twentieth and twenty‑first centuries. His writing is widely admired for its clarity, critical rigor, and deep knowledge of photographic history.

Badger is internationally known for co‑authoring, with Martin Parr, the landmark multi‑volume series *The Photobook: A History* — a foundational reference that reshaped the study of photobooks and won major awards, including the Kraszna‑Krausz Prize and the Deutscher Fotobuchpreis. His own book *The Pleasures of Good Photographs* (2010) won the Infinity Award for Writing from the International Center of Photography. Over the decades, Badger has written extensively on figures such as Eugène Atget, Chris Killip, and numerous contemporary practitioners, producing a body of criticism that has become essential reading within the field.

Alongside his writing, Badger has maintained a long career as a photographer, working primarily with landscapes and what he describes as “accretions of history.” His photographs have been exhibited in leading institutions, including The Photographers’ Gallery (London), Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Britain, and the Hayward Gallery. As a curator, he has organized significant exhibitions such as *The Photographer as Printmaker* and *Through the Looking Glass: Photographic Art in Britain 1945–1989*.

In recognition of his contributions to photographic scholarship, Badger received the Royal Photographic Society’s J. Dudley Johnston Award in 2018. His more recent publications—including *Best Face Forward* (2024), a meditation on portrait photography—continue to demonstrate his critical acuity and deep engagement with the visual possibilities of the medium. His work remains pivotal in shaping contemporary understanding of photography’s history, aesthetics, and cultural meaning.