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,
Life and work
Williams has curated the work of
Martin Parr and
Daniel Meadows.
She "has championed Meadows' work for years even as most British institutions have ignored it".
Williams curated the influential
Tate Britain show
How We Are: Photographing Britain. She has also written on the representation of women, and work by women photographers. She co-founded PARC, the Photography and the Archive Research Centre in 2003. Her archive was held at the Library of Birmingham but moved to the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol in 2018.
[ ual: Photography and the Archive Research Centre (PARC) to close. Accessed 14 March 2025.][ Val Williams Archive Accessed 14 March 2025]
Exhibitions curated
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How We Are: Photographing Britain, Tate Britain, London, 2007. Curated by Williams and Susan Bright.
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Soho Nights, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 2008/2009. Curated by Williams and Bob Pullen. "Part of an ongoing series of linked exhibitions taken from the gallery's archives."
Publications
Books by Williams
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Women Photographers.
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Women Photographers: The Other Observers, 1900 to the Present. London: Virago Press, 1986.
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The Other Observers: Women Photographers in Britain 1900 to the Present. London Virago, 1994. .
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Ida Kar: Photographer, 1908-1974. London Virago, 1990. .
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..Who's looking at the family?. London: Barbican Art Gallery, 1994. . "Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Barbican Art Gallery, 26th May - 4th Sept., 1994" "an exhibition selected by Val Williams, Carol Brown and Brigitte Lardinois."
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Warworks: Women, Photography and the Iconography of War. London: Virago, 1994. .
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The Dead. By Williams and Greg Hobson. Bradford: National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, 1995. . With essays by Williams ("Secret Places"), Hobson ("A Horrible Exhibition"), Elizabeth Edwards ("Seeing How Others Die") and Thomas Lynch ("Embalming Father"); and photographs by Nobuyoshi Araki, Sue Fox, Kasimir Zgorecki, Franco Zecchin, Thomas Werde, Belinda Whiting, Rudolph Schafer, Leslie Hakim-Dowek, Krass Clement, Donigan Cumming, Hans Danuser, Figuration Libre, Max Jourdan, Pete Max Kandhola, Ann Mandelbaum, Bastienne Schmidt, Andres Serrano, John Benjamin Stone, Clare Strand, Annet van der Voort, Nick Waplington, Elizabeth Williams, Neil Winokur, and Xavier Zimbardo. Published to accompany a touring exhibition starting at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, October 1995 – January 1996, curated by Williams and Hobson.
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Street dreams: contemporary Indian studio photographs from the Satish Sharma Collection. London: Booth-Clibborn, in association with Shoreditch Biennale, 1997. . "Published in conjunction with the ... exhibition ... which opened at Standpoint Gallery, London as part of the 1997 Shoreditch Biennale exhibitions programme".
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Martin Parr
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London: Phaidon, 2002. . Hardback.
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Martin Parr. Rome: Contrasto, 2002. . Italian-language version.
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Berlin: Phaidon, 2008. . German-language version.
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London: Phaidon, 2004. . Paperback.
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2nd ed. London: Phaidon, 2014. .
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Derek Ridgers: When We Were Young: Club and Street Portraits 1978–1987. Brighton: Photoworks, 2005. . Photographs by Derek Ridgers, text by Val Williams. About the emergence of new style cultures in London in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
[The publication is reproduced here within Photography and the Archive Research Centre's site.]
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Daniel Meadows: Edited Photographs from the 70s and 80s. Brighton: Photoworks, 2011. . Authored by Val Williams. Edited by Val Williams and Gordon MacDonald.
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When Photography Really Works. New York: Barron's Educational Series; London: Quintessence, 2012. .
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What Makes Great Photographs: 80 Masterpieces Explained.
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London: Apple, 2012. .
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London: Frances Lincoln, 2013. .
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Pourquoi est-ce un chef-d'oeuvre? 80 photographies expliquées. Paris: Eyrolles, 2013. . French-language version.
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Seaside Photographed. By Williams and Karen Shepherdson. London: Thames & Hudson, 2019. . Published to accompany an exhibition of the same name.
Books edited by Williams
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Daniel Meadows. National Portraits: Photographs from the 1970s. Edited by Williams. Salford: Viewpoint Photography Gallery; Derby: Montage Gallery, 1997. .
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Look at Me: Fashion and Photography in Britain 1960-1997. Edited by Williams. London: British Council, 1998. . Catalogue of a touring exhibition curated by Williams and Brett Rodgers.
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Magnum Ireland. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005. . Edited by Williams with Brigitte Lardinois.
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Anna Fox Photographs 1983–2007. Brighton: Photoworks, 2005. . Edited by Williams. With texts by David Chandler, Val Williams, Jason Evans and Mieke Bal.
[The publication is reproduced here within Photography and the Archive Research Centre's site.]
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How We Are: Photographing Britain from the 1840s to the Present. Edited and with texts by Williams and Susan Bright. London: Tate, 2007. . With essays by Gerry Badger and Martin Parr, and by Kevin Jackson.
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Glyndebourne, a Visual History. London: Quercus, 2009. . Edited by Williams and Brigitte Lardinois. Includes an essay by George Christie.
Notes
