Gordon MacDonald (Editor, Publisher, Curator and Writer)
edit(born East Kilbride 1967).
MacDonald is the founding Editor of Photoworks magazine and was Head of Publishing at Photoworks, the Brighton based organization for contemporary Photography in Britain. Before this he has worked in all areas of photography as an artist, writer, curator, press photographer and educator. He is currently the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Brighton Photo Fringe, which he co-founded in 2003 and co-director, alongside Stuart Smith, of the visual arts publishers [[GOST.]] Gordon MacDonald is also half of the collective MacDonaldStrand who initiate idea based projects.
Gordon MacDonald founded Photoworks Magazine in 2003 and in doing so quickly brought it to an International audience, attracting worldwide recognition. He recognised that photography is most relevant when it is discussed in the context of a wider visual culture. MacDonald’s aim was to show work by emerging photographers alongside that of well-established practitioners, bringing freshness to well-known work and attention to the less-known.
MacDonald stood down as editor at Photoworks issue 17, in October 2011. Photoworks subsequent issue (18) has continued with MacDonald’s ethos and methods. During MacDonald’s editorship, he has interviewed a number of Lens Based Artists, photographers and filmmakers, such as Richard Billingham, [[Martin Parr]] Nick Broomfield and Jeff Wall and had written a large number of texts on artists including, Osama Wataya, Martin Lange, Lisa Barnard, Daniel Stier and Broomberg and Chanarin.
MacDonald also initiated the publishing activity at Photoworks and produced and edited a large number of notable publications, which includes [Joachim Schmid]], Photoworks 1982-2007, Stuart Griffiths, The Myth of the Airborne Warrior, Daniel Meadows, Edited Photographs from the 70s and 80s, [[Anna Fox,]] Photographs 1983-2007, Broomberg and Chanarin, Fig. It’s Wrong to Wish on Space Hardware and The House in the Middle, both by MacDonald.
In 2001 he curated the show, Its Wrong to Wish on Space Hardware the Gardner Art Centre and The House in the Middle (2004) at Towner Art Gallery.
MacDonald was a senior Lecture at Southampton Institute 2000- 2003 and has guest lectured on many other Degrees, MA and PhD courses throughout the country. He has lectured at Tate Britain, London Art Fair, The Baltic, and The National Portrait Gallery. In 1998 MacDonald worked collaboratively with Val Williams and Anna Fox on the pioneering Shoreditch Biennale and with Brett Rogers (1998) and the British Council for the Look at Me: Fashion and Photography in Britain 1960-1997 exhibition.
Gordon MacDonald lives in Brighton and is married to the photographic artist Clare Strand and has 3 children.
External Reference
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Gordon MacDonald Blog Ideas and Ideals in Visual Culture
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