John Walmsley Surrey, United Kingdom
I've worked as a freelance documentary photographer since leaving Art School in 1968. My final year project on A.S. Neill and his democratic school, Summerhill, was published as a Penguin Education Special in 1969. My work is at the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain Library, the National Art Library at the V&A, the V&A Museum of Childhood and la Bibliothèque nationale de France.
New book out: https://www.johnwalmsleyphotos.co.uk/-/galleries/store/wester-hailes-book-1979 In 1979 I had a grant from the Scottish Arts Council (now Creative Scotland) to live on the Wester Hailes housing scheme, work with the kids at the new Wester Hailes Education Centre (the WHEC), and wander the neighbourhood talking to locals and taking photos.
I particularly like photographing people, ordinary people, doing what they do. Most of the sets of pictures which have 'lasted' were ones I self-started and self-financed. They can all be seen on my new website where you can buy my prints, postcards and books.
I'd like to have more work in exhibitions so I'm very happy to have found Curator Space. I've exhibited work at the National Portrait Gallery twice and at the Bluecoat, Liverpool, but also like to show in smaller, less obvious places. When the Charing Cross Hospital, London, was opened, I put up a temporary exhibition there which was great for all the people with time on their hands. It brightened their day.
At the end of summer terms, I used to work with school kids, often the less academic but, I always thought, more enthusiastic and entrepreneurial spirits, and we'd spend the week on a project of their choice.
I now have a motto: 'Artists should be paid, too'. It seems to me that people think they should not have to pay for art. "It's there on the web so I can use it, right?" I give talks to artists, actors, photographers about what to do when someone uses your expensively produced work and refuses to pay for it. On this subject, I'm amazed that one artist will copy the work of another or incorporate it into their 'new work', without even asking or giving any credit to the original artist. I've suffered from this and it makes me very cross. Please do not do it. It's so easy to ask.
With social media, I'm a lone voice in the forest. I've read their T+Cs and read about the people who own and run those sites and the way they treat young people. I don't want anything to do with them so I don't 'Do' social media. Many artists, on the other hand, find it works for them. But, it all looks too dangerous to me. Flickr and LinkedIn are OK, though.
Artwork
Projects and exhibitions
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Wien Modern05/09/2024 — ongoing Arts Festival throughout Vienna using my 1970 photo of Avant-Garde composer, Cornelius Cardew, to promote their performance of his composition, 'The Great Learning #1'. |
Vienna, Vienna | Details |
International Color Awards02/05/2024 — ongoing This photo was given a Highly Commended award at the 17th International Color Awards in LA. |
Online, Out of Los Angeles | Details | |
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17th International Color Awards02/05/2024 — ongoing My photo was given a Highly Commended award at this Awards event. |
Online, Los Angeles | Details |
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Tea & Friendship12/04/2024 — ongoing An exhibition across a wide range of meia on the subject of Tea & Friendship |
Space Pop-Up, 131 Mare Street, E8 3RH, London | Details |
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'Portraits'04/04/2024 — ongoing An exhibition of portrait photographs until 28th April |
Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow | Details |
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AppArt30/03/2024 — ongoing The large (800 artworks) annual exhibition on until Sat 13th April, 2024 including three of my photographs |
Prior's Field School, Godalming | Details |
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Exhibition of photographs12/02/2024 — ongoing Exhibition of my photographs (alongside linocut prints by Jenny Rickman) in the café at the Institute. There'll be a Meet the Artists session on Tuesday 12th March from 10 to 11.30am so come along for a coffee and a chat, very informal, no booking necessary. |
The Guildford Institute, Guildford | Details |
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Guardian interview25/01/2024 — ongoing An interview with me in the Guardian about the book, 'Don't Tell Me How to Run My Art School', by John Walmsley & Clare Grey, and about my work protecting artists' rights. The Guardian, page 9, Arts section, 25th January, 2024. And online: ... [Read more] |
The Guardian newspaper,, All over | Details |
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Exhibition12/01/2024 — ongoing A joint exhibition by numerous artists in the gallery atop this old mill. |
The Gallery, the Mill, Elstead | Details |
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Postcards05/01/2024 — ongoing I have two A3 photos in this exhibition based on postcards. Organised and curated by @loosenart |
Millepiani Exhibition Space, Rome | Details |
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PRINT-IT 202405/01/2024 — ongoing An exhibition and sale of prints to raise money for this gallery's work with artists and vulnerable people. |
Aire Place Studios, Leeds, UK | Details |
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Light & Shadow02/12/2023 — ongoing A joint exhibition of photos on the theme, 'Light & Shadow'. |
Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow | Details |
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Winter Lights29/11/2023 — ongoing An exhibition of postcard-sized artworks. My contribution is the actual postcard of this photo |
Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield | Details |
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B&W Spider Awards22/11/2023 — ongoing My photo included in the Photojournalism section of this year's Awards. |
California, Beverley Hills | Details |
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To The Sea19/10/2023 — ongoing Oranised by Shutter Hub, this is a year-long outdoor exhibition of photographs about the sea. |
outdoors, Les Alizes (outside) Boulevard de l’Égalité, Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, France | Details |
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Home12/09/2023 — ongoing A group exhibition of photographs |
Sage Gallery, Bangkok | Details |
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'Don't Tell Me How to Run My Art School'12/09/2023 — ongoing New book by John Walmsley, photographer, and Claire Grey, writer, about the sit-in at Guildford School of Art in 1968 which led directly to students and staff being invited onto Advisory Boards at schools, colleges and universities. Very glad to say it has been accepted into the National Art Library at the V&A and into the Tate Britain Library. |
n/a | Details |
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Shapes02/06/2023 — ongoing Group exhibition of photographs on 'Shapes'. Running until end of June 2023 |
Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow | Details |
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Lucie Foundation Awards19/05/2023 — ongoing My photo was selected as a finalist in the Candid Portraits section of the 'Portraits: Take Two' Awards. |
Online, Out of Los Angeles | Details |
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Humans & the Environment01/04/2023 — 30/04/2023 https://www.cistaarts.com/humansandtheenvironment Online exhibition of varied artwork. John Walmsley's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/johnwalmsleyphotos |
Online, Online | Details |
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Stories11/03/2023 — ongoing Exhibition of photographs where a single image tells or suggests a whole story. |
Decode Gallery, Tucson, Arizona, USA. | Details |
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Landscapes03/03/2023 — ongoing An exhibition by many photographers of landscape photos |
Galsgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow | Details |
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Art Makes Me Smile01/03/2023 — ongoing A joint exhibition of artworks which would make people smile. |
Heart of Art Gallery, Shipley, West Yorkshire | Details |
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Portraits17/02/2023 — ongoing Gallery exhibition of portraits as paintings and photographs |
A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, Texas, USA | Details |
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ReFocus B&W Awards07/02/2023 — ongoing An international award for B&W photographs held annually and judged by world level judges. |
Online, but out of California, Online, but out of California | Details |
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PRINT IT!03/02/2023 — ongoing An exhibition to raise funds for Aire Place Studios which runs courses and art sessions for people with a wide range of disabilities. |
Aire Place Studios, Leeds | Details |
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Monochrome06/01/2023 — ongoing Joint exhibition from many photographers of their best black and white work. On until 30th Jan 2023. |
Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow | Details |
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Black & White21/12/2022 — ongoing Joint exhibition of B&W photographs from photographers worldwide. |
New York Center for Photographic Art, New York city | Details |
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Vox09/12/2022 — ongoing International exhibition of work by many different artists: https://www.artlymix.com/voxexhibition/ |
Echo Gallery, Sao Paolo, Brazil | Details |
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Black & White Spider Awards05/12/2022 — ongoing I was fortunate enough to have three awards in this year's Spider Awards for B&W professional photographs: https://www.thespiderawards.com/gallery/17th/search?t=Walmsley&o=a&Submit=Search |
Oline from Los Angeles, Los Angeles | Details |
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Head On Photo Festival04/11/2022 — ongoing I have two photos, one in Landscape the other in Portraits, which reached the semi-final stage and are now on show as part of this major biennial Festival. |
Bondi Pavillion, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia | Details |
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Open Eco, Photofringe04/11/2022 — ongoing I have one photo in this exhibition on climate change. The show will be there for 6 months and is part of the biennial Brighton Photofringe Festival. |
Outdoors on the Seafront, Worthing, Sussex. | Details |
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Anything But Paint13/10/2022 — ongoing Exhibition of artworks which do not use paint. My contribution is a print of the Ebbw Vale steelworks, 1971, seen in full flow, belching out pollution all day, everyday. |
Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield | Details |
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My work over 5 decades12/10/2022 A Zoom talk to members of the Edinburgh Photographic Society about my work and how I have managed to make a living as a freelance, documentary photograper since leaving art school in 1968. Working on longterm projects, self-publishing books, doing exhibitions and fighting people/companies who infringe my copyright. |
Online Zoom, Edinburgh | Details |
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Festival of Books of Photography08/10/2022 — 09/10/2022 A two-day festival of talks and publishers presenting their books. I was there to promote my book as part of the Photobook Collective, a group of freelance photographers who all have pubished photobooks. |
Paintworks, Royal Photograhic Society and Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol | Details |
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Street07/10/2022 — ongoing A print of this photo is now on display as part of the 'Street' exhibition, at the Glasgow Gallery of Photography until 29th October 2022. It's a mini-skirted tour guide who had brought her group in, sat them down and started talking to them. I love the way her clothes contrasted with those of the statue in the distance. It's a historic... [Read more] |
Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow | Details |
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'We are Here'23/09/2022 — 25/09/2022 Exhibition of small artworks for sale with all revenues going to local charities working with refugees. I provided many of my postcards. |
Art Space, Cambridge | Details |
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John Walmsley, documentary photographer for 50 years16/09/2022 — ongoing An exhibition of early B&W and recent colour photographs of life in the UK covering protests, education, the everyday and the more quirky. |
The Riverside Café, the Maltings Arts Centre., Farnham, Surrey | Details |
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New eBook available, 'Wester Hailes, 1979'15/07/2022 — ongoing This is an eBook edition of my book on life in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, 1979. I was there as an Artist in Residence on a grant from the Scottish Arts Council (as was). The book is in the National Art Collection at the V&A. It was prepared and designed by students from Edinburgh College of Art. |
https://tinyurl.com/eBookWesterHailesByWalmsley, N/A | Details |
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Living in the Past15/07/2022 — ongoing Group exhibition from Friday 15th July to Saturday 27th August |
Cupola Contemporary Art, Sheffield | Details |
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eBook special edition on street photography01/07/2022 — ongoing This is a special edition of the gallery's magazine. https://www.collectartwork.org/post/streetphotography-specialedition |
Collect Art Gallery (the publisher), Tbilisi, Georgia. | Details |
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The Everyday02/06/2022 — ongoing An exhibition of the everyday. |
Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield | Details |
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Street Photography02/06/2022 — ongoing Selection of street photos by many photographers from around the world. |
Online., Tbilisi, Georgia. | Details |
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Summer Show02/06/2022 — ongoing A virtual joint exhibition organised by the FLUX gallery |
FLUX gallery, Virtual, based in London | Details |
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Fluid27/04/2022 — ongoing A joint exhibition with many other artists in this artist-run gallery. |
Espacio Gallery, London | Details |
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Getting Your Ducks in a Row20/04/2022 A Zoom talk for the Futures Venture Foundation to artists about 'Getting Your Ducks in a Row', being business-like from the off so you protect your copyright and have the necessary records to be able to make people pay you when they use your work without permission. |
Online, Manchester based | Details |
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Curious Minds02/04/2022 — ongoing 5 of my photos in an exhibition with many other artists |
Virtual, organised by FLUX REVIEW, London | Details |
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Chronos26/03/2022 — ongoing Chronos exhibition explores the complex nature and passage of time; how we relate to the past, how it influences our actions in the present and how we deal with our expectations for the future. It invites viewers to reflect on our awareness of time, how we organize our lives around it, and also the way we experience it. |
Echo's Studio, Sao Paolo, Brazil. | Details |
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'Hope'22/02/2022 — ongoing Collect Art was set up to promote local Georgian artists but now also accepts work from other artists. My work is in a physical show in Tbilisi and also online here: https://www.collectartwork.org/post/johnwalmsley |
'Collect Art' Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia | Details |
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Talk to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ)08/02/2022 I'm a member of the NUJ and this was a talk to the Edinburgh branch about my self-published book, 'Wester Hailes, 1979', based on a community on the edge of the city. I also talked about other projects I've done and then about how creative artists can protect their copyright, fight plagiarism and copyright infringements and derive an income... [Read more] |
Zoom, Edinburgh, Scotland | Details |
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Talk to the Society of Authors11/01/2022 I'm also a member of the Society of Authors and had noticed there could be problems when authors used images. This talk was about where to source images and if you had a right to use them. It introduced individual artists' (incl' photographers) websites as well as the international picture libraries and confirmed that, for most images,... [Read more] |
Zoom, Guildford, Surrey | Details |
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ING Discerning Eye12/11/2021 — ongoing The annual exhibition of small artworks for sale to benefit this charity. Last day is Sunday 21st Nov 2021 |
Mall Galleries, the Mall., London | Details |
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Wester Hailes, 1979 exhibition25/10/2021 — ongoing An exhibition of photos I took in Wester Hailes while on a grant from the Scottish Arts Council (as was) in 1979. It was held to coincide with a new self-published book of the photos complemented by reminiscences from people who were there at the time. Book available... [Read more] |
WHALE Arts, Edinburgh | Details |
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100 years of the Magistrates Association11/10/2021 — 23/10/2021 Celebration of the wide range opf work covered by Magistrates. My section was on the Right of Association, three photos from the sit-in at Guildford School of Art, 1968. |
D-Contemporary, London | Details |
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The Virtual Art Fair 202130/04/2021 — ongoing Wide range of artworks. Mine were photos of Stéphane Grappelli, Vanessa Redgrave, a landscape, art school sit-in from 1968 |
Online only: https://www.thevirtualartfair.co.uk/peoples-choice-award?pgid=kn7d3f8l-3904dd6f-3598 | Details |
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Inner city: Out of Place24/04/2021 — ongoing The many facets of inner ciities. My two photos were of earthquake damage in Armenia and a beggar on the streets of Moscow. |
Online only: https://loisemmaharkin.wixsite.com/innercityoutofplace/john-walmsley | Details |
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Socially Engaged Art Salon25/11/2020 — ongoing I'm exhibiting my photos of the student sit-in at Guildford School of Art, 1968, which became the longest ever at an educational institution in the UK and led directly to students and staff being invited, for the first time, on to the Advisory Boards of schools, colleges and Unis. Since 2016, SEAS has put on a successful programme of... [Read more] |
https://www.seasbrighton.org/post/john-walmsley-there-is-a-market, Online | Details |
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Kensington & Chelsea Art Week18/10/2020 — ongoing Little Voices is a place for addressing some of the greatest challenges of our time through collective creativity. See how artists today are mobilising action on climate change and inequality to create a better tomorrow. |
Online at: https://www.little-voices.co.uk/john-walmsley | Details |
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'100 Years of Justice'01/09/2020 — ongoing Online show here: https://www.ma100yearsofjustice.com/ It celebrates the first 100 years of the Magistrates Association covering the areas of life which magistrates commonly deal with. My section is on Freedom of Association. |
Online. Physical show will be in 2021 | Details |
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'Stand Up', celebrating International Women's Day07/03/2020 — ongoing The show is now online with a virtual tour here: https://artcoregallery.org.uk/virtual-tour/ The show in-gallery is closed. |
Artcore Gallery, Derby | Details |
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A Black and White Christmas19/12/2019 — 11/01/2020 Had 30 B&W photographs as a rolling projected programme at the gallery. |
Pineapple Black Arts, Middlesborough | Details |
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'Falling Walls', mail art exhibition.01/11/2019 — 16/11/2019 'Falling Walls' exhibition, part of the 'Berliner Zeitgeist' project at the Stroud Valleys Artspace, Stroud, Gloucestershire. This was an exhibition of Mail Art to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. |
Stroud Valleys Artspace., Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK. | Details |
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Anna Scher Children's Theatre, 1972.12/09/2019 In 1972, I spent many happy evenings photographing the Anna Scher Childen's Theatre in Islington. As with my other projects, I did it because it was interesting, fascinating, and was great for these local kids. This publication is one of the six of my work published by Café Royal Books: www.caferoyalbooks.com. The lad on the cover is a... [Read more] |
Islington, London | Details |
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'Finding Our Voice'26/05/2018 — 08/07/2018 In 1968, I was a student at the Guildford School of Art. We were unhappy at the quality of teaching and structure of the courses so the students and concerned staff met to discuss what could be done and then asked to talk with the governors. They refused again and again so we began a sit-in which became the longest ever at a UK educational... [Read more] |
Guildford House Gallery, Guildford | Details |
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Protest and standing up for yourself.11/05/2018 Liverpool John Moore's University held a four day festival called, 'Time Tunnel', and invited me to talk to, mainly, Fine Art students about protest, after my involvement with the long sit-in at the Guildford School of Art in 1968. I'm concerned that students these days are not given enough real life advice for a very demanding business... [Read more] |
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool | Details |
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Liverpool Free School exhibition20/07/2017 — 01/10/2017 In 1971 I had photographed the Liverpool Free School. In 2017 the photos were exhibited at the Bluecoat in Liverpool as part of the 'Abacus' exhibition. Also known as the Scotland Road or Scottie Road Free School it was founded and run as an alternative to normal school by two teachers, John Ord and Bill Murphy, who worked with the kids and... [Read more] |
Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, UK | Details |