About me
Michael is an experienced curator, creative producer/project manager and arts programmer.
He is the Online Education Manager at Magnum Photos.
He previously worked at QUAD, a National Portfolio Organisation that specialises in contemporary visual art and digital practice. He was also an integral part of the team behind three editions of FORMAT International Photography Festival, the UK’s largest and most significant biennale in contemporary photography.
He has curated 25+ exhibitions for QUAD, has overseen 45+ artistic commissions and numerous residencies, and developed and delivered various public programme strands.
He also works as a freelance producer and curator with cultural and charitable organisations, as well as delivering his own curatorial and publishing projects independently. Michael is regularly invited to speak at educational institutions and has been a portfolio reviewer at organisations/festivals related to contemporary photography including: GRAIN Projects, Magnum, Voies Off and Rencontres d’Arles.
Projects
- Alec Soth: Photographic StorytellingAlec Soth leads the second online course by Magnum Photos, demonstrating the different techniques and approaches he uses in his photographic storytelling. In his first-ever online course, you will follow the world-renowned visual storyteller as he navigates a range of different photographic scenarios, initiated after a random act - a dart thrown at a map. Through an engaging curriculum of 19 in-depth video lessons, participants will learn about a variety of topics, from building a project to cr
Projects credited in
- Turning Points: The Magnum Square Print Sale, in collaboration with The Everyday ProjectIn Turning Points Magnum Photos collaborated with The Everyday Project, a non-profit organisation and global photographic community that covers topics spanning climate change, mass incarceration, and is featured regularly in worldwide publications. 82 Magnum photographers and 31 Everyday Projects photographers presented images relating to events that changed the course of history, society, a life, or a practice. The sale coincided with the onset of Covid-19, which in itself represented a major
- 'The Edge' - Creativity Works: Visual Storytelling with Magnum PhotosBrief: What's your London? 'The Edge' The project was formed through an experimental process of exploring the area around the artist’s home. Focussing on the suburbs – a part of London less observed – the project evolved through a process of making photographs along the rural/urban edges. The one image chosen to be on display in the exhibition depicts an intersection of the human element with nature, a hint, which leaves the viewer wondering. This resonates with the feelings of the artist, als
- Creativity Works - Visual storytelling in association with Magnum PhotosA 6-week photography program for Londoners aged 18-24 years old, mentored by Sohrab Hura. This intensive course seeks to equip London's young creative talent with the connections, skills, knowledge and inspiration to tell stories that are important to them and that inform and impact social change. Through a range of practical workshops and activities, critique sessions and talks, twenty-five young Londoners will develop their own visual language and the skills required to understand photography
- Creativity Works Visual Storytelling - Yet Another DayYet Another Day examines the relationship between Jai Toor's grandparents as they seek comfort and well-being in their everyday lives. Domestic spaces and the workplace provide an integral setting for this story of a generation who have lived in West London for 40 years. Through tender observation, Toor’s images allow us to view the nuanced themes of compassion and anxiety that occur in family life. His grandparents have a long history of health issues, however, this has not stopped them working
- Creativity Works: Visual Storytelling with Magnum PhotosThis work was produced during a 6-week intensive photography course with Create Jobs and Magnum Photos. Photographs were produced in fulfilment of a brief set by It's Nice That. The brief asked course participants to take photographs which portrayed what London was to them. Under the guidance of Magnum associate Sohrab Hura, a body of work was developed for display in an exhibition and to be printed in a zine. The concept for this project was the phrase 'we move'. According to the Urban Dictio
- Creativity Works: Visual Storytelling w/ Create Jobs and Magnum PhotosTree of Heaven ‘Tree of Heaven’ navigates a fluctuating path, one that explores the conflicting ideas of home and homelessness I have experienced in the past year and a half. The project does so using photographs more as fantastical backdrops emerging from the story, than as literal documentations of these juxtaposed ideas. The Tree of Heaven – itself a real species - has long been despised for its invasive nature: growing rapidly in its pursuit of light, it diminishes the lives of other plant
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Work history
Digital Project ManagerMagnum Photos
London, United KingdomFull Time
Online Education ManagerMagnum Photos
- London, United KingdomFull Time
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Skills
- Project Management
- Film Production
- Education Projects
- Curating
- Curating Photography
- Producing
- Digital
- Creative Direction
- Photo Editing
- Photography