About
1000 Words is a leading online contemporary photography magazine. It commissions exhibition and photobook reviews, essays and interviews in response to the visual culture of our present moment. Founded in 2008, the editorial commitment has always been to explore the possibilities for the medium whilst stimulating debate around current practices, curation, discourses and theory internationally.
Operating out of London, but with a global perspective, the magazine has built a substantial archive of knowledge from culturally diverse worlds of photography and is considered an invaluable resource for artists, educators, researchers, historians, critics and curators working today. It supports and provides a platform for an esteemed roster of contributors, having showcased and published both established names as well as new writers and artists at critical stages in their careers.
1000 Words is recognised for its contribution to the study, appreciation and critique of the complex and changing ways photography shapes our understanding of the world. It was described by Gerry Badger in Another Country: British Documentary Photography Since 1945 (Thames & Hudson, 2022) as ‘a successor to Creative Camera’ and noted as ‘standing out for the quality of its writing’ in the Guardian.
Nominated as Photography Magazine of the Year (2014 and 2016) and Photo Content of the Year (2023) at the Lucie Awards, 1000 Words was also named as Photography Magazine of the Year at the Media Innovator Awards 2023. The 10 year anniversary print edition was released in 2018 followed by a series of paperback editions, including Curator Conversations (2021), Writer Conversations (2023) and Photobook Conversations (2025).
15th anniversary partnership
1000 Words is delighted to announce a new partnership with MPB to mark the magazine’s 15th anniversary in 2024.
Matt Barker, MPB founder and CEO, MPB, said: “Here at MPB, we aim to open up the world of visual storytelling in a way that’s good for people and the planet. We’re thrilled to partner with 1000 Words during their 15th anniversary year to celebrate the exciting work of photographers and videographers worldwide and help shine a light on some of the most pressing issues of our time.
As well as our shared goal to make photography accessible for all, we hope to champion circularity among the 1000 Words readership and encourage visual storytellers, no matter what stage of their journey they are on, to trade and upgrade to used camera gear.”
Tim Clark, Editor in Chief and Director, 1000 Words, said: “I am grateful to MPB for its enthusiasm and commitment in providing support towards our online publishing activities during this important anniversary year, especially when the space for critical perspectives and frameworks in the sector and culture at large seems to be shrinking.”
Colophon
Editor
Tim Clark
Assistant Editor
Alessandro Merola
Editorial Assistant
Thomas King
Website Design
Anthony Salvador
Website Administrator
Sam Mullen
Editorial Design
Sarah Boris
Advertising Director
Matt Roberts
Editorial Emiriti
Jenna Banat, Dom Bell, Brad Feuerhelm, Michael Grieve, Sean Stoker, Robson Yee
Contributing Writers
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Mariama Attah |
Janna Dyk Elizabeth Edwards Christine Eyene Jon Feinstein Horacio Fernández Brad Feuerhelm Gem Fletcher Joan Fontcuberta Wayne Ford Jermaine Francis Anneka French Oliver Gapper Jean-Kenta Gautier Jilke Golbach Maggie Gray Michael Grieve Yasmin Gunaratnam Sean O’Hagan Paul Halliday Ihiro Hayami Yining He Fergus Heron Greg Hobson Francis Hodgson Max Houghton Wu Hung Martin Jaeggi Erik Kessels Zachary Korol Gold Aneta Kowalczyk Sara Knelman Anouk Kruithof Liz Kuball Jeffrey Ladd Catlin Langford Luce Lebart David Levi Strauss Emma Lewis Kong Yen Lin Shana Lopes Robin Maddock Gordon MacDonald Katarzyna Majak Roxana Marcoci Jamie Marie Davis Lesley A. Martin Shoair Mavlian James McArdle Alexander McSpadden Elisa Medde J. MacNeill Miller Jeremy Millar Sabine Mirlesse Tanvi Mishra Mariacarla Molè |
David Moore Renée Mussai Michaela Nettell Mark Neville Simon Njami Thyago Nogueira Azu Nwagbogu Pelumi Odubanjo Gemma Padley Danaé Panchaud Alona Pardo Cara Phillips Christopher Pinney Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger Rachel Ridge Holly Rousell Ralph Rugoff Zoé Samudzi Anna Sansom Drew Sawyer Julia Schiller Kathrin Schönegg Conohar Scott Aaron Schuman Mark Sealy Roula Seikaly Eugénie Shinkle Iris Sikking Katrina Sluis Olga Smith Diane Smyth Lucy Soutter Ilaria Speri Urs Stahel Will Steacy Sue Steward Lisa Sutcliffe Emilia Terracciano Sergio Valenzuela Escobedo Laura Vallés Stefan Vanthuyne Ivan Vartanian Pedro Vicente Erik Vroons Eti Wade Peter Watkins Oliver Whitehead Nadine Wietlisbach Lillian Wilkie Val Williams Deborah Willis Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa Duncan Wooldridge Francesco Zanot Alice Zoo Willemijn van der Zwaan Joanna Zylinska |
About the founder
1000 Words’ founding editor is Tim Clark, a writer and curator based in London. Together with running the magazine, he is currently artistic director for Fotografia Europea in Reggio Emilia, Italy, alongside Walter Guadagnini, director of CAMERA, Torino and Luce Lebart, curator, historian and researcher for the Archive of Modern Conflict.
Clark has previously been involved in a wide range of projects: curatorial advisor for the Discovery section of Photo London 2022 and 2023; adjunct curator on Masculinities: Liberation through Photography (2020-22) at the Barbican Centre London, an exhibition which travelled to Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Les Rencontres d’Arles and FOMU Antwerp; guest curator at the Ci.CLO Bienal 2021 with the exhibition The Horizon is Moving Nearer for the Portuguese Center of Photography, Porto; curator of Mutable: Multiple, Derby QUAD, FORMAT International Photography Festival; and curator of London Art Fair’s Photo50 section with Who’s looking at the family, now? (all 2019).
He has held posts as artistic director of Photo Oxford 2017, together with Greg Hobson, and while associate curator at Media Space, Science Museum, London, he organised Julia Margaret Cameron: Influence and Intimacy (2015) and Gathered Leaves: Photographs by Alec Soth (2015–18), an exhibition which travelled to National Media Museum, Bradford, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, FOMU Antwerp and Deichtorhallen Hamburg. He has also curated numerous solo exhibitions of artists’ work including Mónica de Miranda, Simon Roberts, Lebohang Kganye, Raymond Meeks, Noémie Goudal, Jeff Mermelstein, Soham Gupta, Carmen Winant, Hoda Afshar, Guanyu Xu, Seiichi Furuya, Lisa Barnard, Yelena Yemchuk, Helen Sear, Arko Datto and others.
Clark nominates for Prix Pictet, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize and C/O Berlin Talent Award, and was recently the president of the jury for Premio Luigi Ghirri. He has contributed essays to exhibition catalogues for the Barbican Centre, London, Archive of Modern Conflict and Lagos Photo Festival, and has written for Financial Times, Foam, Photoworks, TIME, The Eyes and British Journal of Photography.
Clark has guest lectured at various institutions internationally including The Photographers’ Gallery, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Centre Budapest, and Leipzig Museum of Contemporary Art. He has led short courses on photography and curation for The Photographers’ Gallery, Le Bal and Perth Center for Photography, and currently teaches at The Institute of Photography, Falmouth University.
1000 Words favourites
• Renée Mussai on exhibitions as sites of dialogue, critique, and activism.
• Roxana Marcoci navigates curatorial practice in the digital age.
• Tanvi Mishra reviews Felipe Romero Beltrán’s Dialect.
• Discover London’s top five photography galleries.
• Tim Clark in conversation with Hayward Gallery’s Ralph Rugoff on Hiroshi Sugimoto.
• Academic rigour and essayistic freedom as told by Taous R. Dahmani.