CJ Clarke
{{Short description|British photographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = CJ Clarke
| nationality = British
| occupation = Photographer
Filmmaker
| years_active = 2005 - present
| alma_mater = London College of Communication
| known_for = Just Another Photo Festival
The Rape in India Project
| notable_works = Magic Party Place
}}
CJ Clarke is a British independent filmmaker, photojournalist and photographer based in London, England. He is the author of Magic Party Place, a book documenting contemporary England and mapping the roots of Brexit in the process.{{cite web |last1=Cresswell |first1=Joanna |title=Capturing the essence of growing up in working-class Britain |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/33370/1/cj-clarke-photographs-growing-up-in-working-class-britain |website=Dazed |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2016-10-17}} Clarke's works have been commended at Ian Parry Award, three Magenta Flash Forward Awards and two Observer Hodge Photographic Awards.{{cite web |title=CJ Clarke is a visual artist and author of Magic Party Place |url=http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/people/clarke-cj |website=Sharjah Art Foundation |access-date=2022-04-23}}{{cite web |title=LensCulture - About CJ Clarke |url=https://www.lensculture.com/cj-clarke |website=LensCulture |access-date=2022-04-23}} He is also the co-founder and director of Just Another Photo Festival, an Indian photography festival that democratises access to visual media.{{cite web |last1=Sritharan |first1=Brennavan |title=Delhi's Just Another Photo Festival wants to prove that it's different from the rest |url=https://www.1854.photography/2015/09/not-another-photo-festival-delhi/ |website=British Journal of Photography |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2015-09-25}}
Biography
Clarke was born and raised in Basildon, England.{{cite web |last1=Bish |first1=Joe |title=A Decade of Photos from Basildon, the 'Most Average Place' in England |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/magic-party-place-cj-clarke/ |website=Vice |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2016-08-03}} He went to the University of York where he studied English Literature. In 2005, he moved to London where he studied documentary photography at the London College of Communication.{{cite web |last1=Smyth |first1=Diane |title=CJ Clarke's Magic Party Place |url=https://www.1854.photography/2019/04/cj-clarkes-magic-party-place/ |website=British Journal of Photography |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2019-04-08}}{{cite magazine |last1=Laurent |first1=Olivier |title=Anatomy of a Photobook: Magic Party Place by CJ Clarke |url=https://time.com/4396646/magic-party-place-england/ |magazine=Time |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2016-07-07}} Clarke began his professional career in 2005 while exploring and documenting his hometown Basildon in Essex for his photobook, Magic Party Place.{{cite web |last1=Crisell |first1=Hattie |title=Eight Emerging Photographers You Need to Know About |url=https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/9628/eight-emerging-photographers-you-need-to-know-about |website=Another Magazine |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2017-03-24}} In 2010, he produced and directed a short film, Mother & Daughter: Cody’s Story. The film won the inaugural edition of the British Journal of Photography's Open Shutter Award.{{cite web |last1=Laurent |first1=Olivier |title=Open Shutter - The First UK HD-DSLR Awards. |url=http://www.bjp-online.com/static/open-shutter |website=British Journal of Photography |access-date=2022-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126150924/http://www.bjp-online.com/static/open-shutter |archive-date=2011-11-26 |date=2011-01-14}} Mother & Daughter: Cody’s Story was produced for the British charity School-Home Support.{{cite web |last1=Bainbridge |first1=Simon |title=Photographer wins first Open Shutter Award |url=http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/1937198/photographer-wins-shutter-awards-title |website=British Journal of Photography |access-date=2022-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021073539/http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/1937198/photographer-wins-shutter-awards-title |archive-date=2011-10-21 |date=2011-01-14}}
In 2015, Clarke co-founded Just Another Photo Festival (JAPF) in India, with Poulomi Basu, a documentary photographer. JAPF is a guerrilla festival that aims at providing the art of photography to mass audiences irrespective of their background.{{cite web |last1=TNN |title=A photography fest that's open to all |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/a-photography-fest-thats-open-to-all/articleshow/49082435.cms |website=The Times of India |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2015-09-24}} He is also the co-founder of the crowdsourced activist initiative The Rape In India Project.{{cite web |last1=Chhariya |first1=Priyanka |title=Rape in India: A crowdsourced photo project that documents the space of assault |url=https://www.catchnews.com/gender-and-sex/rape-in-india-a-crowdsourced-photo-project-that-documents-the-space-of-assault-75255.html |website=Catch News |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2017-08-01}} In 2016, Clarke authored Magic Party Place, a decade-long project documenting ordinary town of Basildon and the rise of the rights that led to Brexit.{{cite web |last1=Themen |first1=Alle |title=Großbritannien: Wir sind der Durchschnitt |url=https://www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin/leben/2016-07/england-magic-party-place-fs |website=Die Zeit |access-date=2022-04-23 |language=German |date=2016-07-21}}{{cite web |title=Welcome to Basildon: the middle of Middle England – in pictures |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/sep/30/cj-clarke-magic-party-place-basildon-photography |website=The Guardian |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2016-09-30}} The book received critical reviews from several news outlets including The Guardian, Time and Dazed.{{cite web |last1=Dinsdale |first1=Emily |title=Road trips and raging hormones: These photos are an ode to teenage rebels |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/53817/1/road-trips-and-raging-hormones-these-photos-are-an-ode-to-teenage-rebels |website=Dazed |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2021-08-18}} Magic Party Place was shortlisted for multiple awards including the Aperture Paris Photo First Book Award 2016, Arles Authors Book Award 2017, Photo Espana Book of the Year 2017 and Photo London Krasna-Kraus Photo Book Award 2017.{{cite web |last1=Hernandez |first1=Ciel |title=A Dialogue with CJ Clarke on "Magic Party Place" |url=https://www.lomography.com/magazine/326744-a-dialogue-with-cj-clarke-on-magic-party-place |website=Lomography |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2017-01-22}}
In 2018, Clarke produced Blood Speaks, a transmedia project created by Poulomi Basu. Blood Speaks investigates normalised physical violence against women. The project was premiered at the Margaret Mead Film Festival and selected for Sheffield DocFest in 2018. In March 2019, Clarke and Poulomi Basu presented the project at the South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.{{cite web |title=SXSW Schedule 2019 |url=https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/speakers/2009028 |website=SXSW |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2019-03-10}} In March 2022, Clarke collaborated again with Poulomi Basu for the transmedia project, Fireflies, a series portraying relationship between mother and daughter.{{cite web |title=Poulomi Basu "Fireflies" @ Autograph, London |url=https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/photography/poulomi-basu-fireflies-autograph-london/ |website=Juxtapoz |access-date=2022-04-22 |date=2022-03-15}} Currently, Clarke is working on the project Loyalists about post-peace in contemporary Northern Ireland.{{cite web |last1=Fordham |first1=Michael |title=BOOK LAUNCH - Magic Party Place by CJ Clarke |url=http://71alondon.com/book-launch-magic-party-place-by-cj-clarke/ |website=71a London |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2016-12-19}}
Books
- Magic Party Place, (2016) published by Kehrer Verlag and designed by Teun van der Heijden.{{cite web |last1=King |first1=Alex |title=A decade of discontent |url=https://www.huckmag.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/conversation-photographer-revealed-brexit-britain/ |website=Huck |access-date=2022-04-23 |date=2016-12-17}}
- A Matter of Perspective in Digital Investigative Journalism, (2018) ed. Oliver Hahn and Florian Stalph published by Palgrave MacMillan.{{cite book |last1=Hahn |first1=Oliver |last2=Stalph |first2=Florian |title=Digital Investigative Journalism Data, Visual Analytics and Innovative Methodologies in International Reporting |date=2018 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-319-97283-1 |pages=157–169 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-97283-1 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-97283-1 |access-date=2022-04-23}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.cjclarke.com/ Official website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, CJ}}
Category:21st-century British photographers
Category:English photojournalists
Category:Alumni of the London College of Communication
Category:Alumni of the University of York