Stuart Griffiths (photographer)

Griffiths is from North West England. He was born in Manchester and grew up on its outskirts. The family later moved to Warrington where he spent his teenage years.{{cite web|first1=Paddy|last1=Shennan|accessdate=2021-05-04|title=Photographer Stuart Griffiths reveals the plight of ex-soldiers returning home in new film, Isolation|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/photographer-stuart-griffiths-reveals-plight-3401339|date=13 July 2010|website=Liverpool Echo}}

He joined the British Army at age 16, spending five years in the Parachute Regiment, deployed as part of Operation Banner in Northern Ireland. He left in 1993, aged 21{{cite web|accessdate=2021-05-04|title=On civvy streets|url=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/may/04/homelessness.guardiansocietysupplement|date=4 May 2005|website=The Guardian}} and moved to Brighton, East Sussex. In 1993/94 he attended outdoor illegal rave / free parties around Brighton, which he photographed.{{cite news|access-date=2021-05-25|title=Former paratrooper's rave photo book|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-sussex-22300938|newspaper=BBC News}}{{cite web|author=Stuart Griffiths|access-date=2021-07-30|title=Perpetual Dawn: Illegal Raving in 90s Brighton|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/5gavma/perpetual-dawn-illegal-raving-in-90s-brighton|website=Vice}} From 1994 he studied for a BA in Editorial Photography at the University of Brighton, graduating in 1997.{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-25|title=The culture of Liverpool gang guns narrated by Stuart Griffiths|url=https://www.c41magazine.com/liverpool-gang-culture-narrated-stuart-griffiths/|date=14 June 2017|website=c41magazine.com}} In 2000, Griffiths was homeless and jobless in London, sleeping in doorways until moving into an ex-forces hostel in east London. While living at the hostel he worked as a paparazzi photographer.

In the late 2000s, Griffiths worked on stories about gangs in Liverpool, first with Graham Johnson and later with other journalists.{{cite web|access-date=2021-07-30|title=The culture of Liverpool gang guns narrated by Stuart Griffiths|url=https://www.c41magazine.com/liverpool-gang-culture-narrated-stuart-griffiths/|date=14 June 2017|website=c41magazine.com}}{{cite web|author=Stuart Griffiths|access-date=2021-07-30|title=Mersey Infanticide|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/vdzmkm/mersey-infanticide-219-v15n9|website=Vice}}

The 2009 documentary film Isolation, directed by Luke Seomore and Joseph Bull, follows Griffiths as he journeys through England encountering ex-soldiers experiencing the physical and emotional scars of life after the Army.{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-25|title=Isolation, a film by Stuart Griffiths|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/8g7e7v/isolation-a-film-by-stuart-griffiths|website=Vice}} The film premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival then toured the UK at Picturehouse Cinemas.

The photographs of The Myth of the Airborne Warrior (2011) "were taken on a compact Canon secreted in his webbing while he was serving as a paratrooper with the British Army in Northern Ireland in the late Eighties and early Nineties."{{cite web|accessdate=2021-05-04|title=Photography: The Myth of the Airborne Warrior, By Stuart Griffiths|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/photography-myth-airborne-warrior-stuart-griffiths-6261279.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/photography-myth-airborne-warrior-stuart-griffiths-6261279.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|date=12 November 2011|website=The Independent}} Sean O'Hagan, in The Guardian, wrote that "The photographs ... often look snatched or have been taken from a distance so that the housing estates and streets of tribally divided, working-class Belfast look even bleaker and more threatening than they are. He captures his fellow paras at rest and at play ... The small book has little context save for Griffiths's own first-person text, which has been heavily edited in black marker to highlight the most shocking anecdotes in direct contrast with the mundanity of the images. ... An odd little book, then, of one soldier's wilfully unprofessional but curiously revealing photographs – but an evocative one for that very reason."

Pigs' Disco (2013) contains writing with accompanying photographs and illustrations. It "juxtaposes the grim and gritty reality of life as a British soldier stationed in Northern Ireland during the Troubles with images of the nascent rave scene and drug use in the British Army",{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-05|title=Publication: Soldiers, drugs and raves in Stuart Griffiths' superb new book|url=https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/stuart-griffiths-pigs-disco|website=www.itsnicethat.com}} as well as of later life in Brighton.{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-05|title=British Soldiers Take Drugs and Go to Raves, Too|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/pp87qn/dropping-acid-on-active-military-duty-and-other-tales-from-the-paratroop-regiment|website=Vice}}

He currently lives in Hastings, East Sussex and works full-time with East Sussex Veterans Hub, dealing with veterans' alcohol and substance misuse issues.{{cite web|accessdate=2021-05-04|title=Meet the Team|url=https://www.eastsussexveteranshub.co.uk/meet-the-team|website=East Sussex Veterans}}

• The Myth of the Airborne Warrior. Brighton and Hove: Photoworks, 2011. Photographs and text by Griffiths, and ephemera. Edited and with a short essay by Gordon MacDonald. {{ISBN|978-1-903796-45-0}}. Edition of 500 copies.{{cite web|accessdate=2021-05-04|title=The Myth of the Airborne Warrior Stuart Griffiths|url=https://photoworks.org.uk/shop/the-myth-of-the-airborne-warrior-stuart-griffiths/|website=Photoworks}}
• Pigs' Disco. London: Ditto, 2013. Text, photographs and illustrations by Griffiths. {{ISBN|978-0-9567952-5-0}}.{{cite web|first1=Jim|last1=Powell|accessdate=2021-05-04|title=Guns, drugs and the Pigs' Disco: tales from a soldier in Belfast - audio slideshow|url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/audioslideshow/2014/may/05/guns-drugs-pigs-disco-troubles-belfast-audio-slideshow-photography|date=5 May 2014|website=The Guardian}}

• Basics Creative Photography No. 2: Context and Narrative. By Maria Short. AVA Academia, 2011. {{ISBN|9782940411405}}.
• Fieldstudy 18: Closer. London: Photography and the Archive Research Centre, 2013. Edited Val Williams.
• Northern Ireland 30 Years of Photography. By Colin Graham. Belfast: Belfast Exposed; Metropolitan Arts Centre, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9561766-1-5}}. Published on the occasion of an exhibition.{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-05|title=Northern Ireland: 30 Years of Photography|url=https://www.belfastexposed.org/books/northern-ireland-30-years-of-photography/|website=Belfast Exposed}}
• Portraits of Violence: War and the Aesthetics of Disfigurement. Corporealities: Discourses Of Disability. By Suzannah Biernoff. University of Michigan Press, 2017. {{ISBN|978-0472130290}}.
• Seaside Photographed. Thames & Hudson, 2019. By Val Williams and Karen Shepherdson. {{ISBN|9780500022061}}. Published on the occasion of an exhibition.
• Masculinities, Liberation Through Photography. London: Prestel, 2020. Edited by Alona Pardo. {{ISBN|9783791359519}}. Published on the occasion of an exhibition.

• Isolation (2009) – 76 mins, directed by Luke Seomore and Joseph Bull
• "Broken Covenant", People & Power series (Al Jazeera English, 2009) – 30 mins{{cite web|accessdate=2021-05-04|title=Broken Covenant|url=https://www.aljazeerakiswahili.com/program/people-power/2009/1/24/broken-covenant|website=www.aljazeerakiswahili.com}}

• Closer, London College of Communication, London, 2013;{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-04|title=Stuart Griffiths Has an Exhibition Next Week|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/xdpnpa/stuart-griffiths-has-an-exhibition-next-week|website=Vice}} MAC, Birmingham, 2013; Sussex Coast College, Hastings, 2014.{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-04|title=Closer: one man's military campaign|url=https://hastingsonlinetimes.co.uk/hastings-life/hastings-people/closer-glimpses-into-one-mans-military-journey|website=hastingsonlinetimes.co.uk}} Curated by Val Williams.

• Seaside: Photographed, Turner Contemporary, Margate, 2019; John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, Southampton, 2020;{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-05|title=Seaside: Photographed virtual tour|url=https://jhg.art/video/seaside-photographed-virtual-tour/|website=John Hansard Gallery}} Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance, 2021.{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-05|title=Seaside: Photographed - an exhibition at Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange|url=https://newlynartgallery.co.uk/activities/seaside-photographed/|website=Newlyn Art Gallery}} Curated by Val Williams and Karen Shepherdson. Included Griffiths' photographs of the 1990 rave scene in Brighton.{{cite web|access-date=2021-05-04|title=Seaside Photographed: Images that capture the British seaside from the 1850s to today|url=https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/seaside-photographed-images-that-capture-the-british-seaside-from-the-1850s-to-today/|date=24 May 2019|website=Creative Boom}}

Griffiths' work is held in the following permanent collection:

• Imperial War Museums, UK: 42 prints (as of May 2021)

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|stuartgriffiths.net}}

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Category:21st-century British photographers

Category:20th-century British photographers

Category:Photographers from Manchester

Category:Alumni of the University of Brighton

Category:Artists from Greater Manchester

Category:Artists from Warrington

Category:Date of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people

Category:1972 births