John Darwell

John Darwell (born 1955) is a British photographer.

Life and career Darwell was born in Bolton, Lancashire, in 1955. He has a BA in photography from Manchester Polytechnic, and a PhD from the University of Sunderland. (His thesis was titled A Black Dog Came Calling: A Visualisation of Depression through Contemporary Photography.) He is a Reader in photography at the University of Cumbria.

As a photographer, Darwell "roots himself in neglected landscapes".

Jimmy Jock, Albert and the Six Sided Clock (published in 1993) shows the Liverpool docklands at a time when "the amount of cargo passing through the docks" was higher than ever before, but when, thanks to mechanization, everything was run by fewer than 600 men, down from over 20,000.

For three weeks in late 1999, Darwell photographed within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: Pripyat, numerous villages, a landfill site, and people continuing to live within the Zone. This resulted in an exhibition and book titled Legacy.

The first pyre intended to check the British outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in early 2001 took place very close to Darwell's house in Cumbria. Darwell devoted a year to photographing this and its aftermath; the resulting book, Dark Days, "catalogues the destruction that consumed local farming communities and shut Cumbria off from the outside world".

DDSBs: Discarded Dog Sh*t Bags shows "a typology of discarded plastic bags containing dog muck", photographs Darwell presents "as evidence of our half-hearted commitment to the ecological cause". Dark Days. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2007. . With essays by Liz Wells, Roger Breeze, David Black and Alison Nordström. `

Booklets and zines by Darwell (h)arris: Images from the Western Isles. Democratic Book no. 9. Cologne: Democratic Books, 2004. A PDF that is freely downloadable from the publisher's website. Sheffield: Tinsley Viaduct. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2013. Sheffield: Meadowhall, Hyde Park, Ponds Forge. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2013. Grangemouth and the Forth Estuary. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2014. Desert States: Photographs from New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. Chronicles no. 6. Part of Chronicles set 2. Taipei: The Velvet Cell, 2014. Chernobyl. Vol 1. Chronicles no. 13. Taipei: The Velvet Cell, 2014. Chernobyl. Vol 2. Chronicles no. 14. Taipei: The Velvet Cell, 2014. Sheffield: The Remains of Some Buildings around the Don Valley. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2014. Sheffield: In Transition. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2014. The Dark River: Bolton — Farnworth. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2015. Edition of 150 copies. The Dark River: Kearsley — Clifton. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2015. Edition of 150 copies. The Dark River: Kearsley Power Station. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2016. Edition of 150 copies. The Dark River: Clifton — Death Valley — Agecroft. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2016. Edition of 150 copies. The Dark River: Agecroft — Salford. Southport, Merseyside: Café Royal Books, 2016. Edition of 150 copies. Some copies are accompanied by a separate essay by Paul Herrmann, "Reflections on Dark River."

Solo exhibitions Cityscapes. Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, Cumbria, 1984. Fotonoviembre, Centro de Fotografía Isla de Tenerife, 1995. First and Last. Viewpoint Gallery, Salford, 1997. Rituals in Japan to commemorate the atomic bombs. Committed to Memory. Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle. May–July 2007. Working Lives. Stockport Art Gallery, February–March 2011. Darwell's photographs from 1985. Dogs in Cages. Look 11 International Photography Festival, Confined. The Bluecoat, Liverpool, May–July 2011. After Schwitters. Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle. February–April 2013.

Public collections Victoria and Albert Museum, London King's College / Maudsley Hospital Trust, London Centro de Fotografía Isla de Tenerife