Brian Griffin
Brian Griffin was born in Birmingham, UK in 1948. He studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic. He began his career in 1972, in London as a freelance photographer, receiving his first commission from Management Today. His first exhibit was the “Young British Photographers” in 1975. In 1987 he received “Freedom of the City of Arles, France” award and published the book “Work” in 1988 with a one-man show at the National Portrait Gallery. “Work” was awarded the Best Photography book in the World at the Barcelona Primavera Fotografica 1991. In 1989 the Guardian newspaper proclaimed him to be “The Photographer of the Decade”. “Life” magazine used the photograph “A Broken Frame” as its front cover of a special supplement “The Greatest Photographs of The 80’s”.
From 1991 until 2002 Brian directed films, TV commercials, music videos, short films, and produced a retrospective at the Art Museum Reykjavik Iceland in 2005 followed by a book and exhibition for the Royal opening of St. Pancras Station, London and High Speed 1 (trains) in 2007. He is a patron of the Derby Festival of Photography and in 2009 for the London Olympics; he launched the photography project “Road To 2012” at London’s National Portrait Gallery alongside Lord Coe and Dame Kelly Holmes. In 2010 he had a major retrospective of his portraiture “Face to Face” in Birmingham, UK. He was awarded the “Centenary Medal” from the Royal Photographic Society in recognition of a lifetime achievement in photography.
He was commissioned and has exhibited at “Marseille Provence 2013 European Capital of Culture” and also for “Reference Works” the photography project to celebrate with a book and exhibition the building and opening of the New Birmingham Library. This was followed by a retrospective of his corporate photography in Bologna Italy during October 2013. On March 3rd 2014, he received a Honorary Doctorate by Birmingham City University for his lifetime contribution to the City of Birmingham.
