About

Email: martynpearsonphoto@gmail.com

Martyn Pearson is a photographer and lecturer in photography. In 2018 he established the BA (Hons) Photography and Moving Image course at the Blackburn School of Art and Design, Lancashire, UK. Since 2022, Martyn retired from full-time teaching, and now concentrates on photographing the landscape and environmental issues.

Since 2012, Martyn has traversed the British Isles and Ireland, from The Outer Hebrides to the Republic of Ireland and the county of Somerset, recording the peat - lands in an effort, through his photographs, to raise awareness of the environmental importance of peat and its viability in mitigating the worst effects of climate change.

Initially studying Graphic Design in Sheffield, Martyn turned to photography in the mid 1970’s and held his first exhibition of art works at the Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield. From there he worked for many years as a commercial and advertising photographer, producing work for advertising companies, direct clients and blue chip companies.

In 1993 Martyn started lecturing and making work for himself. Some of the early themes explored were ‘The Great and The Good,’ a documentary essay depicting the community of a small coastal town. He also produced a photographic analysis of ‘The Tower Circus, Blackpool,’ which was an illustration of life within Europe’s oldest permanent circus and its performers and acrobats. ‘The Architecture of Recreation,’ was an extensive, year-long, photographic essay depicting the world of ‘The Blackpool Pleasure Beach.’

These works have been exhibited in ‘The Grundy Art Gallery,’ Blackpool, ‘The Rheged Arts Centre’, Cumbria and ‘The Art Lounge’, Lytham St. Annes. A selection of photographs from these projects have also been published in ‘The British Journal of Photography’ and the ‘Black and White Photography’ magazine. In 2001, Martyn Pearson documented, through photography and text, the community of Kurdish refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. This project entitled ‘Displaced’ depicted individuals attempting to escape the repression of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party. This project contributed to an exhibition in the ‘Photofusion Gallery,’ London and the Central Library, Kidderminster..