Research Topic

Lewis’s research looks at the role that digital technologies play in visual journalism. In particular he is focused on the ways that these technologies shape the work of the picture editors who select news imagery, and through this shaping, how these technologies might also subtly shape the type of media representations that are possible. At the root of this is a concern with the ‘world making’ power of photography, and the role it plays not solely as an illustration of the news, but as something which fundamentally shapes our understanding of news events.

Biography

Lewis studied history at the University of Warwick, worked for the World Health Organisation, and in the media, and then studied documentary photography at the University of the Arts London, where he is now Senior Lecturer in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography.

His documentary practice examines different forms of power in contemporary society, from workings of opaque technological systems, to the archival power to reshape history and memory. Lewis’s projects have received numerous accolades and commendations, and his books and prints are held in private and institutional collections including the Tate group, The Museum of London, The Victoria & Albert Museum, the Bodleian Library, and the Library of Congress. He also has written extensively on the practice and ethics of photojournalism and documentary photography for a range of specialist and non-specialist publications, including Frieze, Wired, Dezeen, Vice, World Press Photo Witness, The Art Newspaper, The British Journal of Photography, and Hyperallergic.

Supervisors: Dr Dylan Mulvin & Professor Lilie Chouliaraki