Aaron Schuman

"[Photography] is the defining of observation full and felt."

‐ Walker Evans

Aaron Schuman is an American photographer, writer and curator based in the United Kingdom. Schuman’s photographic work is exhibited and published internationally, and is held in a number of public and private collections. His latest monograph, SLANT (MACK, 2019), was cited as one of 2019’s “Best Photobooks” by numerous photographers, critics and publications, including The Guardian, Internazionale, American Suburb X, Photoeye (Jason Fulford / Rebecca Norris Webb), Photobookstore Magazine (Vanessa Winship / Mark Power / Robin Titchener), UpPhotographers (Gus Powell), and Deadbeat Club Press (Raymond Meeks / Brad Feuerhelm).

He is also the author of FOLK (NB Books, 2016) – which was cited as one of 2016’s “Best Photobooks” by Alec Soth (Photoeye), Sean O’Hagan (The Guardian), and Jason Fulford (TIME), and was longlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2017. In addition to his own photographic work, Schuman has contributed texts to many books including Aperture Conversations: 1985 to the Present (Aperture, 2018), Another Kind of Life: Photography on the Margins (Prestel, 2018), Alec Soth: Gathered Leaves (MACK, 2015), Vision Anew (University of California Press, 2015), and The Photographer’s Playbook (Aperture, 2014); he also regularly writes for magazines such as Aperture, Foam, Frieze, Hotshoe, The British Journal of Photography and more.

Additionally, Schuman has curated several major exhibitions, including “New American Documents – Gregory Halpern, Sam Contis, Bayete Ross Smith” (FOMU, Anversa, 2016), “In Appropriation” (Houston Center for Photography, 2012), “Other I: Alec Soth, WassinkLundgren, Viviane Sassen” (Hotshoe Gallery, Londra, 2011) and “Whatever Was Splendid: New American Photographs” (FotoFest, 2010).

In 2014, Schuman served as Chief Curator of Krakow Photomonth, and in 2018 he served as Curator of JaipurPhoto Festival. Schuman was the founder and editor of SeeSaw Magazine (2004-2014), and is currently Programme Leader of the MA Photography programme at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol).

His exhibition SONATA, originally scheduled at Micamera for April 2020, is due soon. The exhibition – specially conceived for Micamera – is a visual journey, a “sonata” of images and ephemera inspired by Goethe’s writings and more generally by the ‘foreigner’s’ fascination with Italy. It takes into account the strong link between Schuman’s private family life, our country and his lifelong infatuation with it.

His website here