Tony Storey

Tony Storey
Name	Tony Storey
Birth date	1 January 1950
Birth place	Manchester, England
Occupation	Photographer; Visual Artist; Researcher
Years active	1970s–present
Known for	Urban photography; Documentary projects; Teaching

Tony Storey

Tony Storey is a British photographer and visual artist known for documentary and urban landscape work spanning street photography, social documentary, and portraiture. His practice has intersected with public institutions, cultural organisations, and academic settings across the United Kingdom and Europe. Storey's output includes long-term projects, exhibitions, curatorial collaborations, and publications that address urban change, community, and built environments.

Early life and education

Storey was born in Manchester, and raised amid postwar reconstruction and the cultural shifts of the 1960s. He attended local schools before studying photography and visual arts at institutions affiliated with the Arts Council of Great Britain and regional polytechnics that later became universities, linking him to networks associated with the British Council and the National Gallery. His formative influences included encounters with work by photographers exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the documentary traditions of practitioners represented in the collections of the Royal Photographic Society.

Career and professional work

Storey's career began in the 1970s with commissions and freelance assignments for regional newspapers and cultural magazines that connected him to editorial outlets such as the Guardian and periodicals distributed through networks centred on the BBC. He developed a practice balancing commission work with studio projects and public art collaborations for municipal bodies including regional arts venues, urban regeneration agencies, and heritage organisations like the English Heritage. Over decades he worked with museums, galleries, and higher education departments connected to the University of Manchester, the University of Westminster, and institutions in Liverpool and Leeds. His professional trajectory includes roles as a visiting lecturer, workshop leader, and consultant on visual documentation for agencies involved in urban planning and cultural policy, engaging with stakeholders from the National Trust to municipal planning departments.

Notable projects and achievements

Storey produced several long-term documentary series charting neighbourhood change, housing estates, and industrial landscapes, often collaborating with community groups and local historians associated with civic organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund projects and regional archives like the Greater Manchester Archives Centre. Major exhibitions of his work have been hosted at venues including the Whitworth Art Gallery, the Tate Liverpool, and smaller independent spaces linked to the Elephant and Castle arts network. He participated in curated programmes with national festivals and biennials, working alongside curators and artists associated with the British Council's International Residencies and cross-disciplinary initiatives involving architects from practices featured by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Research and publications

Storey's research combined practice-led investigation with archival research, yielding essays and illustrated monographs published by regional presses and cultural organisations. His written contributions appeared in catalogues and journals circulated through networks linked to the International Center of Photography and British photographic periodicals. He contributed to collaborative publications addressing urbanism and visual culture alongside contributors from the London School of Economics, the University of Oxford, and the University of Glasgow, and his work has been cited in catalogues for exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery and in reports prepared for municipal heritage bodies. Storey also produced educational materials for arts organisations and delivered keynote talks at conferences convened by groups such as the Photographers' Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts.

Awards and recognition

Across his career Storey received regional arts awards and project grants administered by bodies like the Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as fellowships and residencies promoted by cultural institutions including the British Council and municipal arts offices. His projects received critical attention in national newspapers and specialist magazines, and he was shortlisted for awards presented by independent organisations in the photographic community, linked to the Royal Photographic Society and editorial prizes organised by leading publishers.

Personal life

Storey lived and worked primarily in northern England, maintaining close professional and personal relationships with peers from the regional arts scene, including curators, academics, and community organisers associated with charities and cultural trusts. He collaborated frequently with historians, archivists, and local reportage journalists, and he balanced commissioned public projects with independent practice. His interests outside photography have included local history, urban policy debates convened in civic centres, and participation in collective initiatives run by arts co-operatives.

Legacy and impact on the field

Storey's legacy is visible in the corpus of documentary work that documents late 20th- and early 21st-century urban and social change in northern English towns, informing academic and curatorial narratives in institutions such as the University of Manchester, the Whitworth Art Gallery, and regional museums. His practice contributed to debates among photographers, curators, and urban historians associated with the Institute of Contemporary Arts and informed teaching curricula in photography departments. Ongoing inclusion of his images in exhibitions and archives ensures that his visual records remain a resource for researchers, curators, and community groups engaged with the history of place.

Category:British photographers Category:People from Manchester