Mark Forbes

born 1980, Middlesbrough, England. Lives Melbourne, Australia.

Biography

Mark Forbes is best known for his considered and atmospheric documentary photography of urban landscapes and interiors. He employs film as his medium of choice for personal documentary work - using predominantly traditional medium format cameras.

Forbes' approach to photography comes from an underlying fascination with people and the interaction with their environment. His recent work has focussed on memories - both individual and shared, anthropomorphism and the experience of Déjà vu. He has an uncanny knack of bringing personality to the ordinary.

Forbes' debut monograph Collected memories was published by the German publisher Hatje Cantz in 2023. Shortly after printing, a book signing event was held at Paris Photo 2023. The book was a shortlisted finalist at PHOTO 2024 for the Australian & New Zealand Photobook of the Year.

His photographs have been exhibited at solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia and internationally at both public and commercial galleries. His work has been shown at the Azulejo Gallery (Korea), Ephemere Gallery (Tokyo), APG Gallery (USA), Museum of Australian Photography, Bayside Gallery, Billilla Historic Mansion, Caloundra Regional Gallery, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Lethbridge Gallery, Perth Centre for Photography, Manly Art Gallery, Montsalvat, Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, Stanley Street Gallery, Tweed Regional Gallery, Victorian Archive Gallery and the Wyndham Art Gallery.

He was the winner of The Gomma Grant (2019, best colour photograph), a two time winner of the OptiKA Photographic Award (2024 & 2020), 2nd place in the IPA Professional awards in the Analog Fine Art category (2024 & 2022), the runner up in the Head On Portrait Award (2021), and has been a finalist in many renowned Art Prizes including the Blake Prize, Olive Cotton Award, Percival Photographic Portrait Prize, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art, CLIP Award, Lake Art Prize, Footscray Art Prize, Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize, Lethbridge Landscape Prize, Lethbridge Art Award, Wyndham Art Prize, Photo Lucida Critical Mass Top 50 and the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize (semi finalist). His portraiture has featured in multiple editions of the British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Humanity monographs. His images also featured at Leica HQ in Wetzlar during the M6 ‘Celebration of Photography’ and in the Lecia LFI magazine as part of their M6 launch.

Forbes is a contributor for The New York Times. He is available for assignments & commissions, and his limited edition prints and books are held in public and private collections, in Australia and internationally. His archive is managed by Kintzing for licensing and commercial use.