Format (photographic agency)

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Format
Formation1983
Dissolved2003;22 years ago (2003)
TypePhotographic agency
PurposeTo represent women photographers
Products Photojournalism
Key people
 Maggie Murray and Val Wilmer

Format was an agency set up in 1983 to represent women photographers, with the aim of documenting the world from a different perspective. [1] [2] The agency operated for two decades, and its end, in 2003, was marked by an exhibition. [3] In 2010, the National Portrait Gallery, London, showed a range of work by Format photographers. [4]

The idea of an all-women photo agency was the conception of Maggie Murray and Val Wilmer, [5] [6] [7] [8] and Format's membership over the years also included Jackie Chapman, Anita Corbin, Sue Darlow, Melanie Friend, Sheila Gray, Paula Glassman, Judy Harrison, Pam Isherwood, Roshini Kempadoo, Jenny Matthews, Joanne O'Brien, Raissa Page, Brenda Prince, Ulrike Preuss, Miriam Reik, Karen Robinson, Paula Solloway, Mo Wilson and Lisa Woollett. [3] [9]

An archive of Format's papers and photographs is held at Bishopsgate Institute, London. [10]

Exhibitions

References

  1. ↑ "Women Photographers", Woman's Hour , Visual Arts Archive, BBC Radio 4, 24 February 2003.
  2. ↑ "Groundbreaking Images by the Founder of the First Women's Photographic Agency in the UK". Vice . 17 August 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Ultimate Format | Format Women Photographers 1983 – 2003" Archived 21 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine , Photofusion.
  4. ↑ "Format Women's Picture Agency at NPG - January - July 2010" Archived 25 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine , Roshini Kempadoo.
  5. ↑ "Art, photography & architecture: Wilmer, Val (12 of 13). Oral History of British Photography", British Library, Sounds.
  6. ↑ Hopkinson, Amanda (21 September 2011). "Raissa Page obituary". The Guardian .
  7. ↑ Klorman-Eraqi, Na'ama (2019). The Visual Is Political: Feminist Photography and Countercultural Activity in 1970s Britain. Rutgers University Press. p. 61. ISBN   978-1-9788-0031-1 . Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  8. ↑ Hanna, Erika (2020). Snapshot Stories: Visuality, Photography, and the Social History of Ireland, 1922-2000. OUP Oxford. p. 226. ISBN   978-0-19-255586-1 . Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  9. ↑ "Format Photographers Agency 1983–2003".
  10. ↑ "Format Photographers Agency". Bishopsgate Institute. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  11. ↑ "Format Photography Agency 1983 – 2003". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
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