Chris Dorley-Brown is a British documentary photographer[1] and filmmaker, based in the East End of London.[2]
Since 1984, Dorley-Brown has been creating a photographic archive of the London Borough of Hackney.[3][4] Since 1993 he has collaborated with other people on a variety of projects in radio, print, cinema, television, Internet and architecture.[3]
His photography books include The Longest Way Round (2015),[5] Drivers in the 1980s (2015)[4][6][7][8] and The Corners (2018). His films include BBC in the East End 1958–1973 (2007) and 15 Seconds Part 3 (2015).
Dorley-Brown grew up on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England.[9] He trained as a silkscreen printer and print finisher after leaving school.[2] Later he joined the photographer Red Saunders' studio as a camera assistant. He went freelance in 1984, creating a photographic archive of the London Borough of Hackney where he lived and worked, which he has continued to do.[3][2][9]
"Largely self-taught, his cultural education was formed in east London in the late seventies, against a backdrop of strongly polarised political conflict and change. His influences are shaped by memory, both personal and those of others."[9]
In 1991, he expanded into filmmaking and other activities associated with burgeoning new technologies.[2][10] Since 1993 Dorley-Brown has collaborated with other people of various creative disciplines, as well as groups and individuals in the public sphere, on a variety of projects in radio, print, cinema, television, Internet and architecture.[3]
Dorley-Brown's work is held in the following public collections: