Geoffrey Batchen

Geoffrey has held the chair of Professor of Art History at Victoria University since July 2010.

His work as a teacher, writer and curator focuses on the history of photography with a particular interest in the way that photography mediates every other aspect of modern life.

Besides being an expert in the general theory and historiography of photography, Geoff has helped to pioneer the study of vernacular photography (photographs not intended as art, such as snapshots, commercial photos, and objects like photographic jewelery).

He has published extensively, as the author of six books on photography in eighteen languages to date, and the editor of an anthology of essays entitled Photography Degree Zero: Reflections on Roland Barthes's Camera Lucida (2009).

Over the past twenty-five years, Geoff has also been involved in the international art world as an exhibition curator in eight countries, editor of academic journals in three countries, given public lectures all over the world, and taught in numerous tertiary institutions.

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sacr/about/staff/geoffrey-batchen