Founder and Director, British Culture Archive
Paul Wright is a curator, editor and publisher specialising in British documentary photography. He founded British Culture Archive in 2017 and directs its work across photographer representation, exhibitions, publishing, photographic editions and image licensing.
His interest in photography developed while growing up during the 1980s, through images of British society, working-class life and youth culture. He established BCA to bring photographers and archives that deserved wider attention into public view.
Paul works closely with photographers and estates, researching bodies of work, selecting and sequencing images, and developing publications and exhibitions. His approach places authorship and context alongside the photographs, keeping the people and communities they depict central to their presentation.
He also established The People’s Archive in 2017, BCA’s crowdsourced collection of family photographs and personal snapshots. The project recognises the place of everyday photography in the wider record of British life.
2026
Publisher · British Culture Archive, in collaboration with the Tish Murtha Archive.
2025
Publisher · Portraits from The Haçienda, published by British Culture Archive.
2025
Publisher · An exhibition publication with photographs by Jon Shard.
2026
Poble Espanyol, Barcelona · Curator of BCA’s 25-work photographic presentation.
2024
Brighton Photo Fringe · Curator of the first exhibition, with contemporary submissions and photography by Tish Murtha.
2023
Manchester · Curator of BCA’s photographic presentation for the 2023/24 Métiers d’art programme.
2023
Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre · Curator.
2022
The Refuge, Manchester · Curator.
2022
The Refuge, Manchester · Curator.
2021–2022
Science and Industry Museum, Manchester · Curator of the British Culture Archive photographic presentation.
2020–2021
The Refuge, Manchester · Curator.
2020
Sputnik Kino, Berlin · Curator. January–February 2020.
2019–2020
The Social, London · Curator. November 2019–January 2020.
British Culture Archive supported photographic research for Tate Britain’s The 90s: Art and Fashion, overseeing permissions and exhibition print production for selected works. This forms part of BCA’s wider work with museums and galleries.
For exhibition, publishing and press enquiries:
contact@britishculturearchive.co.uk