Alistair Morrison


Alistair Neil Morrison is a British photographer, known for his work with celebrity portraits and his charitable Legacy projects, including Time to Reflect, Time to Pause, and Time to Connect. More than 80 pieces of his work are held in the primary collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Early life and education

Morrison was born in Lima, Peru. His father, Jamie Ian Morrison, worked in telecommunications for Cable & Wireless Communications in Bermuda, where he met and married Aileen Rose Morrison. Following his posting to South America, the family lived in Peru, Chile, and Argentina, where Morrison spent much of his early childhood.
Upon leaving school, Morrison initially began work at the Bank of England before discovering a deeper interest in the visual arts. At the age of twenty-one, he enrolled as a photography student at Harrow College.

Professional career

In 1981, during his final year of college, Morrison undertook a six-week project photographing buskers in the London Underground. The resulting collection, Grassroots, was subsequently exhibited in the National Theatre in London. A review of Morrison's work around this time commended his technical proficiency, and notes his "thoughtful approach to the everyday subjects he chooses."
Shortly thereafter, Morrison began receiving commissions for celebrity portraits, working with publications including Vogue, The Observer, The Sunday Times, YOU Magazine, and Esquire, among others.
The beginnings of Morrison's professional career coincided with a broader movement advocating for photography to be recognised with major institutional art collections. This shift was recognised by the 1986 exhibition Twenty for Today at the National Portrait Gallery in London, in which Morrison was invited to exhibit alongside a cohort of emerging British photographers gaining recognition as significant contemporary voices.
Morrison continued to exhibit his work internationally, with shows held in cities including Paris, New York, Palm Beach, Miami, Florence, Berlin, Barcelona, and London. He lived in New York for five years, and worked for a number of publications across America.
At the turn of the millennium, Morrison collaborated with UNICEF on Time to Reflect, a portrait project involving hundreds of celebrities and public figures from the fields of music, sport, film and politics. Participants were invited to create self-portraits using a photobooth and contribute written reflections marking the new millennium. Morrison explained, "One of the key themes of this millennium is the fact that we all have an identity and we all have a right to our say. The passport photograph is a universal means of establishing your identity and we were also asking people to identify themselves through the message they give to the world." The project was published as a book in 2002, serialised in The Daily Telegraph, and was the subject of a documentary, Face Booth, with ongoing contributions throughout the 2000s.
Morrison has produced a series of Legacy photographs, applying his style of portraiture to curated group images of notable actors, sportsmen, Britons, musicians, chefs, and Bermudians.
In 2017, Morrison created "Searching for Apollo", the first of The Adoration Trilogy. The altarpiece — a forty-panel triptych featuring over 70 iconic men in music, including members of The Beatles, Queen, and Led Zeppelin, among others — was unveiled at the Victoria & Albert Museum in November 2017. The musicians were photographed individually in various settings across the UK and America, and staged against a background of stone archways and tunnels. Morrison told GQ:
In 2020, Morrison created two documentary films: The Real You, a personal exploration of his pursuit for photographic authenticity, and Time to Pause, created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter was awarded Best Public Awareness Cause Campaign at the 2021 Purpose Awards.
Morrison's ongoing project, Immune from Praise and Abuse, marks a departure from celebrity portraiture. The series is focused on authenticity, and sees Morrison turn his lens toward capturing the individual truths of "ordinary, yet extraordinary, people."
In 2023, Morrison began to journey across all 100 counties of the United Kingdom in a converted camper van, repurposed as a mobile studio. In this project, Time to Connect, Morrison engages with local artists and creatives in the creation of a national arts trail, intended to serve as a visual portrait of the nation.
Morrison is a regular invitee to give talks about his works and career to museums and academic institutions. He has conducted courses at The Courtauld Institute of Art, leading discussion on the nature and theory of portrait photography, and examining its historical context. A selection of Morrison's portraits were exhibited alongside impressionist works from The Courtauld's collection.

Celebrity portraits

Morrison's celebrity portraiture includes:

Exhibitions

Exhibitions of Morrison's work include:
  • Morrison at The Courtauld — The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, April 2023
  • Immune from Praise and Abuse — Gurr Johns, London, March 2021The Actors' Last Supper — Fortnum & Mason, London, March 2020Chefs' Legacy — Fortnum & Mason, London, March 2020
  • An Island's Legacy — Postcards from Bermuda — Hamilton Princess, Bermuda, September 2018
  • Searching for Apollo — Victoria & Albert Museum, London, November 2017
  • Great Britons — Sea Containers, London, December 2016
  • Waiting for Lomu, World's Greatest Rugby Squad — The World Rugby Museum, London, Permanent Exhibition
  • Triple Exposure — Forman's Smokehouse Gallery, London, June 2014
  • Form, Fame, and Fuma Divina — The House of Nobleman, London, February 2012
  • "The Actors' Last Supper" Portraits by Contemporary Photographers — National Portrait Gallery, London, September 2012-July 2013
  • Time to Reflect — The Bluebird, London, April 2012
  • Comedians: From the 1940s to Now — National Portrait Gallery, London, September 2011-January 2012
  • My Kingdom for a Horse, Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, January–December 2011
  • Alistair Morrison at 75 Wall Street — KiptonART Gallery, New York, September 2010
  • Hidden Gems — Getty Images Gallery, London, September 2009
  • Nudes: A Country Collection — Linley, London, May–June 2008
  • The Naked Portrait: 1900-2007 — Compton Verney, Warwick, September–December 2007
  • The Naked Portrait: 1900-2007 — National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, June–September 2007,
  • An Olympic Portfolio — National Portrait Gallery, London, 1996
  • In Close Up: Laurence Olivier, An 80th Birthday Tribute — National Portrait Gallery, London, May–November 1987
  • Stars of the British Screen: From the Thirties to the Present Day — National Portrait Gallery, London, December 1985-March 1986
  • Twenty for Today — National Portrait Gallery, London, May–August 1986

Books

  • Time to Reflect
  • Time to Reflect II
  • ''Hidden Gems''

Films

Morrison has created two films. The Real You, written by Morrison, is a short film that marked his fortieth year as a photographer and explores his career and search for photographic truth in portraiture.
In 2020, Morrison wrote, directed, and produced Time to Pause, documenting a series of personal testimonies from individuals around the world, reflecting on their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film premiered at the Göteborg Film Festival in 2021.

Collections

  • National Portrait Gallery, London: 83 Prints

Charity

Morrison has worked with and supported a number of charities throughout his career, including: