Amak Mahmoodian

Dr. Amak Mahmoodian serves as Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of the West of England within the Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries, and Education (ACE), coordinating the Photography Research Group while collaborating with Bristol Photo Festival, Royal Photographic Society, IC Visual Lab, Arnolfini Gallery, and Multistory - Community Art.

Her academic credentials include:

• PhD in Photography (Practice-based), University of South Wales, 2015
• MA in Photography
• BA (Hons) in Photography

As a multidisciplinary artist-educator, her research critically examines gender identity and displacement through conceptual/documentary photography, utilizing photographs, text, video, and sound to bridge personal-political narratives across installations, photobooks, and films.

Her publications demonstrate sustained engagement with feminist photography history and contemporary photobook practices, consistently addressing identity politics through experimental visual narratives and socially engaged methodologies.

Major recognitions include:

• The Outstanding Teaching Award, Student Experience Award 2022 (UWE)
• Best Photo/Text Book winner, Rencontres Arles 2020
• D6 Culture Artists in Transit Residency 2022
• Time Magazine's Best Photobooks of 2017
• Multiple awards for Shenasnameh (2016) and Zanjir (2019)

She supervises PhD candidates while leading the Photography Research Group, with her pedagogical excellence acknowledged through UWE's 2022 teaching award and institutional partnerships advancing community-focused artistic practice.

Her leadership extends to the Photography Research Group at UWE Bristol and strategic collaborations with major cultural institutions to develop socially engaged artistic frameworks addressing contemporary identity politics.