Capturing humanity in our ever-changing society, Scottish born documentary photographer Grace Lambert–Phillips shares stories of connections, of culture and heritage, documenting life through her lens. She developed an appreciation for photography through the experiential, raw processes of studying and developing film, and after visiting her first Magnum Retrospective exhibition as a young photography student in Scotland, established her dedication to the art form of black and white photography. 

 

A chance meeting as creatives in Scotland with painter Jack Vettriano, Grace photographed a series of portraits of the artist and became a muse in his paintings, exchanging their individual artistic expressions. These collections of Vettriano paintings were scheduled to exhibit at the 7th Regiment Armory in New York for the International Art & Design Fair in September 2001.

 

Exploring her Scottish surroundings and developing a rising interest in photography curation, Grace coordinated her first exhibition in 2006 within twenty days, contributing towards the eponymously titled, The Twenty Collection showcasing a series of photographs of Perthshire, Scotland. 

 

Moving to Ariège, France, Grace deepened her craft in documentary photography where her time in the country was spent documenting the life and stories of the people there, compiling a catalogue of street and documentary studies collected over the years and successionally forming the exhibition Of Light and Time which opened in Roujan and thereafter in Léran, France. 

 

Expanding her work with documentary photography, Grace journeyed to London, merging her expertise in photography and humanitarian ambitions developing The Friendship Project, included in an anti-suicide campaign in collaboration with the London charity Youmanity in 2019. Focussing her lens on capturing the essence of friendship, twenty subjects were photographed, and portraits, published alongside the sitters’ words, were exhibited across the London DLR network on World Mental Health Day 2020. The same year brought Grace the purpose of creating The Lambert–Phillips Foundation, a platform formally bringing awareness towards important social, humanitarian subjects and the art of storytelling through the medium of documentary photography.

 

Responding to the unexpected alterations in society that ensued from the pandemic in 2020, Grace developed Stories of Isolation, an anthropological, documentary photography project gathering and sharing photographs taken by photographers across the globe. to explore the developing story of how the world was changing since the events of 2020. Further develping this document, she relocated to Florence Italy where she immersed herself in documenting Florentine life, through what continued to be the prolonged closures and second lockdown during the end of 2020  This unusual moment led to the production of The Tuscany Collection, a range of images capturing the beauty of the region during a time where the streets were largely empty.

 

Grace continues to expand her documentary photography portfolio, capturing the stories of the abundantly rich history of European culture and the people within it. Currently dedicated to opening her first studio and gallery in Tuscany, where she will develop a darkroom and with it a rediscovery of the origins of the art form, where experimentation and development of the craft of photography is at the core. 

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