Biography
Jon Tonks is a British photographer based in the UK. His work focuses on telling stories about people’s lives shaped by history and geography. Originally from the West Midlands, Jon studied design before pursuing his interest in visual storytelling as a newspaper photographer. He progressed to study a Master’s degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication, and embarked on an influential trip to Ascension Island during his studies.
His work has been featured in The New York Times, Le Monde, GEO (FR), Capital (DE), National Geographic (CN), The Guardian, Sunday Times, Telegraph and FT Weekend Magazines, Monocle magazine, the British Journal of Photography, Source and more.
He has been shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize three times, twice for the Terry O’Neill award, and in 2014, Tonks was presented with the Vic Odden Award by the Royal Photographic Society for his first book Empire – a journey across the South Atlantic exploring life on four remote British Overseas Territories. The book was hailed by Martin Parr as one of his best books of the year.
His work is now in a number of private collections, both in the UK and abroad, including Stanford University, California, The Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, The Hyman Collection of British photography, London, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Texas.
Commercial clients include Jaeger, Microsoft, Eurostar, Nokia, Samsung, Neptune, Channel 4, Santander Visit Wales and Halifax.
Exhibitions
- 2023 The Photographers' Gallery - Head For The Leeward Side, March 2023
- 2023 Photo London, The Photographers' Gallery, Somerset House
- 2022 Facing Britain, Mönchehaus Museum, Goslar, Germany
- 2022 Pictura Gallery, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, September 2022
- 2021 Facing Britain, Kunsthalle, Darmstadt, Germany
- 2021 44AD, The Men Who Would Be King book launch, November, Bath, UK
- 2020 Facing Britain, Museum Goch, Goch, Germany
- 2019 Stories of Home - Multistory, Former Poundland, May 2019, West Bromwich
- 2018 Belfast Exposed Gallery, June 2018, Belfast, NI
- 2017 Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2017 November, National Portrait Gallery
- 2017 Format Festival, April 2017, Derby, UK
- 2016 Work, Rest and Play - British Photography from the 1960s to Today, August 2016, Three Shadows Gallery, Xiamen, China
- 2015 Empire, September 2015, Impressions Gallery, Bradford
- 2015 Empire, June, Ffotogallery, Cardiff
- 2015 Photo London - James Hyman Gallery
- 2015 Work, Rest and Play - British Photography from the 1960s to Today, Oct-Loft, Shenzhen, China
- 2015 AIPAD New York - James Hyman Gallery
- 2015 Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2014, May, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield
- 2014 Paris Photo - James Hyman Gallery - Grand Palais, Paris
- 2014 Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2014 November, National Portrait Gallery
- 2014 Empire, October, Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham
- 2014 Benjamin Rasmussen & Jon Tonks, September, Pictura Gallery, Indiana
- 2014 AIPAD New York - James Hyman Gallery
- 2014 Ken Grant & Jon Tonks, March, James Hyman Gallery, London
- 2014 Book Launch of Empire, January, The Photographers Gallery
- 2013 Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2012, August, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol
- 2013 Terry O'Neill Award, January, The Strand Gallery, London
- 2012 Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2012, November, National Portrait Gallery, London
- 2012 AOP Open, October, Dray Walk Gallery, London
- 2012 Foto8 Summershow, July, Foto8 Gallery, London
- 2011 Terry O'Neill Award, December, Hotshoe Gallery, London
- 2009 LPA Futures, May, The Printspace, London
- 2008 Community, The Elephant & Castle, November, The Cuming Museum, Southwark, London
- 2007 MA Photojournalism & Documentary Photography Graduate Show, December, London College of Communication, London
Talks
- 2023 The Photographers' Gallery Print Sales
- 2022 FAR Centre for Photography, Bloomington, Indiana
- 2022 London College of Communication, London
- 2021 Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Paris
- 2021 Royal Photographic Society, Bristol
- 2020 WEX Photo Video
- 2020 Holland America Line Cruise
- 2020 Martin Parr Foundation (with Rhiannon Adam), Bristol
- 2020 University Centre Weston, Weston-Super-Mare
- 2019 Falmouth University
- 2019 University of Gloucestershire
- 2018 University Centre Weston, Weston-Super-Mare
- 2018 Belfast Exposed Gallery, Belfast
- 2018 Francesca Maffeo Gallery, Southend-on-Sea
- 2018 University of Gloucestershire
- 2018 Nottingham Trent University
- 2017 Hereford College of Arts
- 2016 Bath Spa University
- 2016 University Centre Weston
- 2016 National Library of Wales, Lens 2016
- 2016 Falmouth University
- 2015 Royal Photographic Society, Dunfermline
- 2015 TEDx St Andrews University
- 2015 Plymouth University
- 2015 Association of Photography in Higher Education / Birmingham City University
- 2014 mac birmingham
- 2014 Pictura Gallery, Bloomington, Indiana
- 2014 University of the West of England
- 2014 Birmingham City University
- 2014 Photoforum
- 2014 London College of Communication
- 2014 Miniclick Brighton
- 2014 Photobook Bristol 2014
- 2014 IC Visual Lab, Bristol
- 2013 MShed, Bristol
Awards
- 2017 Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize 2017, Shortlisted
- 2014 Vic Odden Award 2014, Presented by the Royal Photographic Society
- 2014 Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize 2014, Shortlisted
- 2014 BJP 'One's to Watch' 2014, Nominated as one of 30 photographers in their January issue
- 2013 Terry O'Neill Award, Shortlisted
- 2012 Magenta Flash Forward, Winner
- 2012 Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize 2012, Shortlisted
- 2012 Terry O'Neill Award, Shortlisted
- 2012 AOP Open Awards, Judges Choice
- 2012 Foto8 Summershow, Shortlisted
- 2011 Magenta Flash Forward, Highly Commended
- 2009 LPA Futures, Winner
- 2008 Reportage by Getty Images, Selected for Emerging Talent