All images on this website are copyright ©Roy Mehta. All rights reserved © 2021.
Since he became a photographer, Mehta's work has regularly engaged in different ways with cultural identity, through images presented in ‘REVIVAL, LONDON 1989-1993’ and his other books and projects such as ‘DISTANT RELATIONS’ and ‘COASTLINE’.
He is drawn to seeing how photography can offer us an opportunity to reflect on our common histories and celebrate our respective identities. His work explores how different cultures and identities touch, engage and interweave.
As part of this process he has recently been making new work in Mumbai, India exploring a city that he could have gown up in had his family not moved to the UK. This new work explores second-generation immigration and the resulting cross-cultural fluidity.
In a similar way his work also explores what we consider to be ‘nature’, as in his recent series ‘Lockdown’ where he uses image and text to interpret the current Pandemic.
His work is in the permanent collections of Autograph, Historic England, The Library of Birmingham, The Harris Museum and Art Gallery and IKS Collection, Germany.
His archive is available through THE LAURA NOBLE GALLERY: https://www.lauraannnoble.com/artist#/roy-mehta
He has recently been working on a major archive of photographs that he made in NW London c.1989 recently published by Hoxton Mini Press in a new book, 'REVIVAL, LONDON 1989-1993. This work will be presented in a solo exhibition, curated by Laura Noble in NW London as part of BRENT 2020 LONDON BOROUGH OF CULTURE in March 2022. Supported by Brent 2020 London Bororugh of Culture and Arts Council England.
He has been regularly commissioned to produce work for advertising agencies and for a range of editorial clients.
'REVIVAL, LONDON 1989 - 1993'
Foreword by Dr Mark Sealy, director of Autograph, The Association of Black Photographers
Essay by Caryl Phillips, novelist, playwright and author
Published by Hoxton Mini Press. It is available on this link:
https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/products/revival
'LONDON IN LOCKDOWN'
24 photographers capture a city gripped by Covid.
Written by Jilke Golbach and published in collaboration with the Museum of London
Published by Hoxton Mini Press. It is available on this link: https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/products/london-in-lockdown
‘COASTLINE’ 2003 Published by Browns ISBN 0-9533730-6-1 (essays by David Chandler and Andrew Martin)
‘DIFFERENT’ Survey of a wide range of photographers 2001 Published by Phaidon ISBN 0 7148 4014 9 (essays by Stuart Hall produced by Mark Sealy)
‘DISTANT RELATIONS’ 1996 Published by Autograph ISBN 1-899282-20-3 (Essays by Mark Sealy and Oladele Ajiboye Bamgboye)
2022 REVIVAL, LONDON 1989-1993 Solo Exhibition opening in NW LONDON as part of BRENT 2020 LONDON BOROUGH OF CULTURE
2022 WOMEN OF THE MATCH: Portraits of Brent’s Female Football Stars, Brent Civic Centre, London
2022 FACING BRITAN: A SURVEY OF POST-WAR BRITISH PHOTOGRAPHY, Museum for Photography Krakow, Poland
2021 ‘FACING BRITAN: A SURVEY OF POST-WAR BRITISH PHOTOGRAPHY’, Darmstadt art gallery, Germany
2020 RK BURT GALLERY, LONDON and LONDON CITY BRIDGE ‘SIXTEEN’ Group Photography Exhibition
2019 TATE LIVERPOOL, Tate Exchange ‘SIXTEEN’ Group Photography Exhibition
2019 DERBY PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL ‘Project Sixteen’ National Touring Group Exhibition
2016 ‘Portraits of Mumbai’ Uncertain States, Cass Gallery, London
2015 ‘Coaxial’ Group show London Photomonth
2014 ‘Fungi’ Brighton Photofestival
2013 Uncertain States, Cass Gallery, London
2012 Uncertain States, Cass Gallery London
2012 Photographers Gallery (on location) The World in London Group Show
2011 East Gallery, London ‘Uncertain States’ Group show
2010 Foremans Smokehouse Gallery, London ‘Between Two Truths’ Group Show
2004 Romfeia Gallery, Bulgaria (Plovdiv International Photography Festival) sponsored by The British Council
2003 Focal Point Gallery, Southend
2003 Tom Blau Gallery, London
2000 Ffotogallery, Cardiff ‘Just Another Day’, millennium commission group show 2000
1999 Cape Town Festival of Photography, South Africa (sponsored by The British Council)
1998 Rencontres d’Arles; British Photography Today
1998 National Museum of Film and Photography, Bradford (group exhibition ‘Shine’)
1998 Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
1997 Keynes Gallery, University of Kent, Canterbury
1997 Willesden Green Gallery, London 1996 Impressions Gallery, York
1996 National Portrait Gallery, John Kobal Exhibition
1996 Cambridge Darkroom Gallery (book and touring show ‘Distant Relations’), Cambridge
1995 Derby Photography Festival, Derby
1994 Luton Museum and Art Gallery, Luton
1993 Photofusion Photography Gallery, London
1991 Watershed Media Centre, Bristol
2021 - ongoing Senior Lecturer, London College of Communication, UAL, BA Documentary and Photojournalism
2017 - 2021 Associate Lecturer, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham and Rochester
2005 – 2019 Associate Lecturer, Brighton Met FDA and BA(Hons) Visual Arts Practice
2011 – 2014 Tutor Open College of the Arts
2003 – 2004 Associate Lecturer UCA Farnham
1992 – 2007 Associate Lecturer Harrow College
2012 ‘The World in London’ Olympics commission from the The Photographers Gallery, London
2006 Awarded commission from EGHN (European Garden Heritage Network) to produce work that re-interpreted the space within British and German public gardens.
2002 Awarded grant from Commissions East along with sponsorship from Photonica to publish ‘Coastline’ as a
hardback book.
2000 Awarded grant from East England Arts for work on the British coastline.
1997/1998 Public art commission from the Harris Museum in Preston to produce a body of work that reflects the diversity of communities living in Preston.
1995 Awarded a bursary from Cambridge Darkroom Gallery and Autograph to produce a personal body of work attempting to create figurative references to cultural identity. This resulted in a book and national touring exhibition (‘Distant Relations’)
1994 Eastern Arts Board Public Art Photography Commission to produce an exhibition that explored the landscape and people of Dunstable via a series of large-scale panoramic photographs
1993 Eastern Arts Board Public Art Photography Commission to produce an exhibition exploring concepts surrounding air travel
1992 Nominated for ‘Kodak European Panorama of Young Professional Photography’