Will Rowe
Based in Manchester
Contact: illcrowmail@gmail.com
Instagram: illcrowart
Artist Statement
I am drawn to the potential of undiscovered and unauthored archives. I work with photography and lens-based practices because of their reputation for objectivity, and the authority they are often granted as records of truth. I explore how this authority can be unsettled—blurring distinctions between the real and the constructed and shifting perceptions of authorship.
Working with archival imagery alongside my own photographs, I engage physical and analogue processes to transform images and found objects. Materials are layered and combined through manipulation, generating new connections while still acknowledging the histories they carry.
My practice is informed by historical visual culture and the ways images operate within structures of power. I investigate how past narratives persist in contemporary contexts, and how they might be reconsidered through image-making.
Ideas emerge through accumulation and return. Images and objects are revisited and reworked over time, allowing for gradual transformation.
Education
2023 – 2026 University of Salford BA (Hons) Photography (First Class)
Curatorial
Journeys, 2024, Northern Monk Refectory, Manchester
Drumcroon Collection, 2025, Turnpike Gallery, Leigh
inventory of familiar grounds, 2025, New Cross, Manchester
Experience
Production Assistant, 2025 Copenhagen Photo Festival, Copenhagen
Invigilator, Paradise Works, Manchester
Group Exhibitions
Wigan Open 2026, Wigan Pier, Wigan
