Studio Visit with Photographer Marcus Lyon

Marcus Lyon (b. 1965) is a British artist. His works and publications are held in both private and international collections including the Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Arts Council of Great Britain. He has been commissioned and exhibited globally. Born and raised in rural Britain, Lyon studied Political Science at Leeds University, Leadership at Harvard Business School and Performance Measurement at the Kennedy School of Government. His early working life with Amnesty International in Latin America was the inspiration for his twenty-five year exploration of the issues at the heart of globalisation.

In the early 90’s he founded the Glassworks, an award-winning multidisciplinary art studio that acts as a gallery, exhibition venue and centre of excellence for commissioned and original art.  As a portrait artist he has photographed a diverse range of public figures from Queen Elizabeth II, to Bill Nighy and the last four British Prime Ministers. His images have won numerous awards and nominations including the B&H Gold Award, Agfa Photographer of the Year, Prix Pictet 2012 & 2013, a D&AD Silver and five AOP’s. He has created extensive bodies of work around the subjects of disability sport and development, with particular focus on the urban space. The early 21st century saw his work move from the micro to the macro with the formation of the large scale BRIC, EXODUS and TIMEOUT  series: explorations of our global mass behaviors. In recent years he has undertaken significant collaborative commissions producing large-scale imagery in the science/art arena, most notably his Optogenome series with Kings College and AstraZeneca. His most recent body of work,  Somos Brasil (2017), that explores Brazilian identity through a series of sound and DNA enabled portraits, was recently featured as a TED talk.

Outside of the art world Lyon is a determined social entrepreneur and an active public speaker. In the not for profit sector he serves on the board of the Somerset House Trust and Leaders’ Quest and is a Founder Ambassador for both BLESMA,  Home-Start UK  and  the global think-tank The Consortium for Street Children. Currently he lives between central London and Brazil with his wife, Bel and their daughter Florence (2010) and their son Arthur (2012).