John Toohey

John Toohey is a PhD student in the Interuniversity Doctoral Program in Art History at Concordia University. His research examines the work of British photographer Fred Judge who, during the Edwardian era, worked as a commercial photographer producing postcards of the British landscape while earning a significant reputation as a fine art photographer. This research is in some ways a continuation of that he undertook for his M.A in Art History at Concordia, which he was awarded in 2014 and that examined the work of Lawrence Engel, who photographed the Nevada landscape during the 1930s and 1940s. In both cases he is interested in how myths surrounding the image of landscape are given validity through photography.

John graduated with a B.A Honours in History at the University of Western Australia in 1998. At that time he was involved with the Photographers Gallery of western Australia as an exhibitor and in administrative positions and his works are held in several Australian collections including the Stokes Art Collection. He has published two books that deal with the early exploration of Australia, 'Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare' and 'Quiros' , and has published articles on photographic postcards and cartes de visite in 'Early Popular Visual Culture'.He is the recipient of a Concordia University Merit Scholarship.