Written Down / Written Up

Why do we trust the accuracy of the black-and-white photograph? Why do certain forms of art lend themselves to particular visual hierarchies, and what can be learned from inverting them? How can image and text be understood as co-conspirators and antagonists, amplifying and destabilising the meaning-making potential of the other? Conceptual artist John Hilliard takes up these questions of art theory and practice with a rigorous yet nimble critical stance in texts spanning the mid-1960s to 2025. Written Down / Written Up offers the first comprehensive collection of writings by John Hilliard, one of the most inventive artists working in the photographic form. Exploring the medium of photography and its role within art, language, and representation, the themes emerging across these texts echo and expand on those of Hilliard’s practice. The publication draws on a wide range of Hilliard’s writing, from previously unpublished texts to notes, published essays, and reviews. This extensively illustrated volume elaborates his critical contributions to how we understand the relationship between the image and its production.