Janice McLaren has been Head of Education & Projects at The Photographers’ Gallery, London since 2000. She began her role there as Projects Organiser, producing off-site projects with a range of photographers, artists, schools and other communities. Some of these resulted in publications such as Anna Best’s Occasional Sights and Richard Okon’s Prefab.
As the Education team expanded, she began organising several projects in the Gallery’s foyer space, highlighting participatory projects like Running Late (in collaboration with Cuts hair salon in Soho) and community projects, developed in partnership with Westminster’s Youth Service and other local organisations.
Alongside colleagues in the Education team, she has led on publications with and for teachers, evolved through projects with schools. These resources relied on the involvement of young people, teachers, photographers and organisations including The Guardian, AQA, 198 Gallery, Refugee Education Services and National Portrait Gallery.
With the Gallery’s move to larger premises near Oxford Circus, Janice advised on the creation of its studio floor, a place for events, projects and other programmes situated between the Gallery’s 2nd and 4th floor exhibition spaces. She worked with specialists, including artist Nilu Izadi, to install a camera obscura on this floor.
Also on the studio floor, she began a single picture display called ‘Touchstone’ (2012 – 2020) that invited visitors to respond to the question ‘What do you see?’. The programme featured individual works by photographers including Mohamed Bourouissa, Susan Meiselas, Randa Shaath and Jeff Wall. The question was devised by the Gallery’s youth group at the time. This programme led to a parallel series of workshops and projects related to visual literacy, run by photographers and dedicated members of the team.
Janice continues her role in leading on professional development programmes, with and for photographers, and on public engagement. She works to support an inspirational team that organises the Gallery’s expansive and well-regarded public and youth programmes, and its significant institutional Archive
