Dr Max Houghton is a writer, curator, and editor whose work explores the intersection of the photographic image, law and politics. She leads the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography programme at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. She is co-founder of UAL research hub Visible Justice, which nurtures collaborations among artists, journalists, legal scholars and public arts institutions to address issues of social, racial and environmental justice.
Houghton’s writings regularly feature in the contemporary arts press, including Granta, Foam, Photoworks, BJP and 1000 Words. She edited Foto8, an independent photographic magazine, for eight years, co-authored Firecrackers: Female Photographers Now (Thames & Hudson, 2025/2017), and contributed a monograph essay on Mary Ellen Mark’s groundbreaking Ward 81: Voices (Steidl, 2023).
Houghton’s interdisciplinary doctoral research at University College London’s Faculty of Laws, under the supervision of Professor Philippe Sands KC, focused on the prosecutorial role of images in international criminal law at the International Military Tribunal 1945-46 at Nuremberg. An award-winning educator, and regular public speaker, she continues to shape discourse on the ethical and political dimensions of visual storytelling.
Visible Justice will be in residence at the ICA, London, May 2026 – March 2027.
