Sean O'Hagan

Sean O'Hagan is an Irish writer for The Guardian and The Observer, his specialty being photography.

Early life and education

O'Hagan was brought up in Armagh, Northern Ireland, during "The Troubles", and has written about the experience. As an undergraduate, he studied English in London.

Career

He began his media career as a writer for NME, The Face and Arena, and during this period became interested in photography. As of 2013, he is one of six regular "Art and design" critics for The Guardian website, and the only photography critic among the six.

O'Hagan is a nominator for the Prix Pictet Award in photography and sustainability.

The term "new lad" was coined by O'Hagan in a 1993 article in Arena.

On 18 March 2003, O'Hagan received the 2002 British Press Award for Interviewer of the Year. In 2011, O'Hagan was the sole recipient of the J. Dudley Johnston Award from the Royal Photographic Society "for major achievement in the field of photographic criticism".

Publications

Books paired with one other

Faith, Hope, and Carnage. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2022. With Nick Cave.

Books with contributions by O'Hagan

Everything was Moving: Photography from the 60s and 70s. London: Barbican Art Gallery, 2012. ISBN 9780946372393. Edited by Kate Bush and Gerry Badger. O'Hagan contributes the essays "The unreal everyday: William Eggleston's America" and "Against detachment: Bruce Davidson's photographs of America during the Civil Rights Era".