Rob Ball is a photographer and Reader in Photography at Canterbury Christ Church University. Over the past fifteen years, he has specialised in photographing coastal resorts across Britain and beyond, exploring their evolving identities, architecture, and communities. His work examines how seaside environments—often built for entertainment and escape—are transformed over time, particularly through seasonal shifts and socioeconomic change. 

Ball has published multiple photobooks, including Dreamlands, Coney Island, Silent Coast, Benidorm, and Arcade Carpets. His Benidorm monograph offers a nuanced portrait of the Spanish resort—often deemed the birthplace of mass tourism—photographed over eighteen months with an empathetic and unjudmental eye. His exhibitions include Dreamlands at The Photographers’ Gallery, Seaside: Photographed at Turner Contemporary, and Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style at the Design Museum. His work is held in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, Martin Parr Foundation, and University of the Arts.

︎

Based in Whitstable, Kent, UK

Contact / Commissions / Print Sales
mail@robball.co.uk / +44 (0)7834 542 301
Works available as limited edition prints, contact directly.

Roles / Education
Director of SEAS Photography / Reader in Photography, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK
PGCLT (HE), CCCU 2014 / MA Photography, UAL 2006 / NCTJ Press Photography, Norton College, Sheffield 1996

Selected Exhibitions
Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style, Design Museum, Mar-Aug 2025
By the seaside, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, June-Sept 2024
Signs of the Seaside, Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft, Apr-Sept 2023
Arcade Britannia, London Design Biennale, June 2023
Jaywick Project, Martello Tower, Jaywick Sands, August 2022
Whitstable, from the series Silent Coast in Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Jun-Aug 2022
Silent Coast Exhibition at The Photographers Gallery Print Sales, May 2022
Seaside: Photographed, Turner Contemporary, Margate, 2019 / John Hansard Gallery 2020 / Grundy Blackpool 2021
Lessons of the Hour by Isaac Julien, stills and tintypes, Memorial Art Gallery / Metro Pictures, New York, March 2019 + touring
L'espace secret, Martigny, Switzerland, September 2018
New Defence Project, Coalhouse Fort, Tilbury, Aug 2018
Beside The Sea, Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury, Aug 2017
The Itinerant, Margate Festival, July 2017
Tintype Studio, The Photographers' Gallery, London, July + Oct 2015
Light Waves, Resort Studios, Margate, October 2015
Art Car Boot Fair, Margate, August 2015, London 2024, 2025
Dreamlands, The Photographers' Gallery, London, June 2015
Sea Bathers: Reflections and Responses, Tintype Studio, Margate, May 2015
Capturing Light, Silverprint, LCC Moose on the Loose, May 2015
Unremarkable Stories, Exchange, Illinois State University 2013
Obsolete Studios, Turner Contemporary 2013
Obsolete Studios, Format Festival, Derby 2013, 2015
Paper Round#2 at The Royal Academy Summer Show 2012
Ways of Looking Festival, Bradford 2011
The Line of Lividity, Primo Alonso, London 2009
The Redemptive Beauty of Life After Death, Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham 2007

Selected Publications / Presentations
From Blackpool to Benidorm (conference presentation), Congreso del Observatorio COSTA, October 2025 
Benidorm, Hoxton Mini Press, February 2025 (monograph)
Arcade Carpets I & II, Artist Books 2023
This Pleasant Land, Hoxton Mini Press, November 2022
Silent Coast, Photo Editions, May 2022 (monograph)
Don't Press Print, conference and publication with UWE Centre for Fine Print Research / RPS 2020-21
Funland, Hoxton Mini Press, May 2019 (monograph)
Seaside: Photographed, ed. by Val Williams and Karen Shepherdson, Thames and Hudson, 2019
Dreamlands, The Journal of Photography and Culture, February 2018
Miniclick Talks, Brighton, July 2017 and May 2018
Coney Island published by Dewi Lewis, June 2017 (monograph) - long listed for The Deutsche Borse Prize 2017
Dreamlands presentation at Coney Island Museum, July 2016
Dreamlands published by Dewi Lewis, June 2015 (monograph)
Dreamlands and SEAS Photography Lecture, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, 2015
Shadows Symposium, Camberwell College of Art, 2015
Beyond the View (exhibition, conference and publication) ed. by Rob Ball and K.J. Shepherdson, 2014
Unremarkable Stories by Rob Ball and K.J. Shepherdson, Burton Press 2012
Unremarkable Stories at Prix du livre, Arles 2012

Collections
University of the Arts Collection Archive
National Portrait Gallery, London
The Martin Parr Foundation
The Victoria & Albert Museum

All Images © Rob Ball 2025. No images from this site may be used without prior written permission.