Obituary
Alistair Crawford was born on 25 January 1945 in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, in north-east Scotland. He passed away after a long serious illness on 2 October 2025 in Sudbury, Suffolk (United Kingdom) where he had lived since 2010.
Alistair Crawford completed his studies in 1966 at the Glasgow School of Art with a Diploma in Printed Textile Art. He then began teaching at various universities.
In 1974 he became Lecturer in Graphic Art and Curator of Graphic Art at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he remained for 37 years. There he taught art practice: Printmaking, Book Illustration, Typography, Photography and in art history: Art in Wales, History Graphic, History of Photography, Museum & Art Gallery Studies.
Alistair Crawford has published numerous books. As an internationally well known artist he exhibited largely in Europe and in the USA.
Between 2004 and 2008 Alistair Crawford was the dedicated co-editor for the research journals of the European Society for the History of Photography (ESHPh) based in Vienna (Austria) such as PhotoResearcher, The Proceedings, The International Newsletter. 2008 he contributed also to the anniversary issue “Jubilee 30 Years ESHPh,” Congress of Photography, in Vienna.
Only few people knew that Alistair Crawford was also a highly gifted painter, writer, photographer and performer.
His subtle sense of humor and his open-minded way of approaching people were the hallmarks of his extraordinary personality. We all will miss him!
A longer video documentation about his extraordinary life as an artist is already in preparation.
Anna Auer
