William Furniss is an urbanist and architectural photographer based in Hong Kong. He was born in London in 1970. His early interest in science and design led to an engineering degree at Exeter University in England before beginning his photographic career in 1991. Initially William trained as portrait photographer assisting luminaries of the London scene such as Patrick Litchfield and Terry O’Neill. Life changed in 1993 when aWilliam was encouraged by friends to visit Hong Kong. Deng Xiaoping had proclaimed “To get rich is glorious” and the world’s focus had suddenly swung towards China. Fully intending to continue portrait photography on arriving in Hong Kong, his work took a marked change of direction. The alien visual landscape of Hong Kong reignited a fascination with documenting the immediate environment; the rural English landscapes of his youth now being replaced by the chaotic cityscapes of Asia. Initial simple and straight forward records on film developed into ever more complicated narratives through multiple exposures and contact sheets. William’s interest in cities led him to New York in 1999 with two years spent there developing his approach which today favours pre-visualisation of the image and camera-only manipulations to create a subjective but recognisable record of our time and a testament to the belief that cities should be vibrant, enjoyable, sustainable places that enable a positive future for us on this planet. Numerous exhibitons have been held of William’s work which features in collections in Hong Kong and elsewhere. His most recent show was a solo project at AIPAD in New York. He was also a winner of the Film and Analogue category at the 2019 International Photography Awards.

Solo Exhibitions:

“114˚E/74˚W” Hong Kong 2001

“Liquid Metropolis” Hong Kong 2002

“Big Bamboo” Hong Kong 2005

“Fire in the Eye of Empedocles” Hong Kong 2010

“Rain” Hong Kong 2013

“Reflection” Hong Kong 2013

AIPAD Solo Project "Grid System" New York 2019