Jan Williams is an artist and photographer, born in Birkenhead, Wirral, and now based in Portsmouth, UK. After graduating with a degree in Fine Art from Portsmouth, Jan practiced in many places including France where she made collages from found materials. She was represented by Rebecca Hossack Gallery in London before setting up The Caravan Gallery with partner Chris Teasdale in 2000 to focus on photography and taking work outside traditional gallery settings.
Over the subsequent 25 years she has been involved in more than 175 exhibitions in the UK and abroad - including Tokyo - and has earned a reputation as one of the UK's leading proponents of socially engaged art and photography. The Caravan Gallery's participatory Pride of Place Projects invite people from all walks of life to contribute to large scale exhibitions exploring local identity, diversity, creativity and community activism.
Jan's work has gained praise and support from all sectors of the photography world, from Martin Parr and Daniel Meadows to The Photographers Gallery and the Centre for British Photography. She enjoys photographing people (and dogs) in their natural habitat, whether making portraits in Sandwell during Multistory's Blast! festival, or taking candid shots of people on the streets of Kaunas, Lithuania.
Jan passionately believes in people power and the life enhancing benefits of creativity for all. She initiated the campaign to save Ron's Place, the visionary art environment created by her late uncle in Birkenhead, so that it can inspire people for years to come.