Conrad Hechter

Conrad Hechter was born in South Africa, spent his formative years in England and went to Stellenbosch University in South Africa’s wine country to study English and Geography. After teaching English literature in Cape Town and being frustrated and disillusioned by the political, social, and educational systems, he left in 1984 to broaden his horizons and gain a perspective on the South African situation.
He traveled to the Middle East, Europe, America and the Far East, and by a twist of fate, ended up in Sydney, Australia. While in Sydney he studied filmmaking and photography, ran a school where English was taught to foreign students and reveled in the exceptional light quality of Terra Australis. Travel soon got the better of him and after more journeys, he settled in San Francisco.
A correspondent for Studio Magazines (Black and White, Blue), he has also worked as Gallery Director of the Michael Shapiro gallery in San Francisco and the David Aden gallery in Santa Monica. He was also the Business Director of FotoFactory Press and helped curate various catalogues and shows.
Conrad’s work has been published in numerous books and magazines, most notably The Male Nude Now (Edited by David Leddick), Nude Indexx (Udyat), Ecce Homo (Vertigo Publishers), Naked (FeierAbend Verlag) and a number of Anthologies from FotoFactory Press.
Conrad currently lives in London.
"My shadowself portraits are about identity, about place and displacement, about acceptance and rejection, about visibility and invisibility. So often the LGBTQIA+ community must wrestle with and overcome these issues."