About The Artist

An NHS consultant psychiatrist specialising in child and adolescent mental health, Wiener was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland.


In the mid-1980s, Wiener studied photography at the Royal College of Art in London.  For four decades, side by side with his medical work, his photographic practice has delved into themes of perception, identity, and memory. He works within the genre of staged photography, often incorporating photographic masks.


His images have been widely exhibited, including a solo show at Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, in 1990 that toured the UK, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow (2012), and group exhibitions at the Victoria & Albert Museum (2013/14), Photo London (2022) with England & Co Gallery, and Photo Dalkeith 2025.


His work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and Creative Scotland.


His first monograph, Cautionary Tales, was published by Dewi Lewis in 1990, followed by Visitation Scenes in 2020.


A curiosity about what lies beneath the surface of reality connects both his artistic and clinical practice.


A note on the use of masks in his staged photography.

“I like the ‘anti-technology’ method of supporting a flat mask in front of the face. A contraption of spectacles, Sellotape, polystyrene, sticky hoop, and eye pads does the job. It is not Photoshop, but a performance in front of the camera, creating a visual illusion. A camera ‘sees’ in 2 dimensions (everything is rendered as a series of surfaces and planes), but when we look at a photograph, our brains interpret the image as 3 dimensional. Therefore, a 2D photographic mask will look the same as any other surface; from the ‘cyclops like’ view of the camera.”

Curriculum Vitae

  • Background and Education

    Born 1959, Edinburgh Scotland  


    Education:   


    1979-1983, Medical Degree (MBChB), University of Edinburgh 


    1984-1986, MA Photography, Royal College of Art

  • Bodies Of Work:

    2022, Ancestor Trees (12 images)

    2021, Baby Scenes (5 images)

    2019, Childish Scenes (5 images)

      2015-2018, Visitation Scenes 

                            (24 images)

      2009-2012, Life Story Work (15 images)

      2003, Death Scenes (5 images)

      1989, Living Scenes (4 diptychs)

      1988, Love Scenes (13 images)

      1987, Religious Scenes (7 images)

      1986, Sex Scenes (4 images)

      1986, A Rake's Progress, (9 images)


  • Solo Exhibitions:

    2012, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow. Nov – Dec, 5 weeks.

    1990, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, show then toured UK, for example to Impressions in York, Ffotogallery in Cardiff and Paris.


  • Selected Group Exhibitions:

    2022, Photofusion London, Salon 22

    2022, Photo London, England & Co Gallery

    2021, Photofusion London, Salon 21

    2013, Victoria and Albert Museum, London Making It Up: Photographic Fictions.

    2009, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. 25 years of the Scottish National Photography Collection.

    2001, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. The Fine Art of Photography.

    1990, 'Camera Art in Scotland Now' Houston Fotofest USA.

    1988, 'Towards a Bigger Picture' Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

  • Collections:

    1986, Victoria and Albert Museum: A Rake’s Progress.

    1988, Deutsche Leasing: Sex Scenes.

    1990, Scottish Arts Council: Sex Scene.

    1992, Scottish National Portrait Gallery: Love Scenes.

  • Publications:

    Monographs: 


    2020, Visitation Scenes, Dewi Lewis Publishing.

    2012, Minigraph, Street Level Photoworks, with commissioned commentary by Jim Lawson.

    1990, Cautionary Tales, Cornerhouse Publications, Manchester (33 photographs).


    Selected Publications Anthologies:

    2018, Making it Up: Photographic Fictions. V&A Photography Library.  Thames and Hudson 

    2009, Studies in Photography, Scottish Society for the History of Photography (6 from Life Story Work Series).

    1995, Light from the Dark Room 1995 National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, (A Rakes Progress no 4). 

    1988, British Photography, Towards a Bigger Picture, Aperture, New York 1988 (Sex Scene No 1).


    Selected Journals:

    2021, Studies in Photography, Spring, Review of Visitation Scenes by Jim Lawson

    2009, Source, The Photographic Review, Summer Issue 59 - Life Story Work (article and photographs).

    1991, Time Out Magazine July 17 - (cover photograph, Love Scenes).

    1988, Aperture: British Photography, Towards a Bigger Picture 1988 Winter Issue (Sex Scene No 1). 


A note on the use of masks in his staged photography.

“I like the ‘anti-technology’ method of supporting a flat mask in front of the face. A contraption of spectacles, Sellotape, polystyrene, sticky hoop, and eye pads does the job. It is not Photoshop, but a performance in front of the camera, creating a visual illusion. A camera ‘sees’ in 2 dimensions (everything is rendered as a series of surfaces and planes), but when we look at a photograph, our brains interpret the image as 3 dimensional. Therefore, a 2D photographic mask will look the same as any other surface; from the ‘cyclops like’ view of the camera.”

Curriculum Vitae

  • Background and Education

    Born 1959, Edinburgh Scotland  


    Education:   


    1979-1983, Medical Degree (MBChB), University of Edinburgh 


    1984-1986, MA Photography, Royal College of Art

  • Bodies Of Work:

    2025 Rock Projections (5 images)

    2024 Forest Heads (6 images)

    2023, The Green Man (5 images)

    2022, Ancestor Trees (10 images)

    2021, Babes in the Wood (5 images)

    2019, Childish Scenes (5 images)

     2015-2018, Visitation Scenes 

                            (24 images)

     2009-2012, Life Story Work (15 images)

     2003, Death Scenes (5 images)

     1989, Living Scenes (4 diptychs)

     1988, Love Scenes (13 images)

     1987, Religious Scenes (7 images)

     1986, Sex Scenes (4 images)

     1986, A Rake's Progress, (9 images)


  • Solo Exhibitions:

    2012, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow. Nov – Dec, 5 weeks.

    1990, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, show then toured UK, for example to Impressions in York, Ffotogallery in Cardiff and Paris.


  • Selected Group Exhibitions:

    2022, Photofusion London, Salon 22

    2022, Photo London, England & Co Gallery

    2021, Photofusion London, Salon 21

    2013, Victoria and Albert Museum, London Making It Up: Photographic Fictions.

    2009, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. 25 years of the Scottish National Photography Collection.

    2001, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. The Fine Art of Photography.

    1990, 'Camera Art in Scotland Now' Houston Fotofest USA.

    1988, 'Towards a Bigger Picture' Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

  • Collections:

    1986, Victoria and Albert Museum: A Rake’s Progress.

    1988, Deutsche Leasing: Sex Scenes.

    1990, Scottish Arts Council: Sex Scene.

    1992, Scottish National Portrait Gallery: Love Scenes.

    2025 National Gallery of Ireland, Death Scene No 5, Death

  • Publications:

    Monographs: 


    2020, Visitation Scenes, Dewi Lewis Publishing.

    2012, Minigraph, Street Level Photoworks, with commissioned commentary by Jim Lawson.

    1990, Cautionary Tales, Cornerhouse Publications, Manchester (33 photographs).


    Selected Publications Anthologies:

    2018, Making it Up: Photographic Fictions. V&A Photography Library.  Thames and Hudson 

    2009, Studies in Photography, Scottish Society for the History of Photography (6 from Life Story Work Series).

    1995, Light from the Dark Room 1995 National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, (A Rakes Progress no 4). 

    1988, British Photography, Towards a Bigger Picture, Aperture, New York 1988 (Sex Scene No 1).


    Selected Journals:

    2021, Studies in Photography, Spring, Review of Visitation Scenes by Jim Lawson

    2009, Source, The Photographic Review, Summer Issue 59 - Life Story Work (article and photographs).

    1991, Time Out Magazine July 17 - (cover photograph, Love Scenes).

    1988, Aperture: British Photography, Towards a Bigger Picture 1988 Winter Issue (Sex Scene No 1).