Richard Billingham is famous for his photographs of his family; his family in their cramped council-flat in a high rise block in Birmingham. Billingham's father Ray, a chronic alcoholic who rarely leaves the house, his obese and tattoed mother Liz, his unruly younger brother Jason, as well as a menagerie of pets are all used as subject matter for photographs - photographs that have been bought by Saatchi and exhibited all over the world.
Billingham was born in Birmingham and studied art at the University of Sunderland. His project for the university included a series of photographs of his family intended to be studies for paintings. The large photos are published in 'Ray's a Laugh' and have become his signature style.
He has been nominated for the Turner Prize 2001.