Born 1977, is an American photographer and educator based in Rochester, New York. He is a full member of Magnum Photos and a professor of photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology. His work is known for its psychologically charged, often ambiguous depictions of American life, particularly in the Rust Belt and other socially and geographically liminal spaces.

Halpern grew up in Buffalo, New York. He studied history and literature at Harvard University and later received an MFA from the California College of the Arts.

Since the early 2000s, Halpern has published a series of artist’s books that explore place through fragmentary observation rather than traditional documentary narrative. Early projects include Harvard Works Because We Do (2003), a portrait of service workers at Harvard University, and Omaha Sketchbook (2009), an idiosyncratic study of the Midwestern city. A(2011) presents a restless journey through towns of the American Rust Belt.

Subsequent books expanded both geographically and formally. East of the Sun, West of the Moon (2014), made in collaboration with Ahndraya Parlato, weaves photography and text into a personal narrative. Zzyzx (2016), named after the California desert town, examines the fractured social landscape of Los Angeles and won PhotoBook of the Year at the 2016 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards. Let the Sun Beheaded Be (2020) was produced during an extended stay in Guadeloupe and reflects on colonial history, race, and power. King, Queen, Knave (2024) returns to Buffalo, drawing on photographs made over more than twenty years.

Halpern received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2014. He joined Magnum Photos as a nominee in 2018, became an associate member in 2020, and a full member in 2023. In addition to his teaching at RIT, he has taught at institutions including Harvard University, Cornell University, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Reference

Biography text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), English edition.
Retrieved January 19, 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Halpern