Lydia R. Figes is a London-based culture journalist, copywriter, and editor specialising in the visual arts, literature, fashion and film. She is currently Curator of Digital at the Contemporary Art Society and was formerly Content Editor at Art UK. As a freelancer, she writes regularly for platforms and magazines such as Dazed, AnOther Magazine, i-D, Elephant, A Rabbit's Foot, Guardian and Art Review amongst others.

She contributed to the Phaidon publications Artifacts, The Great Women Painters and The Christmas Book. Her short fiction has appeared in The London Magazine and she has been a guest critic on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. She has a Bachelor of Arts from University College London, a Master of Arts from the Courtauld Institute of Art and Master of Philosophy from Cambridge University. She is the co-founder of @radicalwomenshistory. 

She is currently writing her first book with Thames & Hudson and is represented by Kat Aitken. She is available for commissions and pitches, or mentorship for those looking to get into freelance writing or the arts industry.

Recent writing and interviews:

Guardian, Gordon and Jim after coming out to Gordon’s mum: Sage Sohier’s best photograph

Contemporary Art Society, The psychologically charged paintings of Teresa Pągowska

Contemporary Art Society, The iconoclastic, punk feminist gaze of Linder

Contemporary Art Society, Rotimi Fani-Kayode: erotic photography, Black masculinity, and staging queer desire

Contemporary Art Society, Rinko Kawauchi at Arnolfini

Dazed, 12 must-see exhibitions coming to the UK in 2025

Dazed, In pictures: The counterculture icons of Reagan-era America

AnOther, This Photography Show Captures the Visual Literary Style of Annie Ernaux

AnOther, This Exhibition Presents an Extreme Vision of Japanese Visual Culture