Mat Collishaw is a key figure in the important generation of British artists who emerged from Goldsmith's College in the late 1980s and who were labelled the yBa's (Young British Artists).
He participated in the seminal exhibition Freeze (1988) and since his first solo exhibition in 1990 has exhibited widely internationally. Photography has always been central to his multi-media practise.

Recent solo exhibitions include Mat Collishaw, The New Art Gallery Walsall (2015), In Camera, Library of Birmingham (2015), Black Mirror, Galleria Borghese, Rome (2014), This Is Not An Exit, Blain|Southern, London (2013), Bass Museum of Art, Florida (2013); Pino Pascali Museum Foundation, Bari (2013); Mat Collishaw: Afterimage, Arter, Istanbul(2013) and Magic Lantern at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2010).

Recent group exhibitions include Vanitas - Fashion and Art, Bass Museum of Art, Miami (2014), Back to Eden, Museum of Biblical Art, New York (2014), Victoriana, The Guildhall Art Gallery, London (2013), GLASSTRESS:White Light/White Heat: Contemporary Artists & Glass, collateral Event of 55th Venice Biennale, Venice (2013); About Caravaggio (curated by Anna Imponente), Museo Tuscolano - Scuderie Aldobrandini, Frascati Rome (2012);  720, as part of Ron Arad's Curtain Call Project, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2012); Made in Britain, Contemporary Art from the British Council Collection, Benaki Museum, Athens (2012); Out of Focus: Photography, Saatchi Gallery, London; Otherwordly - Optical Delusions and Small Realities, Museum of Arts and Design, New York (2012); and the 12th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul in 2011.

Collishaw's work is in many public collections including Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Museum of Old and New Art, New South Wales and Tate, London.