Contributing Photographer
Philip Blenkinsop (b. 1965, UK) moved to SE Asia in 1989 where he lived for almost three decades, immersing himself like few others in the lives of some of the region’s most vulnerable and isolated communities.
He embraces its all-consuming chaos, the violence and the beauty that lurks beneath, the armed struggles being waged on forgotten fronts, on distant hilltops and in the remote jungles of South-East Asia; From East Timor to Nepal.
His experiences define him and in time it becomes his world.
With this, comes proximity to the people he documents, empathizing to the point of assimilating the injustices suffered.
“To photograph rage, I must feel that rage. To photograph loss, I must try to feel the weight of that loss as if it were my own to bear.”
“A man of guerrillas and of resistances”, (Herve Le Goff), and “one of the most essential photographers of his generation” (Christian Caujolle), Blenkinsop’s uncompromising vision and commitment to the region has given birth to a contemporary body of work, at once remarkable and unparalleled.
A member of l’Agence VU from 1997 to 2007, Blenkinsop was one of the founding members of the prestigious Noor Photo Agency. He is an Honorary Fellow of Falmouth University in recognition of his services to photojournalism.
In 2009, acclaimed film director David Bradbury released his 70-minute documentary on Blenkinsop and his work entitled “My Asian Heart.”
Monographs include ‘The Cars That Ate Bangkok,’ (White Lotus) and ‘Extreme Asie’ (Nathan/Delpire-Photopoche).
Major awards include the Felix H Man Prize for his work on the suppression of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Thailand, The Grand Prix Photo Jean-Louis Calderon for his reportage on ethnic cleansing in Borneo, The Nuit des Yeux d’Or, the Prix Scam ‘Roger Pic’ and Amnesty International’s Award for Investigative Journalism for his expose of the ‘Secret War in Laos’ and three-time recipient of the Visa d’Or for his work on Laos, the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami and the Great Sichuan Earthquake.
Blenkinsop sits on the advisory boards of the Program for Narrative and Documentary Practice at The Institute for Global Leadership, Tufts University, USA and Photo Kathmandu Festival in Nepal.
