Photographer
Edwin Koo is a Singaporean documentary photographer best known for his black-and-white imagery. His photographs reveal deeply rooted social issues and raw human emotions, blurring the lines between fact and fiction. In 2012, he was awarded one of Singapore’s most prestigious photography accolades: the ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu, which recognises an individual for an outstanding body of work. In 2009, he was awarded one of photojournalism world’s most coveted awards: The Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography. Earlier that same year, his work on Pakistan also won the third place in the international award UNICEF Photo of the Year.Edwin worked as a news photographer for 5 years, before beginning his career as an independent documentary photographer.In 2008, Edwin relocated to be based in Kathmandu, where he photographed for international publications. His long-term projects look at the subject of human displacement, such as the exodus of the Tibetans, the Maoist guerrillas in Nepal, and the plight of the people of Pakistan’s Swat Valley. In 2011, Edwin returned to Singapore. His first project upon his homecoming focused on the changing political landscape of Singapore, as a historic General Elections unfolded. Eventually, it culminated in his first solo exhibition - “Notes from a Singapore Son”.Internationally, his works has also been exhibited widely – Breda Photo Festival (Netherlands, 2012); Visa Pour L’Image (France, 2012), Dali International Photo Exhibition (China, 2012), the Angkor Photo Festival (Camobidia, 2011), Photo Quai festival (France, 2011), and the Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalists (Germany, 2009). Edwin’s work has also been published in international titles, such as GEO, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times and Le Monde Diplomatique. He is currently working on his first monographic book based on his photographs from the Swat Valley.
