Edgar Martins

Edgar Martins was born in Évora (Portugal) but grew up in Macau (China), where he published his first novel entitled Mãe deixa-me fazer o pino. In 1996 he moved to the UK, where he completed a BA in Photography and Social Sciences at the University of the Arts, as well as an MA in Photography Fine Art at the Royal College of Art (London).

His work is represented internationally in several high-profile collections.

Edgar Martins has exhibited extensively at institutions such as PS1 MoMA (New York), MOPA (San Diego, USA), Centro de Arte Moderna (Lisbon), MAAT (Lisbon), CIAJG (Guimarães, Portugal), Centro Cultural Hélio Oiticica (Rio de Janeiro), The New Art Gallery Walsall (Walsall, UK), The Gallery of Photography (Dublin), Ffotogallery (Penarth, Wales),Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool), Leicester New Walk Museum, The Herbert Museum & Art Gallery, the Geneva Photography Centre, among many others.

In 2010 the Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian (Paris) hosted Edgar Martins’ first retrospective exhibition.

Edgar Martins was the recipient of the inaugural New York Photography Award (Fine Art category, May 2008), the BES Photo Prize (Portugal, 2009), the SONY World Photography Award (2009; 2018), 1st prize in the Fine Art— Abstract category of the 2010 International Photography Awards, 1st prize in the Hangar Centre’s European Photography Call 2020 and nominated for the Prix Pictet 2009 as well as the Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography in 2020 & 2021.

His first book—Black Holes & Other Inconsistencies—was awarded the Thames & Hudson and RCA Society Book Art Prize. A selection of images from this book was also awarded The Jerwood Photography Award in 2003.

Edgar Martins' What Photography & Incarceration have in Common with an Empty Vase was shortlisted for the Paris Photo & Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards as well as PhotoEspaña Book Awards in 2020.

He was selected to represent Macau (China) at the 54th Venice Biennale.