Edgar Martins was born in Évora (1977) (Portugal) but grew up in Macau (China), where he studied Philosophy and where he published his first novel entitled Mãe deixa-me fazer o pino.

He studied for a BA (Hons) at the University of the Arts (London) and an MA in Photography and Fine Art at the Royal College of Art (London).

His work is represented in several high-profile public and private collections, such as those of the V&A (London), the National Media Museum (Bradford, UK), RIBA (London), the Dallas Museum of Art (USA), The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon), MAAT (Lisbon), MNAC (Lisbon), Fondation Carmignac (Paris), MAST (Italy), etc.

He has exhibited extensively at institutions such as PS1 MoMA (New York), MOPA (San Diego, USA), Laumeier Sculpture Park (St. Louis, USA), MACRO (Rome), The Geneva Photography Centre (Switzerland), Centro Cultural Hélio Oiticica (Rio de Janeiro), National Museum of Contemporary Art (Lisbon), Museu Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon), Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon), MAAT (Lisbon), Museu do Oriente (Lisbon), Centro de Arte Moderna de Bragança (Portugal), Centro International de Arte José de Guimarães (Portugal), The New Art Gallery Walsall (UK), The Herbert Museum (Coventry), PM Gallery & House (London), The Wolverhampton Art Gallery & Museum (UK), Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool), The New Art Gallery and Museum (Leicester), The Gallery of Photography (Dublin), Ffotogallery (Cardiff), amongst many others. In 2010 the Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian (Paris) hosted Edgar Martins’ first retrospective exhibition.

Edgar Martins was the recipient of the Jerwood Photography Award (2003), the inaugural New York Photography Award (Fine Art category, May 2008), the BES Photo Prize (Portugal, 2009), the SONY World Photography Award (2009, 2018, 2023), the International Photography Awards (2010, 2023), the Hangar Centre Photography Prize (2021), the Hariban Award (Juror’s Choice), etc. He is the SONY World Photographer of the year 2023.

Between 2002 and 2022 Martins published 15 monographs, which were received with critical acclaim.
His first book—Black Holes & Other Inconsistencies—was awarded the Thames & Hudson & RCA Society Book Art Prize. What Photography & Incarceration have in Common with an Empty Vase was shortlisted for the 2020 Paris Photo & Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards as well as the Photo España Book Award in the best photobook of the year category.

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

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