Emily Garthwaite
2023 International Nominee
Emily Garthwaite, photojournalist, Leica Ambassador, and storyteller focusing on environmental and humanitarian stories, weaving together themes of shared humanity, displacement, and coexistence with the natural world. She has a Masters in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism from the University of Westminster and has lived in Iraq since 2019.
Emily has walked over 1,500km through Iraq including the Arba'een pilgrimage in Southern Iraq, the world's largest annual pilgrimage, three times and walked a 230km thru-hike across the Kurdistan region to document the Zagros Mountain Trail, the region's first long-distance hiking trail, of which she is a co-founder.
In 2020, she walked 200km across the Zagros mountains in Iran to document the nomadic customs of the Bakhtiari tribe. In 2021, Emily and a team of international and Iraqi environmentalists made a 1,900km source to sea expedition by boat down the Tigris river, through Turkey, Syria and Iraq, over three months. Emily has since made a second journey, in 2023, to document the Tigris river two years on.
She has exhibited her work internationally, including at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, EXPO 2020 in Dubai, Visa Pour L'image and Palais Royal in France and in the UK, at Leica Mayfair Gallery, South Bank Centre, Somerset House, and The Natural History Museum. Her photographs have been published in The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Washington Post, Der Speigel, La Figaro, GEO, among others. Her writing has been published by GEO, SUITCASE and is featured in the Best of British Travel Writing.
“Great composition, beautiful photos, and intrepid photojournalistic reportage.”
“WOW. Just WOW. These photographs are just so compelling. And shooting them under the most stringent of circumstances makes them all the more impressive. No notes. Just top tier photographic work.”
“Remarkable. Memorable.”
— 2023 Goldziher Judges
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