Andrew
Quilty

Andrew Quilty

biography

Australian photographer, born in 1981, based in Sydney (Australia) since late 2021, after 8 years in Kabul (Afghanistan)

After a road trip across Australia in 2001 with a Nikon F3 from his uncle (also photographer), Andrew Quilty began a photography course at the Sydney Institute of TAFE, from which he graduated in 2004. He started as a photojournalist at Fairfax Media and joined the Australian collective Oculi in 2007. He established himself as a freelance photographer from 2010 in Sydney and then in New York.

In 2013, on the occasion of a report that was initially only supposed to last two weeks, he discovered Afghanistan – a country that immediately echoed his aspirations as a photographer. In order to document the life and developing history of the country, he decided to settle permanently in the capital, Kabul. Since 2013 he has been covering current events in Afghanistan for the international press, such as the attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz in 2015 or, in 2018, the fighting of an operational detachment of the US Special Forces – one of the last to still fight in the country.

In addition to reports directly related to the conflict, he travels to more than twenty of the country’s thirty-four provinces to document Afghan life on the ground and over the course of time in its daily and human reality, which is more nuanced than the image conveyed internationally. In addition to his photographic work, at the end of 2020 he launched “Afghanistan after America”, a podcast platform offering testimonies, conversations and analyses on the hopes and concerns raised by the signing of the February 29th agreement between the United States and the Taliban – supposed to put an end to more than twenty years of war.

Regularly published in the international press (New-York Times, The Intercept, Le Monde, Des Spiegel, Geo, etc), his work will be exhibited in 2016 at the Visa pour l’Image Photojournalism Festival (France) and rewarded with numerous awards including the George Polk Award (2015), six Walkley Awards for Australian journalism, including the Gold Walkley in 2016, the highest distinction of Australian journalism. He was twice awarded by the Word Press Photo in the “Sports” category in 2008 and 3rd prize in the “Spot news” category in 2019.

Series

Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban, 2021

series| On 15 August 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul. The Afghan capital has returned to the hands of the insurgent group after 20 years of American presence, after a rapid advance that nothing and no one was able to stop.

In the hell of Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2021

Series| Pushed back with difficulty by American strikes, the Taliban have left thousands of explosive traps in their path. While foreign aid is becoming increasingly scarce, families have to choose between fleeing at the risk of mines or hiding in improvised refugee camps in the Afghan desert.

Bamiyan's Threatened Treasures, 2020

Series | Twenty years ago, the Taliban destroyed the giant Buddhas, symbol of this valley...

Covid 19: Workers in Kabul's Streets, 2020

Series | Amid the impending threat of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in Afghanistan, on March 28, a 'measured lockdown' was imposed on the capital, Kabul...

Australia, A Season In Hell, 2020

Series | Since September 2019, Australia continues to burn under a series of particularly destructive and deadly fires. For Australian writer Richard Flanagan, "these fires will be our climatic Chernobyl".

When War Comes Home, 2018

Series | On April 28, the Ibrahim Khil family did not sleep a wink all night because of the sound of bullets and rockets slamming and exploding in front of their house...

Wakhan Corridor, 2018

Series | To view it on a map, the Wakhan seems a peculiar stretch of territory. It protrudes long and thin from the far north-east of Afghanistan all the way to China...

The Last Americans to Fight in Afghanistan, 2018

Series | In April and July 2018, Andrew Quilty accompanied the US Special Forces Operational Detachment

Ambulance Bomb, 2018

Series | In 2018, the end of January was shaken by four attacks in Afghanistan, including three in Kabul...

Qasaba: Haven of Peace for Kabul’s middle class, 2017

Series | Opened in 2017, the Khwaja Rawash apartment complex in the district of Qasaba counts today about 9,000 people...

Aub Bala "High Water", 2017

Series | It was in 2009 that the inhabitants of Aub Bala, High Water, a small village in the Afghan province of Bamiyan, saw for the first time how to use skis...

On the edge of Afghanistan, 2016

Series | In Nimruz, a South-West province of Afghanistan, more than 200 000 Afghans have crossed the Iranian border in 18 months in spite of...

The Soldiers of Sinjar, 2014

Series | In a run-down facility close to Peshkhabour on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq, Kawa Sinjari's unit gather men from various villages in Sinjar who are ready to fight against Islamic State (IS) militants...

Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban, 2021

series| On 15 August 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul. The Afghan capital has returned to the hands of the insurgent group after 20 years of American presence, after a rapid advance that nothing and no one was able to stop.

In the hell of Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2021

Series| Pushed back with difficulty by American strikes, the Taliban have left thousands of explosive traps in their path. While foreign aid is becoming increasingly scarce, families have to choose between fleeing at the risk of mines or hiding in improvised refugee camps in the Afghan desert.

Bamiyan's Threatened Treasures, 2020

Series | Twenty years ago, the Taliban destroyed the giant Buddhas, symbol of this valley...

Covid 19: Workers in Kabul's Streets, 2020

Series | Amid the impending threat of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in Afghanistan, on March 28, a 'measured lockdown' was imposed on the capital, Kabul...

Australia, A Season In Hell, 2020

Series | Since September 2019, Australia continues to burn under a series of particularly destructive and deadly fires. For Australian writer Richard Flanagan, "these fires will be our climatic Chernobyl".

When War Comes Home, 2018

Series | On April 28, the Ibrahim Khil family did not sleep a wink all night because of the sound of bullets and rockets slamming and exploding in front of their house...

Wakhan Corridor, 2018

Series | To view it on a map, the Wakhan seems a peculiar stretch of territory. It protrudes long and thin from the far north-east of Afghanistan all the way to China...

The Last Americans to Fight in Afghanistan, 2018

Series | In April and July 2018, Andrew Quilty accompanied the US Special Forces Operational Detachment

Ambulance Bomb, 2018

Series | In 2018, the end of January was shaken by four attacks in Afghanistan, including three in Kabul...

Qasaba: Haven of Peace for Kabul’s middle class, 2017

Series | Opened in 2017, the Khwaja Rawash apartment complex in the district of Qasaba counts today about 9,000 people...

Aub Bala "High Water", 2017

Series | It was in 2009 that the inhabitants of Aub Bala, High Water, a small village in the Afghan province of Bamiyan, saw for the first time how to use skis...

On the edge of Afghanistan, 2016

Series | In Nimruz, a South-West province of Afghanistan, more than 200 000 Afghans have crossed the Iranian border in 18 months in spite of...

The Soldiers of Sinjar, 2014

Series | In a run-down facility close to Peshkhabour on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq, Kawa Sinjari's unit gather men from various villages in Sinjar who are ready to fight against Islamic State (IS) militants...

Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban, 2021

series| On 15 August 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul. The Afghan capital has returned to the hands of the insurgent group after 20 years of American presence, after a rapid advance that nothing and no one was able to stop.

In the hell of Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2021

Series| Pushed back with difficulty by American strikes, the Taliban have left thousands of explosive traps in their path. While foreign aid is becoming increasingly scarce, families have to choose between fleeing at the risk of mines or hiding in improvised refugee camps in the Afghan desert.

Bamiyan's Threatened Treasures, 2020

Series | Twenty years ago, the Taliban destroyed the giant Buddhas, symbol of this valley...

Covid 19: Workers in Kabul's Streets, 2020

Series | Amid the impending threat of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in Afghanistan, on March 28, a 'measured lockdown' was imposed on the capital, Kabul...

Australia, A Season In Hell, 2020

Series | Since September 2019, Australia continues to burn under a series of particularly destructive and deadly fires. For Australian writer Richard Flanagan, "these fires will be our climatic Chernobyl".

When War Comes Home, 2018

Series | On April 28, the Ibrahim Khil family did not sleep a wink all night because of the sound of bullets and rockets slamming and exploding in front of their house...

Wakhan Corridor, 2018

Series | To view it on a map, the Wakhan seems a peculiar stretch of territory. It protrudes long and thin from the far north-east of Afghanistan all the way to China...

The Last Americans to Fight in Afghanistan, 2018

Series | In April and July 2018, Andrew Quilty accompanied the US Special Forces Operational Detachment

Ambulance Bomb, 2018

Series | In 2018, the end of January was shaken by four attacks in Afghanistan, including three in Kabul...

Qasaba: Haven of Peace for Kabul’s middle class, 2017

Series | Opened in 2017, the Khwaja Rawash apartment complex in the district of Qasaba counts today about 9,000 people...

Aub Bala "High Water", 2017

Series | It was in 2009 that the inhabitants of Aub Bala, High Water, a small village in the Afghan province of Bamiyan, saw for the first time how to use skis...

On the edge of Afghanistan, 2016

Series | In Nimruz, a South-West province of Afghanistan, more than 200 000 Afghans have crossed the Iranian border in 18 months in spite of...

The Soldiers of Sinjar, 2014

Series | In a run-down facility close to Peshkhabour on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq, Kawa Sinjari's unit gather men from various villages in Sinjar who are ready to fight against Islamic State (IS) militants...

multimedia

Afghanistan After America, 2020

Multimedia Products | At the end of 2020, Andrew Quilty launched a podcast platform, "Afghanistan after America", offering testimonials, conversations and analyses...

Afghanistan After America, 2020

Multimedia Products | At the end of 2020, Andrew Quilty launched a podcast platform, "Afghanistan after America", offering testimonials, conversations and analyses...

Afghanistan After America, 2020

Multimedia Products | At the end of 2020, Andrew Quilty launched a podcast platform, "Afghanistan after America", offering testimonials, conversations and analyses...

Interviews

Andrew Quilty – The return of the Taliban, through the eyes of a photojournalist
TEDxSydney
—
2022

An award winning journalist, Andrew Quilty was one of only a handful of journalists present in Kabul during the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.

Andrew Quilty – Inside the Photographers Studio (Part 2)
World Press Photo
—
2019

Andrew Quilty talks through his series “Ambulance Bomb” on the terrorist attack in Kabul in January 2018, which was awarded 3rd place in the Spot News category of the 2019 World Press Photo Awards : Shop-keepers, shoppers and residents run from the scene of a bomb blast in an area of small businesses and a hospital in central Kabul today. The bomb is believed to have been carried by an ambulance, ​the driver of which was able to penetrate at least one layer of security on a well-guarded road home to the European Union delegation, the Swedish and Dutch Embassies as well as the former Interior Ministry building.

Exposure #04
Australian Centre for Photography
—
Interview by Helen Vastikopoulos, 2017

Helen Vastikopoulos interviews Andrew Quilty after receiving his 6th Walkley Awards including the Gold Walkey he received in 2016, the most prestigious award for photojournalism in Australia.
Quilty shows through his reports the situation in Afghanistan, a country ravaged by war. He has captured the rise of extremist groups, the heartbreaking results of the conflict and the daily struggles faced by the Afghan people.
In this episode of “Exposure”, Andrew Quilty shares his experiences of living and working in Kabul and provides an overview of the current state of affairs in Afghanistan and the Islamic world.

Expositions

La fin d’une guerre interminable
—
Visa pour l’image : International Festival of Photojournalism, Perpignan, France
—
From August 27 to September 11, 2022

Plus d’informations

books

This is Afghanistan

The Miegunyah Press - 2023

August in Kabul

MUP - 2022

The Mexicans

Stop Edit - 2011

This is Afghanistan

The Miegunyah Press - 2023

August in Kabul

MUP - 2022

The Mexicans

Stop Edit - 2011

This is Afghanistan

The Miegunyah Press - 2023

August in Kabul

MUP - 2022

The Mexicans

Stop Edit - 2011

Awards

The Hal Boyle Award decerned by the Overseas Press Club of America (USA)

For his work about connections between the CIA and the Afghan Milice for the magazine “The Intercept”

2020

3rd World Press Photo Award,  Spot News category, series (Netherlands)

For his series “Ambulance Bomb”


2019

3rd Photo Trophy – Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award (France)

For his series “When War Comes Home”


2019

1st POY (Photographer Of the Year) Award, “Features” category (USA)

For his photograph “Acute Malnutrition Crisis, Afghanistan”


2016

2016 Gold Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism (Australia)

For his photograph “The Man on the Operating Table”


2016

Nikon-Walkey Award – Photo of the Year (Australia)

For his photograph “The Man on the Operating Table”


2016

Nikon-Walkey Award – News Photography (Australia)

For his photograph “The Man on the Operating Table”


2016

George Polk Award (USA)

For his report during a deadly American raid on a Doctors without Borders’ hospital in Kunduz, North Afghanistan

2016

Nikon-Walkley Award for Freelance Journalist of the Year (Australia)

For his global work as freelance journalist

2015

Nikon-Walkley Award – Press Phographer of the Year (Australia)

For his series “Baby Burns Victim in Boost Hospital”


2014

Nikon-Walkley Award – Press Photo of the Year (Australia)

For his series “Baby Burns Victim in Boost Hospital”


2014

1st World Press Photo Award, “Sports Feature” category, single image (Netherlands)

For his photograph “Children Watch a Horse Race in a Small Outback Town”


2008