Andrew
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
In the hell of Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2021
Bamiyan's Threatened Treasures, 2020
Covid 19: Workers in Kabul's Streets, 2020
Australia, A Season In Hell, 2020
When War Comes Home, 2018
Wakhan Corridor, 2018
The Last Americans to Fight in Afghanistan, 2018
Ambulance Bomb, 2018
Qasaba: Haven of Peace for Kabul’s middle class, 2017
Aub Bala "High Water", 2017
On the edge of Afghanistan, 2016
The Soldiers of Sinjar, 2014
Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban, 2021
In the hell of Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2021
Bamiyan's Threatened Treasures, 2020
Covid 19: Workers in Kabul's Streets, 2020
Australia, A Season In Hell, 2020
When War Comes Home, 2018
Wakhan Corridor, 2018
The Last Americans to Fight in Afghanistan, 2018
Ambulance Bomb, 2018
Qasaba: Haven of Peace for Kabul’s middle class, 2017
Aub Bala "High Water", 2017
On the edge of Afghanistan, 2016
The Soldiers of Sinjar, 2014
Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban, 2021
In the hell of Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2021
Bamiyan's Threatened Treasures, 2020
Covid 19: Workers in Kabul's Streets, 2020
Australia, A Season In Hell, 2020
When War Comes Home, 2018
Wakhan Corridor, 2018
The Last Americans to Fight in Afghanistan, 2018
Ambulance Bomb, 2018
Qasaba: Haven of Peace for Kabul’s middle class, 2017
Aub Bala "High Water", 2017
On the edge of Afghanistan, 2016
The Soldiers of Sinjar, 2014
multimedia
Afghanistan After America, 2020
Afghanistan After America, 2020
Afghanistan After America, 2020
Interviews
Andrew Quilty – The return of the Taliban, through the eyes of a photojournalist
TEDxSydney
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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
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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
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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
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Visa pour l’image : International Festival of Photojournalism, Perpignan, France
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From August 27 to September 11, 2022
books
This is Afghanistan
August in Kabul
The Mexicans
This is Afghanistan
August in Kabul
The Mexicans
This is Afghanistan
August in Kabul
The Mexicans
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