honorable mention
Gabriel Hill switzerland
title
ImPORTRAITS- refugees and their most precious item
To add another perspective to the steady cycle of tragic realities, I decided to take my own portraits of refugees, capturing their strong expressions to paint them as survivors. Over the course of one year, I interviewed refugees about their most prized possessions ― what they brought with them from their homes, be it something practical, like a cell phone, or something sentimental, like a family photo. The series is called “ImPORTRAITS.”
The breadth of items shows that some of the subjects had to flee their homes in a rush, while others could be more deliberate about their exits. Regardless, the portraits communicate something about the strength of remembering your roots. They also show that, for some of the subjects, survival took precedent over emotion.
“Once you see my portraits, your next thought is most probably, ‘What would I take with me if I have to leave my home and my country?’”. “For a fraction of a moment you are in exact the same situation as the ‘refugee’ was.”
I absolutely love my job which got me in personal contact with amazing artist like legendary New York backdrop painter Sarah Oliphant, world renown photographer Mark Seliger or the famous Annie Leibovitz Studio.
Besides working as a freelance photographer I am a contract photographer with Rex Press Agencies, one of the world's leading photographic press agencies and picture libraries.
As for my non-corporate photography I officially work with Fotogen, Switzerlands oldest and one of the most prestigious model Agencies.
My ImPORTRAITS project was nominated as one of the 7 best works in Swiss photography in the free category by an international jury for the SWISS PHOTO AWARD 2016 and will be part of the Swiss Photo Award exhibition in Zurich in June 2016. In August 2016 the ImPORTRAITS project went viral and has been published in countless magazines and news websites all around the globe.
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entry description
The ImPORTRAITS project portrays refugees from all around the world with their most precious item. There are millions of images and portraits of refugees, but usually very dramatic ones, with dirty clothes in a refugee camp and mostly one doesn’t know who this person is. For sure it’s important to show the world how they have to live in the camps or how they travel for documentary reasons but sometimes I feel the photographers ‘catch’ them in their most horrible moment,”. “Exhausted, scared, naked. They don’t have a chance to say if they want their image shown to the world.”To add another perspective to the steady cycle of tragic realities, I decided to take my own portraits of refugees, capturing their strong expressions to paint them as survivors. Over the course of one year, I interviewed refugees about their most prized possessions ― what they brought with them from their homes, be it something practical, like a cell phone, or something sentimental, like a family photo. The series is called “ImPORTRAITS.”
The breadth of items shows that some of the subjects had to flee their homes in a rush, while others could be more deliberate about their exits. Regardless, the portraits communicate something about the strength of remembering your roots. They also show that, for some of the subjects, survival took precedent over emotion.
“Once you see my portraits, your next thought is most probably, ‘What would I take with me if I have to leave my home and my country?’”. “For a fraction of a moment you are in exact the same situation as the ‘refugee’ was.”
about the photographer
Hello! I'm a commercial portraiture Photographer and an author with the magazines c't Digital Photography (USA) and c't Digitale Fotografie (EU) living in the heart of Basel, Switzerland. My work has been published in various magazines in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, USA and the UK. Aside from taking pictures, I love to spend time with my wonderful fiancée Rebecca, our conceited cat Kelly and the rest of my family. Already as a kid I was fascinated discovering the world through the view of a viewfinder and this fascination lasted till today. I studied the art of Headshots under a world renown New York based photographer and was his official associate photographer till 2015.I absolutely love my job which got me in personal contact with amazing artist like legendary New York backdrop painter Sarah Oliphant, world renown photographer Mark Seliger or the famous Annie Leibovitz Studio.
Besides working as a freelance photographer I am a contract photographer with Rex Press Agencies, one of the world's leading photographic press agencies and picture libraries.
As for my non-corporate photography I officially work with Fotogen, Switzerlands oldest and one of the most prestigious model Agencies.
My ImPORTRAITS project was nominated as one of the 7 best works in Swiss photography in the free category by an international jury for the SWISS PHOTO AWARD 2016 and will be part of the Swiss Photo Award exhibition in Zurich in June 2016. In August 2016 the ImPORTRAITS project went viral and has been published in countless magazines and news websites all around the globe.
back to gallery