Edgar Martins (b. 1977 in Évora, Portugal) is a Portuguese photographer and author who lives and works in the United Kingdom. Despite his Portuguese birth, Martins grew up in Macau, China.
In 1996, at the age of 18, he published his first book – a philosophical novel entitled Mãe, deixa-me fazer o pino (‘Mother, let me do the hand stand’). In 1997 he moved to the UK, where he later completed a BA in Photography and Social Sciences at the London Institute, followed by an MA in Photography and Fine Art at the Royal College of Art.
Martins’s first monograph, Black Holes & Other Inconsistencies was awarded the RCA Society and Thames & Hudson Art Book Prize. A selection of images from this book were also awarded the inaugural Jerwood Photography Award in 2003.
The Diminishing Present and Approaches, Martins’ following books were launched in 2006. An exhibition of this work has toured 15 different countries.
In Spring 2008 Aperture Books, New York, launched Edgar Martins’ next monograph, entitled Topologies. This work has been exhibited internationally, in Portugal, the UK, the US, Germany, Brazil, Spain and France.
The launch of his new book, When Light Casts no Shadow is scheduled for Autumn 2009, and will be published by Dewi Lewis .
Martins has exhibited extensively throughout Asia, America and Europe. His work is collected in museums, public, corporate and private collections, throughout the world, such as BES (Portugal), the Fundação Ilídio Pinho (Portugal), MACE (Portugal), The Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), The National Media Museum (UK), The Dallas Museum of Art (US,) The National Media Museum (UK), The Caloust Gulbenkian Foundation (Paris), The EDP Foundation (Portugal), amongst many others.
Edgar Martins was the recipient of the inaugural and much sought after New York Photography Award (Fine Art Category) in May 2008 . He was also selected for the Terry O’Neil Award (UK), and awarded a National Media Museum Bursary Fund (UK). More recently he was awarded the prestigious BES Photo Prize and a Sony World Photography Award. Edgar Martins was also a finalist in the Prix Pictet 2009.
Martins was considered by US and UK art critics as one of the most influential artist of his generation, working with the medium of Photography. The Art Newspaper, in an article published in June 2006 compared the work of Gregory Crewdson and Edgar Martins, stating that Martins “seeks fresh horizons to develop a philosophical, quasi-scientific investigation, carried forward on several different fronts” and that “whereas Crewdson’s books puts enormous effort into disguising the artificiality of what are in essence almost operatic productions, Martins’ sensibility just keeps it simple: the overall concept being photography for photography’s sake.”
