I’m a British photographer living in London; my focus is on documentary, portraiture and advertising photography, and my work has been published and exhibited worldwide. After graduating in Philosophy and French from Edinburgh University, for several years I worked mainly on humanitarian and conflict stories commissioned by magazines and NGOs, alongside personal projects. Two decades on, I’m still motivated by a faith in photography’s power to connect the viewer and subject: to link worlds that often appear disconnected.
My particular areas of interest are migration and children; I am often drawn to stories where the two coincide. I’ve always written as well as photographed, starting when I was 17 with articles for the Independent and Evening Standard. During 2009, I had a weekly photograph and interview column, ‘Seen and Heard’, in Guardian Weekend Magazine, and from 2011 to 2012 I had a column in Mainichi newspaper, Japan: each week they showed a photograph and story about a different child who I’d met through my work and travels. From 2014-15, I was a contributing editor to Newsweek Magazine.
In 2010, my first book, ‘A Child from Everywhere’, was published by Black Dog Publishing. For this project, I photographed and interviewed children born in 185 different countries who had migrated to the UK.
My second book, ‘Someone Else’s Mother’, published by Schilt in 2020, tells the story of a Filipina woman called Juning, who lived with my family in London for 22 years while her own four children grew up on a small island in the Philippines, 7,000 miles away. The book interweaves photographs I made over a ten year period with images borrowed from Juning’s albums, and interviews with Juning’s now adult children alongside my recollections of a childhood spent growing up with their mother.
My work has been shown at venues including the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood, Royal Festival Hall, Somerset House, the Edinburgh G8 summit and World Children’s Art Museum, Japan; I have photographs in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery and Imperial War Museum, London.
‘Irby has managed successfully to tread the line between voyeuristic intrusion and misplaced sentimentality… Her work contains great tension and emotional charge.’ The Times
Solo Exhibitions
Claiming a New Place on Earth, Protein Studios, London, UK, 2017
Freedom is not Easy, The Proud Archivist, London, UK, 2016
Like Riding a Bike, Westbank Gallery, London, UK, 2011
Words and Pictures – What we Learn from Children, Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, 2011
Words and Pictures – What we Learn from Children, World Children’s Art Museum, Okazaki, Japan, 2010
A Child from Everywhere, V&A Museum of Childhood, London, UK, 2010
A Child from Everywhere, Bubble – Islington, London, UK, 2010
Cloudesley Children at Home, Richard Cloudesley School, London, UK, 2009
Is Your Neighbour Killing You?, National Parliament, Kampala, Uganda, 2007
Walk with Joyce, The Spitz Gallery, London, UK, 2005
Walk with Joyce, G8 summit, Edinburgh, UK, 2005
Firefly, Scottish Arts Centre, Edinburgh, UK, 2001
Group Exhibitions
The Syngenta Photography Award, Somerset House, London, UK, 2013
Commonwealth Photographic Awards, touring exhibition, various countries, 2007
The World Can’t Wait, Southbank, London, UK, 2007
Document, SS Robin Gallery, London, UK, 2006
Photovoice Auction, Reuters, London, UK, 2005
MSF Darfur Fundraising Exhibition, 54 The Gallery, London, UK, 2004
Click: A Celebration of Sight, The Oxo Gallery, London, UK, 2004
Modern Day Slavery, UNHCR, Geneva, Switzerland, 2004
BBC Music Photography Award, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK, 2002
Solo book projects
Somone Else’s Mother, Schilt Publishing, 2020
A Child from Everywhere, Black Dog Publishing, 2008
Group book projects
UK at Home, Against All Odds Productions, 2008
Our World of Water, Frances Lincoln Press, 2008
Editorial clients
Corriere dela Serra, Italy
De Standaard, Belgium
Economist
Elle
Financial Times Magazine
Foto 8
Globe and Mail, Canada
Grazia
Guardian Weekend Magazine
Independent
It’s Nice That
Mainichi, Japan
Marie Claire
Newsweek
Nouvel Observateur, France
Observer Food Monthly
Observer Magazine
Positive News
Prospect Magazine
Psychologies Magazine
Refinery 29
Rolling Stone
Sunday Herald Magazine
Sunday Times Magazine
Telegraph Magazine
Time Out
Vogue
Commercial clients
Aberdeen Asset Management
Airbnb
British Telecom
Burberry
Canary Wharf
Canon
Channel 4
DFS
Dorling Kindersley
Eleven Film
Enjoy Education
Fostering Network
Fred Olsen
Greenberry Kids
Harley Street Clinic
Healthcare Locums
Iris Fashion
Hipp Organic Baby Milk
Investec
Jacobs
JP Morgan
Kensington Preparatory School
Lumi
Macmillan Publishing
Man Group
Mayer Brown
National Trust
Nights by Wilder
Ofsted
Olivier London
Open University
Packington Moor
Persil
Raiz Atelier
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Tesco
Their Nibs
Tigerlily Films
Urban Merino
Wild and Gorgeous
World Circuit Records
NGO clients
British Heart Foundation
British Red Cross
Cafod
Cancer Research UK
CARE International
Concern
Farm Africa
Oxfam
Plan International
Save the Children
Sight Savers International
Tearfund
The IRC
UNHCR
UNICEF
Water Aid
World Wildlife Fund
Y-Care