Caroline Irby

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‘Sierra Leone’s Children of War’: a radio programme I made with BBC World Service. Listen here! https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct4pnq
24.01.23

Return to Sierra Leone, twenty years on, in The Sunday Times Magazine
27.11.22

Elle: Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Democratic Republic of Congo for UNHCR
26.11.22

‘Someone Else’s Mother’ in Rolling Stone
15.03.21

‘Someone Else’s Mother’ in Financial Times Magazine
26.07.20

New Book! ‘Someone Else’s Mother’, published by Schilt – sixteen years in the making!
11.07.20

Vogue: Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Uganda for UNHCR
12.06.19

‘Claiming a New Place on Earth’, in the Observer New Review
03.10.17

‘Time Stands Still’, in the Observer Magazine
04.06.17

Interview in March issue of Smallish Magazine
28.02.17

The National Portrait Gallery has just purchased my portrait of Gugu Mbatha-Raw
19.11.16

Over half of all the refugees who came to Europe during 2015 entered through the Greek island of Lesbos. I’m just back from photographing there for UNHCR, and am floored by how generously the islanders have responded to the crisis. Here is my current pin-up: Efi Latsoudi (left), psychologist and founder of PIKPA village, a former children’s holiday camp, disused over many years, which was transformed in 2012 into a refugee haven by Efi and other volunteers. It is community-run, providing safe accommodation for particularly vulnerable refugees, including women who have lost their children during the crossing; it is by far the most humane living environment I have ever seen for refugees, such a warm atmosphere. 30,000 refugees have been supported at this small camp since 2012, including Hind, from Syria, pictured here with Efi. I keep wondering how we in the UK would react at a community level if our country were on the front line of the refugee crisis. Efi Latsoudi is one of the joint 2016 winners of UNHCR’s Nansen Award for service to refugees, along with the equally brilliant Hellenic Rescue Team.
04.10.16

Syrian refugee children in a camp in Lesbos last Sunday. I guess they’re around the same age as my son, and I kept thinking he would love to play with them, and in many ways he would actually have loved the camp they are staying in – PIKPA is a former children’s holiday village, with a playground at its centre, loads of volunteers on hand to entertain the children, and is easily the most humane and well equipped refugee shelter I have seen. I’d have been happy to have my son with me there for a day or two; after that I’d probably start worrying about him missing school. I wonder how much school the boys in this picture have already missed, and how much more they’re going to.

Freedom is not easy

Freedom is not easy
12.07.16

Photographing for UNICEF in Djibouti… 19 year old Maria Abdullahi, who looks after her own child, Nouria, and her cousin’s child, Maysun, both 9 months old, living in a tent in a refugee camp in the desert in Djibouti, East Africa – they are refugees from Somalia. Maysun’s own mother abandoned her, and Maria took her in, breastfeeding her along with her own daughter. She does the whole thing with such grace and humour, and so few resources. Total inspiration.
11.05.16

Last one from my Djibouti edit – Somali children playing in Ali Sabieh, in the mountains of south west Djibouti.
05.05.16

TIM HETHERINGTON SHOWING A BLIND CHILD FROM SIERRA LEONE HOW TO USE A CAMERA, AROUND 2004. IT’S FIVE YEARS TODAY SINCE HE WAS KILLED IN LIBYA, BUT HE INSPIRED AND KEEPS INSPIRING SO MANY YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHERS TO WORK MORE CREATIVELY. CAN’T CLAIM TO BE A YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER ANY MORE, BUT WAY BACK HE GAVE ME GREAT ADVICE WHEN I WAS STUCK WITH ONE PROJECT: ‘SHOW IT HOW IT FEELS, NOT HOW IT LOOKS.’ I REMEMBER THOSE WORDS ON ALMOST EVERY SHOOT I DO.
21.04.16

A brilliant charity called Prints for Refugees is selling photographic prints by some of my favourite photographers at a snip – most images are priced at £100-£150, and every penny goes to support Doctors of the World’s work with refugees. Have a look: www.printsforrefugees.com / @printsforrefugees. I’ve given a couple of photographs, which are for sale on their site – here’s one of them: A Child from Everywhere / Moeko, a 16×12” archival print
28.03.16

A brilliant charity called Prints for Refugees is selling photographic prints by some of my favourite photographers at a snip – most images are priced at £100-£150, and every penny goes to support Doctors of the World’s work with refugees. Have a look: www.printsforrefugees.com / @printsforrefugees. I’ve given a couple of photographs, which are for sale on their site – here’s one of them: Ganvié, Benin, a 16×12” archival print

Photographed David Beckham in Siem Reap, Cambodia, this week, visiting Unicef supported centres, helping children who have endured violence and abuse.
18.06.15

Photographed David Beckham in Siem Reap, Cambodia, this week, visiting Unicef supported centres, helping children who have endured violence and abuse.

Holocaust: A Music Memorial Film. Remembering the liberation of Auschwitz, 70 years ago today…
27.01.15

Holocaust: A Music Memorial Film. Remembering the liberation of Auschwitz, 70 years ago today…

Portraits and interviews in current issue of Newsweek Magazine
08.01.15

Observer Magazine, Tanzania
17.12.14

30th anniversary of Band Aid
29.11.14

Urban Merino
03.11.14

Melanie Rickey with her son – Kin Magazine
16.07.14

Moon series No. 1
09.01.14

Moon series Nº 1