Edgar Martins

Edgar Martins (b. 1977 in Évora, Portugal) is a Portuguese photographer and author who lives and works in the United Kingdom.

Early life and education

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.

Work and honors

Martins's first monograph, Black Holes & Other Inconsistencies was awarded the Thames and Hudson and RCA Society Book Art 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 USA, Germany, Brazil, and other countries.

The launch of his new book, When Light Casts no Shadow is scheduled for Summer 2009, and will be published by Dewi Lewis.

Martins has exhibited extensively throughout Asia, Americas and Europe. His work is collected in museums, public, corporate and private collections, throughout the world, such as BES (Portugal), the Ilídio Pinho Foundation (Portugal), MACE (Portugal), The Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), The National Media Museum (UK), The Dallas Museum of Art (USA,) 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.

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’.

Digital Alteration Controversy

In the Sunday July 6, 2009, edition of the New York Times Magazine, Edgar Martins published an expanded photo essay entitled "Ruins of the Second Gilded Age". On July 7, commentors on community blog MetaFilter pointed out that at least some of the images were digitally altered, which was not consistent with Martins's statement accompanying the photo essay that he did not manipulate his photographs in any way other than by using a long exposure. The essay has since been removed from the website, replaced with a statement that "[e]ditors later confronted the photographer and determined that most of the images did not wholly reflect the reality they purported to show".

The analysis further went on to show that images purportedly showing symmetry in Mr. Martin's other exhibits were created by mirroring half of a photograph and adding small, asymmetrical details to the mirrored half. Examples can be seen in several images from Martin's work "The Diminishing Present".