I’d like to make a step-change in my practice and develop an experimental/ambitious project, for a legacy exhibition, through the prism of my autistic experience of the world.
It will comprises 6x audio-visual installations inspired on a 6-chapter script I’ve written with renowned author Will Self, to reflect on the disappearance of my close friend, photojournalist Anton Hammerl, during the Libyan war (‘11). I’ll use Anton’s story as a jumping off point to explore how to tell a story profoundly shaped by absences. I’ll explore a uniquely fragmentary and sensorial approach. Having been diagnosed with Aspergers in my 30s & having found unique methods to cope/deal with loss, I believe there are aspects of the autistic experience that can potentiate new representational techniques to interrogate bereavement and enable innovative approaches to respond to mental health and photographic ethics. With this grant, I’ll create/test new media/techniques, explore collaborations with leading professionals (AV/software/sound engineers) & develop experimental art, with a uniquely biographical undertone, involving synchronized projection, sound, film, photography (archive/new).
This marks a significant transition in my creative trajectory (to date primarily photo-based).
Each installation will include new photo/sound work to create an immersive, if cognitive dissonant experience. I will develop new hardware/software to create, program & sync multifaceted displays using audio, slide projectors & other projection media. The goal is to create an immersive, tactile, sensory and interactive six-part installation.
I’m interested in developing techniques of artistic expression rooted in my autistic experience of the world to activate new visual/representational methods & media to interrogate loss, bereavement, absence, rather than continue adjusting my perceptual proclivities to neurotypical means of communication.
The Dover Prize would enable me to be more ambitious and experimental, fostering new relationships with specialists and arts institutions. This grant will facilitate a deeply collaborative project, working with individuals to explore how different cognitive approaches can pioneer new artistic practices. We will investigate how to represent ethically complex topics such as absence, loss and bereavement in a way that fosters genuine public understanding and mitigates the often-violating nature of photography. Crucially, by developing these groundbreaking methods in Darlington, this project will create a powerful new model for socially-engaged art, establishing a framework that can inspire and be adapted by the local creative arts scene.
This project is designed to be embedded within the Darlington community. I will partner with local mental health and neurodiversity charities to shape its framework. During production, I will actively involve a myriad of local professionals, and upon its launch, I will engage the public and local artists through talks and seminars co-developed with local organisations and colleges. Furthermore, I will use my academic and artistic network to secure a legacy exhibition in the area, ensuring the project’s impact remains rooted in Darlington.
I have a proven track record of delivering high-profile arts projects that generate significant public interest, with my recent work attracting over one million engagements. I am confident I can bring this level of national and international visibility to the work created here. This project will not only enhance the profile of the Darlington creative arts but also champion the town as a vital centre for pioneering, socially-conscious contemporary art.
My artistic practice operates at a unique intersection, building long-term collaborations with both powerful, restricted institutions and vulnerable, socially underrepresented communities. This dual approach allows me to gain intimate access to closed worlds, leading to projects with organizations as varied as CERN, The European Space Agency, and HM Prison Birmingham, UK Metropolitan Police, the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Portugal, BMW, the Archive of Modern Conflict, EDP Power, the European Airport Administration Authorities, alongside vital charities like Mind, The Samaritans, and Human Rights Watch, SOBS, SPS, Safeground, Halow, etc. This methodology is deeply informed by my multicultural upbringing—born of Portuguese ancestry, raised in China, and based in the UK for two decades. This background gives me a unique sensitivity to the ethics of representation and the complex relationship between photographer and subject. My work uses this perspective to develop new visual frameworks for addressing today’s most urgent issues, from modern conflict and migration to mental health and incarceration. Receiving this award would be transformative. It would provide the critical support to escalate the ambition of my projects, pioneer new collaborative models, and bring these vital conversations to a wider international audience, making a significant step-change in my practice and its impact.
I have a BA in Photography and Fine Art from the University of the Arts, an MA in Photography from the Royal College of Arts and a PHD in Documentary Photography from the University of South Wales.
I have received several Arts Council Grants for Arts over the years. I was awarded the Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year accolade in 2023 as well as the International Photography Awards Film Photographer of the Year Award in 2023. I was the BES Photo Prize winner in 2008, the NY Photography Awards winner in 2008 and the BJP Portrait of Humanity Prize winner in 2020.
I run my own studio and have led the editorial, educational and mentorship program of The Moth House. The Moth House is a not-for-profit arts-led-project that seeks to redefine the photobook format and deliver myriad educational activities for underrepresented groups. As a result of my collaboration with The Moth House we have worked closely with individuals on the autism spectrum, offenders and their families, suicide prevention groups, migrant support charities, etc.
I was commissioned in 2014 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to develop a comprehensive exhibition to present at their Paris Centre. This commission was to mark the last exhibition at the Centre Culture Calouste Gulbenkian. I was also commissioned by the EDP Foundation Portugal to produce a book about hydropower and the promises and failures of modernity.
My work is represented in several high-profile collections, such as those of the V&A (London), the National Media Museum (Bradford, UK), RIBA (London), the Dallas Museum of Art (USA); Museu Calouste Gulbenkian/Modern Art Centre (Lisbon), MAAT/Fundação EDP (Lisbon), Fondation Carmignac (Paris), MAST (Italy), Fundação Leal Rios (Portugal), the Portuguese State Modern Art Collection, amongst others.
My work has been reviewed and featured in over 100 journals and periodicals over the years, including the BBC, CNN, British Journal of Photography, NYTimes, Guardian, etc.
Purdy Hicks Gallery, UK & Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon.
Although I have experience of delivering recognised projects w/ public funding and have collaborated with numerous reputable public institutions over the years such as galleries, museums, art organisations, etc, when it comes to the development of new work by enlarge I prefer to collaborate with organisations that do not have a culture of collaborating with artists as I much prefer the techniques of artistic expression and dialogue these engagements activate. This led to collaborations with the European Space Agency, The Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, the UK Met Police, BMW, EDP Power, amongst many others. The only recognised residency I have taken part is the one developed by Red Gate Gallery, in Beijing, in 2016.
Email: info@edgarmartins.com
Address: 23 Park Road North, Bedford, Beds, MK41 7RH, GB
