Diego Ibarra Sanchez
Photographer; Educator; Video journalist @ Freelancer / Based in Beirut, Lebanon
Diego Ibarra Sánchez is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, and educator, based in Lebanon, who specializes in in-depth long-form visual stories.
He has been contributing to THE NEW YORK TIMES since 2012, while he works on his own body of works and publishing many of his stories in numerous newspapers, magazines, and TV, such as France 24, Revista 5W, CNN, Der Spiegel, NZZ, Diari ARA, UNHCR, and UNICEF.... among others.
Diego assumes a very critical stance regarding the use of images in our own society, defining this historical moment as a «lobotomized era of “tourism” on the other’s pain»: in his work he endeavors to ensure that photography is no longer merely a window allowing a view on what happens in the world, but becomes a means to raise questions and generate reflections.
In 2006 several grants made it possible for Diego to spend a year in South America to improve his storytelling process. Upon returning to Spain he worked for two years for the Catalan newspaper Avui. In 2009 Diego decided to move to Pakistan where he developed a strong visual body of work focused on Pakistan. At the same time, he continued traveling to several other countries including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Libya, Nigeria, and Tanzania. He left Pakistan in 2014 and he is currently based in Lebanon while he keeps traveling and working on his projects around Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine.
He published his first photo book "The Phoenician Collapse" in 2022: a tale of a crisis within a crisis to create a visual testament to the memory of the twilight of Lebanon. The photo book was produced by FOTOEVIDENCE and the Jalón Ángel Archive (UNIVERSIDAD DE SAN JORGE) and curated by photo editor SARAH LEEN with a foreword by Amin Maalouf and texts by Ethel Bonet.
He has been working to highlight how war affects education since 2012.
He has been awarded an Award of Excellence by Pictures of the Year International 2021 for “THAWRA: Lebanese Revolution” in "Impact 2020: Protests and Movements" category; "La Buena Prensa" 2021, The NEW YORK TIMES best pictures of 2020, Getty Images Grant 2020, the 2nd place Photographer of the year POY Latam 2019, best pictures of 2018 by the New York Times, two honorable mentions at the Photographers Association ( NPPA ) for "Dispatches from Mosul" ( International News Picture Story National Press) and "Hijacked Education" (Contemporary Issues Story) on 2017, Aragón Journalism Association Award on 2017, Third place at FINI´s Mexican University Photo Award on 2016, First place at International Photographic Awards (IPA non-pro) on 2012, best of 2012 by TIME, second place at Humanitarian award of AECID “Juan Bartolomé” on 2011, and the Spanish Human Right Award with MeMo coop… His work has been exhibited all around the world and his works have been highlighted during the screening nights of Visa pour L´image several times… among other mentions.