Chris Hopkins

Christopher Hopkins is a freelance visual journalist from Australia.

Born and raised in rural Victoria, Australia, Chris travelled extensively internationally for six years before embarking on a photographic career. After graduating from college in 2010, Chris’ creative and intuitive eye saw him hired by Australia’s largest mastheads, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
In 2012 he documented the lives of second-generation Agent Orange victims in Vietnam and was awarded the Walkley slideshow prize. Covering this story would lead to a deeper sense of purpose for his photography. He has since gone on to cover humanitarian issues globally with the intent to bring human rights issues to the forefront of public awareness.

Chris aims to open a dialogue into the issue he is documenting. His imagery seeks to ask questions of the audience whilst providing an empathetic connection to the subject. Highly active in the mental health space, much of his project work examines the relationship between those living with mental health issues and their environment, exploring how systemic and societal custom inform our perceptions of these marginalised groups.

Chris’ work in Uganda 2020 led to the landmark High Court of Uganda decision in March 2022 finding the Ugandan Government guilty of human rights abuses on children living with intellectual disabilities.

Chris’ work features in publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Jakarta Globe, The Irish Times, and for UNHCR and Amnesty International.

Chris is a two-time Walkley winner (2018 – Photographic Essay, 2020 – Photo of the Year), two-time National Portrait Prize Finalist and in 2021 was awarded 2nd Place by Pictures of the Year International (POYi) in the Daily Life category.

His work with central African victims of combat trauma was recognised as a finalist in the 2015 United Nations Media Awards, and his series Home[Less] was a finalist in the 2017 Amnesty International Media Awards; two of several honours and commendations his work has earned from POYi, The Walkley Foundation for Journalism, Melbourne Press Club, Festival della Fotografia Etica, Amnesty International, The National Portrait Prize and the Australian Photography Awards.

 
He is currently based in Melbourne, Australia.