Jillian Edelstein

Jillian Edelstein began her photographic career as a press photographer in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the The Rand Daily Mail. She studied photojournalism at the London College of Printing in 1985, and has worked as a freelance photographer based in London ever since.

Her portraits have appeared in a wide range of publications, including The Sunday Times Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Observer Magazine, Time, Vanity Fair, Life and The New Yorker. She has worked on campaigns such as Comic Relief and the 2012 Olympics, and for organizations as diverse as UNICEF and The Royal Shakespeare Company.

Edelstein has received a number of awards, including a Kodak UK Young Photographer of the year, a Photographers’ Gallery Portrait Photographer of the Year, a Visa d’Or, and the John Kobal Book Award.

Her award-winning book Truth and Lies was published by Granta in 2002. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally at venues which include the National Portrait Gallery and the Photographers’ Gallery in London, Les Rencontres d’Arles in France, the Bensusan Museum in Johannesburg, Robben Island Museum in Cape Town, and the Dali International Photography Festival, Yunnan Province, China.