About + Contact
About
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Jason Florio, award-winning photojournalist, filmmaker and educator originally from London, based in NYC for 18 years before relocating to The Gambia, West Africa, in 2013. He has produced images and documentaries for clients including The New York Times, The Telegraph, Smithsonian, The New Yorker, Men’s Journal, Outside, Bloomberg, National Geographic, Geographical, MIT Technology Review, PepsiCo, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and a contract photographer for the United Nations. He is a contributing editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review.
His focus has been towards under-reported stories about people living on the margins of society and human rights. His work has been recognised with a number of awards, including the Magnum Photography Award for his work on migration. He was the first recipient of the Aperture Foundation grant to produce Aperture’s first-ever assigned story, ‘This is Libya’. His work is held in numerous public and private collections and has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in the USA, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Florio completed the first recorded circumnavigation of The Gambia by foot, co-leading with his wife Helen Jones-Florio - a 930km expedition, producing an award-winning series of portraits titled ‘Silafando’. Three years later, he co-led, with Helen, the first recorded expedition of the River Gambia from its source in Guinea-Conakry to the Atlantic Ocean, in The Gambia - creating a document of the communities that live along its 1130km course before a planned dam was constructed. For his photography-based expedition projects, he was made a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society, UK
Florio is a passionate educator and public speaker, designing and leading photography workshops for clients including the United Nations, IOM, US State Department, and co-leading documentary photography 'safaris' in The Gambia and India. LEARNING +
He currently bases between the UK and West Africa.
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Awards
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2025 Earth Photo - Finalist - Oyster Women of The Gambia
2025 LensCulture - Critics' Choice - Protecting the Protectors
2025 Mangrove Photo Awards - Honourable Commendation - Protecting the Protectors
2023 Mangrove Photo Awards - Stewards of The Mangroves
2021 Contemporary African Photography Prize - Winner - 'Gambia - Victims & Resisters'
2020 Px3 - Gold Medal - 'Gambia - Victims & Resisters'
2020 The Fence Photoville - 'Gambia - Victims & Resisters'
2020 International Photography Award - Honourable Mention - 'Deeper Perspective'
2019 LensCulture Finalist Portrait Awards - 'Gambia - Victims & Resisters'
2018 Contemporary African Photography Prize - shortlisted
2018 American Photography 34 (AI-AP)
2018 LensCulture Exposure Awards - Jurors' Pick
2017 Magnum Photography Awards - Winner -Photojournalism
2016 Virginia Quarterly Review - Prize for Photography
2014 ASME nomination - Feature Photography/VQR 'River Gambia'
2014 Society of News Design - Award of Excellence /'Mogadishu Portraits'
2013 SPD Awards - Silver Medal - Trunk Magazine
2013 Virginia Quarterly Review - Prize for Photography
2012 International Photography Award - Honourable Mention 'Professional'
2012 Portrait Salon - 2012 Selections
2012 Px3 Silver Medal - Portraiture/Culture category
2012 Black & White Spider Awards - Winner 'Portrait' category
2011 PX3 Prix de la Photographie – War – Gold Medal
2011 One Life International Photography Awards - Winner 'People'
2010 International Photography Awards - over all winner 'People' category
2010 International Photography Awards - 1st place 'People : Culture' category
2010 Forward Thinking Museum - winner of the 2nd Quarter Photo Contest
2010 NY Photo Festival, Honorary Mention - fine art/personal series
2010 PDN Faces - Finalist
2010 CDS/Daylight Awards, Honorary Mention - Project Prize
2009 Centre, Review Santa Fe - Nominee
2009 Black and White magazine - Spot Light Award
Grants
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2019 UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office grant
2018 Fondation pour l'Egalité des Chances en Afrique
2017 EU Migration Media Award - reporting grant
2013 Arts and Cultural Grant - US Embassy
2004 Joy of Giving Something - Aperture Grant
Museum collections
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Permanent collection - Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
Permanent collection - Yale Centre for British Art, USA
Permanent collection - International Centre of Photography, New York, USA
Permanent collection - Forward Thinking Museum, New York, USA
Permanent collection - The Haggerty Museum, Milwaukee, USA
Permanent collection - National Centre for Arts and Culture, The Gambia
Permanent collection - International Photography Museum, Huai’an, China
Solo exhibitions
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2021 River Gambia - Photo Swindon 21, UK
2021 Gambia - Victims & Resisters - Photoville, NYC
2021 Gambia - Victims & Resisters - 'We Were Accused' documentary release, Kairaba Hotel, The Gambia
2020 Gambia - Victims & Resisters - National Centre for Arts & Culture, The Gambia
2019 Gambia - Victims & Resisters - UK Embassy, The Gambia
2018 Gambia - Victims & Resisters - GCVHR, The Gambia
2016 MOAS Xchange - Maritime Museum - Malta
2013 Silafando - Athens Photography Festival, Athens, Greece
2013 Silafando - Rush Arts Philanthropic Gallery - NYC
2013 River Gambia - source to sea - Photoville, NYC
2012 Long Fight Burma - Messineo Art and Wyman Contemporary Gallery NYC
2011 Afghanistan - International Photography Museum - Huai’an, China
2011 Silafando - International Photography Museum - Huai’an, China
2011 Makasutu/ Silafando – The Hagedorn Gallery - Atlanta
2010 Forward Operating Base Afghanistan - Forward Thinking Museum NYC
2009 Makasutu - Messineo Art and Wyman Contemporary Gallery NYC
2005 This is Libya - The Forward Thinking Museum NYC
2005 Makasutu – Mecca in the Forest - Half King Gallery NYC
2002 Afghanistan - 39th Exposure Gallery - San Francisco
2001 Afghanistan: The Silent Majority - The Talk Gallery, NYC
Group exhibitions (partial)
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2025 World Conservation Congress - Dubai
2025 Earth Photo - Royal Geographical Society + multiple Forestry England sites (2025-26)
2021 Contemporary African Photography - Victims & Resisters - Rieterpark, Zurich
2017 LensCulture - Destination Europe - Photo London
2017 Magnum Photo - Destination Europe - Photographers’ Gallery - London
2017 LensCulture - Photo London - Destination Europe
2016 Lampedusa - St James Cavalieri, Valletta - Malta
2013 Silafando - Athens Photo Festival
2011 The Truth Is Not In The Mirror -Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee
2011 Upstate Memory - Spacer, NYC
2007 Momento Mori - The Artist Network, NYC
2004 Residents Show - The Artist Network, NYC
2003 Chiapas - McKool Studios, Dallas, TX
2003 New acquisitions - Brooklyn Museum of Art, NYC
2002 Afghanistan - Messineo Wyman Projects, NYC
2001 The Sept 11th Project - NYC
Affiliations
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Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
Model T Ford Register of Great Britain