Photojournalist and art photographer from South Wales, UK, Claire Thomas, is a freelance photographer. She grew up in a rural village called Idole in South Wales. Just like an impressionist landscape painting, the pleasant little village has many primitive and natural scenery, and is home to all kinds of flora and fauna. Claire’s love for animals and culture has stayed with her from childhood to adulthood. In college, she had a chance to work as a horse wrangler at a horse ranch in the remote mountains of Wyoming, USA, and realized the love for horses she’d had since childhood. During the days of working at the horse ranch, she started to pick up a camera and take pictures of her obsession, and that was where Claire started her life in photography.

Having graduated from the University of the West of England with a major in political science, she never received formal training for photojournalism and had to rely on her own explorations of the image narrative and even equipment operation skills. After graduation, she left the UK and worked in other countries, during which she provided photographs to some local newspapers. This indirectly cultivated Claire’s profession as a photographer, and added documentary works to her photographic objects aside from animals and culture.

On Claire’s photographic journey from the refuge crisis in Europe to the frontline of the military conflict against ISIS in Iraq, her camera footage recorded many issues of human rights, humanitarianism, and environmental crises faced by political and military conflicts. Looking at her photographs, viewers can almost hear the sounds of conflicts, attacks, and bombings in the near distance, but she never retreats. She stayed for at least two years each time in the war-torn countries, with her strong resistance to pressure and her endurance all stemming from Claire’s persistent love for photography—to use the camera to record the shocking images, the truth to be explained, the actual facts, and the moving moments of human experience and pass on the messages to the world.

Being a freelance photographer is not as romantic as imagined by the public. The flexible and free choices to work in different countries takes extremely high self-discipline and organization skills, and most importantly is the ability to be independent. Claire’s life experience has been transformed by recording current events in many countries through these moving images, and her works can be seen on various types of media worldwide. Even after over ten years, Claire is still not tired of her journey and exploration. She will continue to witness with her own eyes the delicate experience, and deeply understand all humanity on this planet and every aspect of the world throughout her life. Finding the moment to press the shutter, she will make herself seen by the world through photography.

The British photojournalist, Claire Thomas, will hold an exhibition for the first time in Taiwan in 2022!
The exhibition co-organized by Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Cultural and Educational Foundation and ANASTASIA PHOTO, New York, will feature the theme “Around the World” and will exhibit the three major creative series recorded during Claire Thomas’ travels around the world as well as a world premiere of her first publicly published works. Please pay close attention to the information about the “2022 SKM PHOTO Shin Kong Mitsukoshi International Photography Exhibition” or visit the official website of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Cultural and Educational Foundation for more information. (https://culture.skm.com.tw)
▪ Review of the theme invitational exhibitions over the years: https://pse.is/3c947w