Seamus Murphy

Seamus Murphy (born 1 October 1959 in Essex, England) is an Irish documentary photographer and filmmaker.

His photographs have been exhibited internationally and are in the collections of The Getty Museum LA, Imperial War Museum UK, National Gallery of Ireland and FRAC, Auvergne, France.

His work has been featured in international media, including The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Time, National Geographic, The Observer, The Sunday Times Magazine, Granta, Stern Magazine, Paris Match, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Irish Times. [ 1]

Murphy grew up in Dublin; his family moved back to Ireland from England when he was six months old. He studied at Trinity College Dublin and Dublin Institute of Technology Rathmines. He left Ireland in 1983, and since 1987, based himself in London. After working briefly in the film industry in the UK, he became an editorial/documentary photographer, travelling widely and covering international news and stories, whilst always pursuing independent and personal projects. .[ 2]

Murphy has won multiple World Press Photo awards for his work produced in Afghanistan, Gaza, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Peru, the United Kingdom and Ireland.[ 3]

He received the World Understanding Award from Pictures of the Year International (POYi) in 2005 for his Afghanistan project.[ 4]

A documentary film produced by MediaStorm, shot by Murphy and based on his photography and journalism from Afghanistan won the Liberty in Media Prize in 2011 and was shortlisted for an Emmy Award[ 5]

Murphy is the author of five books:

Murphy shot and directed:

A Dog Called Money (2019), a feature-length documentary on his collaboration with PJ Harvey, linking the creative process with its sources. It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.[ 11]

The Peculiar Sensation of Being Pat Ingoldsby (2022), a documentary portrait of the Irish poet and broadcaster Pat Ingoldsby.[ 12] He has made short films for The New Yorker, Médecins Sans Frontières, Channel 4 News, VII Foundation.

He made short films for PJ Harvey’s albums Let England Shake and The Hope Six Demolition Project. [ 13]

Patti Smith, already a fan of Polly’s music, listed The Words that Maketh Murder film in Artforum Magazine as number two of her Top 10 artworks, saying: “... this unheralded piece directed by Seamus Murphy is a wisp of humanity celebrating the small things.”

Murphy won the Q Award for Best Video in 2016 for his film for PJ Harvey’s song “The Community of Hope”.[ 14]

Camera operator A Girl from Mogadishu (2019)

Second Unit DOP The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023)

Murphy’s work has been exhibited widely including:

Seamus Murphy's work and career have been widely covered in print, online media, and podcasts. Selected coverage includes: