Martine Perret
Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia
I began my professional career as freelance photographer in Sydney in 1999, while also working as photographer and desk editor at The Australian Financial Review. My interest in photojournalism took me to Timor-Leste in 2003.
Having proven myself there, in 2004 I was invited to join the United Nations mission in Burundi, covering both the elections and the Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration of ex-combatants.
In 2006 I worked for a year for the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, covering the Presidential elections and other UN mission activities in Bunia in Ituri.
In 2007 I went back to Timor-Leste as the official UN photographer for 5 years, covering all the missions peacekeeping operations, during which I was also temporary deployed in 2010 to photograph the UN mission in Western Sahara. In 2013 I was contracted to take on a UN mission to South Sudan to photograph all UN activities mainly in the Jonglei State.
In December 2013 I returned to Australia and established a home base in Margaret River. My first project since moving to Western Australia was a photographic exhibition and book launch in July 2014, titled Margaret River Region FROM ABOVE, a self-published book on aerial views of the South West region exhibited at The Margaret River Gallery.
I was contacted by the new United Nations Mission Emergency Response to Ebola to photograph the activities of UNMEER in West Africa from December 2014 until March 2015 covering the response in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
In October 2015, I exhibited Gungurrunga Ngawa (Look Above). A series of photographs shot above the Western Australian Goldfields salt lakes as part of my on-going project documenting both the landscape and the regions inhabitants.
My photos have been published in The Australian Financial Review, The Sun Herald, The Guardian, The NY times, The Rolling Stone Magazine, The Bulletin, ProPhoto, Better Photography and various UN publications.
- Arts
- Conflict
- Environment
- Landscape
- Military embed
Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao - East Timor
Martine Perret
Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao speaking at a press conference in a hotel in Dili two days before East Timor became formally independent on 20 May 2002 and he was to become first President of East Timor, serving from 20 May 2002 for 5 years .@ Martine Perret. 18 May 2002
PST1 Ebola Treatment Unit Freetown - Sierra Leone
Martine Perret
A health worker removes his protective equipment after a visit to the red zone at PST1 Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) run by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and the Sierra Leone Armed Forces in Hastings near Freetown. Sierra Leone is one of the most affected country by the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa. 12 December 2014
Portrait of LCPL John Bol Chan - South Sudan
Martine Perret
Portrait of Lance Corporal John Bol Chan, one member of South Sudanese National Police Service (SSNPS) . On 13 November 2013, a contingent of South Sudan National Police Service officers who underwent specialized training to address the unique security challenges posed by cattle-raiding in South Sudan graduated from the Livestock Patrol Unit (LPU) training facility in Malou, Jonglei State in South Sudan.
The 36 graduates, who were drawn from the 11 counties of Jonglei state completed a rigorous two-month training, which included physical training, English lessons, field craft, map reading, South Sudan law, memory training and observation, and criminal interrogation techniques. Photo by Martine Perret/UN 13 November 2013
