Gonçalo Fonseca (b. 1993) is a documentary photographer based in Lisbon, Portugal, that specializes in intimate and long-term projects. Since 2017 he has worked on long-term projects in Portugal, China, and India, focusing on social and environmental issues in a quest to explore topics like the essence of home and the meaning of belonging.
He regularly works on assignment for outlets like the Washington Post, New York Times, Der Spiegel, and Guardian, documenting the significant issues and events in his homeland nestled by the Atlantic Ocean.
He is the recipeint of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award - Newcomer and of the Project Groundswell Grant. He was a finalist in the “Community Awareness Award” at the 78th Pictures of the Year International in 2021 and was selected for the Eddie Adams Workshop XXXIV. Gonçalo was a finalist at the Hellerau Portrait Award 2018. His other distinctions include the Yunghi Grant 2020 (US), the Estação Imagem Award - Daily Life 2020 (PT), the Photographic Allard Prize for International Integrity 2019 (CAN), the Young Talent at the Educating the Eye Award 2019 (ES), among others.
Gonçalo’s work has been exhibited at major museums and galleries around the world in countries like Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, China, South Korea, Australia, or the United Arab Emirates.
He is a Nominator for the Leica Oskar Barnack prize.
Gonçalo is currently in Portugal and available for assignments
(+351)910225830
goncalofonseca93@gmail.com
Publications & Clients:
New York Times, TIME, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Volkskrant, Newsweek Japan, Financial Times, Él Periódico, El Pais Semanal, New Statesman, Aftonbladet, Annabelle Magazine, Internazionale, Le Temps, De Morgen, De Standaard, Het Parool, Semanário Expresso, Open Society Foundations, among others;
Awards & Exhibitions:
2026
-Burning Landscape - one of four winners of the Project Groundswell Grant
-Burning Landscape - part of a group exhibition of Project Groundswell Grant winners and finalists at the Photo Museum Ireland in Dublin, March 2026
-Burning Landscape - part of a group exhibition of Project Groundswell Grant winners and finalists at the Fotohof in Austria, February 2026
2025
- New Lisbon - Exhibited at the Regards Croisés, in PhotoAix Festival in Aix-en-Provence, France, October 2025 to January 2026
-100 Years of Leica - New Lisbon exhibited at the Soares dos Reis Museum in Porto, Portugal. May 2025
-100 Years of Leica - New Lisbon exhibited at the Leica Gallery in Madrid, Spain, April 2025
2024
- Finding Home- exhibited at the Photoville Festival in New York. June 2024
- Finding Home - exhibited at the Encontros da Imagem Photo Festival in Braga, September 2024
2023
- New Lisbon - exhibited at the Santa Maria Maior Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal, February to March 2023
- Finding Home- exhibited at the Galeria da Estação in Braga, Portugal, July to August 2023
- New Lisbon - exhibited at the Leica Galerie Frankfurt, Germany from August to September 2023
- New Lisbon - exhibited at the Negativos Photo Festival in Badajoz, Spain from November to December 2023
- Pilgramage - finalist in the UNESCO Santiago Castelo Prize, October 2023
2022
- Upstream - finalist in the UNESCO Santiago Castelo Prize, October 2022
- How Portugal Won the War on Drugs - exhibited at the Xposure Festival in Sharjah, UAE, February 2022
- Upstream - exhibited at the Leica Gallery in Seul, Korea, January 2022
- Upstream - exhibited at the Leica Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark, January 2021
2021
- Selected for the Eddie Adams Workshop XXXIV, September 2021
- New Lisbon - 2nd place in the National Press Prize “Analyzing Poverty 2020” by EAPN Portugal
- New Lisbon - finalist in “Community Awareness Award” at the 78th Pictures of the Year International
- New Lisbon - exhibited at the Leica Gallery in Porto, Portugal, May to July 2021
- New Lisbon - exhibited at the F2 Photo Festival in Dortmund, Germany June 2021
- New Lisbon – exhibited at the Gongbech Gallery in Jeju, South Korea, January to February 2021
2020
- New Lisbon - won the Leica Oskar Barnack Award - Newcomer 2020
- New Lisbon - won the Yunghi Grant 2020
- New Lisbon - won the Daily Life category at the Estação Imagem Award 2020
- New Lisbon – exhibited at the Shanghai Center of Photography, China, November 2020
- Squatting Moms - exhibited at PhotoBrussels 05, November 2020
2019
- Organ Bazaar - won the Allard Prize for International Integrity, November
- Sinto um Vazio no Casario - received an Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards;
- New Lisbon- won the Young Prize category at the Educando la Mirada Award, exhibit in June in Girona, Spain;
- Organ Bazaar - received an Honorable Mention at Estação Imagem Awards 2019 in the Contemporary Issues category;
2018
- Hope - finalist in the Hellerau Portrait Award 2018, exhibit in Dresden;
- Organ Bazaar - finalist in the Open Call 2018, European Month of Photography Bratislava, exhibit in Bratislava;
- Organ Bazaar - received an Honorable Mention at the Neutral Density Awards 2018 in the Documentary category;
Conferences:
2025 - “Creating, Maintaining and Sustaining Photo Projects” - talk for students of the Communications Degree at the Porto Univeristy. November
2025 - “Newcomer 2020” - talk about my path as a photographer since winning the LOBA, Soares dos Reis Museum in Porto, Portugal. May;
2023- “New Lisbon - Creating a long term photography project” - Talk at the Negativos photo festival in Badajoz, Spain. November;
2023 - “Visualizing a Housing Crisis” - Talk at the MFA photo festival in Faro, Portugal. October.
2022 - “Long Term Documentary Practice” - Talk and Workshop at the opening of the Leica Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark, March;
2022 - “Documenting a Housing Crisis” - Xposure Festival in Sharjah, UAE, February;
2021 - “How to Build a Long Term Project” - FestComarcas Photo - Huelva, Spain, October;
2021 - “Cause and Effect - Long Term Documentary Work” - F2 Photo Festival, Dortmund, Germany, June;
2021 - “Environmental Photography: How Can Images Save Us?” - 2021 Aesthetica Magazine Future Now Symposium, May;
2020 - Speaker at the Portuguese Institute of Photography, February;
2019 - Speaker at "Journalism in Extreme Situations" at Nova University in Lisbon, April;
2019 - Speaker at TEDx ULisboa, "Lessons in Resiliency from my Documentary Practice", May;
Curation:
2024 - Curated the exhibition “Female Gaze” at the Leica Gallery in Porto with works by Kiana Hayeri, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Claudine Doury and Jane Evelyn Atwood – January to May 2024; 2023 – Assistant curator to Karin Rehn-Kaufmann for the exhibition “Work in Progress – Portugal 1973-2023” by Alfredo Cunha, with Karin Rehn-Kaufmann at the Leica Gallery in Porto – September 2023 to January 2024;
2023 – Assistant curator to Karin Rehn-Kaufmann “From Famalicão to the World – 50 Years of Leica in Portugal” at the Casa das Artes in Famalicão, Portugal -September to November;
2023 - Curated the exhibition “A Changing Climate” at the Leica Gallery in Porto with works by Leonard Pongo, Irene Barlian, Docks Collective, Rafael Vilela and Alessandro Cinque – July to September;
2021 - Curated the exhibition “Olhares (J)enuínos” a community photography project in Zona J, Lisbon; November to December;