011 - Olivia Arthur

Magnum photographer, Olivia Arthur was born in London and grew up in the UK. She studied mathematics at Oxford University, where she decided to become a photographer and she went on to study photojournalism at the London College of Printing before then moving to India with her family, where she was based for two and a half years and where she learnt to take pictures. In 2006 she left for Italy to take up a one-year residency with Fabrica, the organisation funded by Benetton, during which time she began working on a series about women and the East-West cultural divide: The Middle Distance. This work has taken her to Turkey, the border between Europe and Asia, Iran and then Saudi Arabia, where she went to teach a workshop for women and where she made the pictures for her first book Jeddah Diaries - about the lives of some of the young women she got to know there - which was was published in 2012. During all this she won the Inge Morath Award which prompted her to apply for Magnum photos, she was accepted as a nominee and became a full member five years later. Her second book, Stranger is a journey into Dubai seen through the eyes of the survivor of a shipwreck. In 2010, with her husband, Philipp Ebeling, who is also a photographer, she co-founded Fishbar, a gallery / photo bookshop / photography space and photobook imprint. In episode 011 Olivia discusses: A Mathematics degree at Oxford to Photojournalism at LCP; learning to take pictures in India; a residency in Italy with Fabrica; the Middle Distance project; Saudi Arabia: Jeddah Diaries; Magnum Photos; Parenthood and Fishbar.