Marcus Bleasdale CMG is an award-winning documentary photographer, filmmaker, and human rights advocate whose work over the past two decades has focused on exposing and challenging some of the world’s most severe human rights abuses. A contributing photographer for National Geographic and long-standing collaborator with Human Rights Watch, he has documented conflicts and atrocities in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Somalia, Chad, Darfur, Kashmir, and Georgia.

In recognition of his services to international photojournalism and human rights, Marcus was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours.

With a background in business and economics and a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, Marcus brings a forensic approach to conflict reporting, often tracing the financial networks and illicit supply chains that sustain violence. His work has consistently revealed the links between natural resource exploitation—particularly in mining—and the armed groups that profit from instability.

Since 2000, he has reported extensively from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, documenting a war financed by the extraction of minerals used in everyday electronics. Partnering with advocacy organisations such as Human Rights Watch and the Enough Project, he has engaged policymakers in the United States and Europe, as well as multinational corporations, to reform policies and practices in conflict-affected supply chains.

Over the past decade, Marcus has focused on the Central African Republic, producing an unflinching body of work that earned the Amnesty International Award for Media in 2014 and the Robert Capa Gold Medal from the Overseas Press Club of America in 2015.

He is the author of three acclaimed books: One Hundred Years of Darkness (2002), a portrait of life along the Congo River after the fall of Mobutu; The Rape of a Nation (2009), an investigation into resource exploitation in eastern Congo; and The Unravelling (2015), a visual chronicle of the conflict in the Central African Republic.

Marcus lives in Oslo with his extremely funny and beautiful wife, Karin Beate, their exhausting, but at brief moments adorable, twin daughters, Vilja and Saga, and their dog, Vega.

Awards

2023 Companion of St Michael & St George (GMG) King Charles III Birthday Honours
        2015 Overseas Press Club of America The Robert Capa Gold Medal
        2015 Amnesty International Award
        2014 Soc. of Environmental Journalists Award
        2014 Overseas Press Club of America The Photography Prize
        2013 World Press Photo Contemporary Issues
        2013 The Photographer Society The Hood Medal
        2011 USA Webby Award
        2010 Picture of the Year USA Book of the Year Award
        2010 Nobel Peace Prize Photographer
        2010 Anthopographia Award Human Rights and Photography
        2009 Days Japan Readers Award
        2009 Picture of the Year USA
        2008 American Photography Award
        2007 Freedom of Expression Foundation
        2006 Overseas Press Club of America Olivier Rebbot Award
        2006 World Press Photo Daily Life Singles
        2005 Open Society Institute
        2005 Alexia Foundation for World Peace Award
        2005 Picture of the Year USA Magazine Photographer of the Year Award
        2004 UNICEF Photographer of the Year
        2004 Picture of the Year USA Magazine Award
        2004 NPPA Magazine News Story Award
        2003 Picture of the Year USA News Award
        2002 Picture of the Year USA Magazine Award
        2000 Sunday Times Nikon Ian Parry Award

Exhibitions

2006 "The Rape of a Nation" The Federal Building NYC

2006 "The Rape of a Nation" The Central Library, Chicago

2006 "The Rape of a Nation" The Holocaust Museum LA

2007 "The Rape of a Nation" Visa Pour L’Image

2007 Nobel Peace Centre Oslo

2008 Ministry of Foreign Affairs France

2009 Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo

2009 US Senate

2009 UN Headquarters NYC

2010 Nobel Peace Centre (2010), Nobel Peace Prize Photographer

2010 "The Rape of a Nation" The Houses of Parliament UK

2010 United Nations Geneva

2011 “Congo Women” US House of Representatives

2011 Nobel Peace Centre Oslo

2012 Norwegian Houses of Parliament

2013 Fotografiska, Sweden

2014 Lincoln Centre

2014 European Parliament – Congo Women

2015 Lincoln Centre NYC

2015 Visa Pour l’Image

2018 UN Headquarters Building NYC

2018 International Criminal Court - The Hauge

2019 Venice Biennale

2023 MSF France - Public Exhibition