Since 1982 Jenny Matthews has been documenting social issues in Britain and abroad. She has done a major project on Women and War which resulted in a book and touring exhibition in 2003, and she has continued to document the lives of women in places affected by conflict.

She has worked for leading international development organisations ( including ActionAid, Care International, Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children) and her work has been published in major magazines and newspapers worldwide. She has also facilitated photography projects with young people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Eastern Europe, and with migrant women in Indonesia.

During Covid 19 she started making photo quilts….selecting images from her archive, printing them on  linen, adding embroidery to some and sewing them together. Each represents a country during conflict (eg Rwanda, Afghanistan, Iraq) or a social issue (Refugees, Protest )Three were selected for Format 21.

A series of 25 embroidered images of Afghan Women were exhibited during Oxford Photo Festival, 2023 and those together with 23 photo quilts were shown at Streetlevel Glasgow February to May 2024. 

She was one of the founder members of Format Women’s Photo Agency in 1983, and then a member of Network Photographers. She is currently part of Panos Photographers.

http://jennymatthews.photoshelter.com

All images © Lua Ribeira . Used here with permission.