Paolo Woods

Visiting tutor

Paolo Woods is a documentary photographer, filmmaker and curator. He is the author of eight books and his work is widely exposed, collected and published.

He works on long-term projects that focus on subjects that are crucial for understanding the world we live in but difficult to translate photographically. His projects include A Crude World tackling the subject of the oil industry, Chinafrica were he documented the spectacular rise of the Chinese in Africa, Walk on my Eyes, an intimate portrait of the Iranian society, STATE on what happens to a society when the state collapses, THE HEAVENS which is a unique photographic investigation into the workings of tax havens. In 2022 he published the book HAPPY PILLS and released the film by the same name, on how we look for happiness in chemistry. He is the artistic director of Cortona on the Move, Italy’s main photographic festival.