Biography
Philip Cheung is a photographer living and working in Los Angeles and has extensive experience in the Middle East, where he was previously based. His commissioned and personal work covers a range of photographic projects, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Los Angeles wildfires, the history of Chinese railroad workers in America, and the portraiture of celebrities and public figures.
His photographs have been exhibited across North America and Europe, such as the SFO Museum (San Francisco, USA), the National Portrait Gallery (London, UK), the Canadian War Museum (Ottawa, Canada) and the Pinchuk Art Centre (Kyiv, Ukraine).
He has been awarded grants by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council and was shortlisted for the Aperture Portfolio Prize in 2018. The Overseas Press Club of America has recognized Cheung for his documentation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His work is held in the collections of Harvard Art Museums, Akkasah, Center for Photography at New York University - Abu Dhabi, the Canadian War Museum, and has been featured and reviewed in various publications, including Harper’s, the British Journal of Photography, Canadian Art, The Washington Post and TIME.
Editorial and commercial clients include: AARP, Adweek, Airbnb, The Atlantic, Bloomberg Businessweek, Browns Design (UK), Canada Post, C3 Creative Code and Content, Condé Nast Traveller, Der Spiegel, Dwell, Financial Times, Forbes, The Fader, GEO Magazine, The Guardian Weekend Magazine, GQ Magazine (UK, Germany), The Hollywood Reporter, Inc. Magazine, Ink Global (UK), InStyle, The Independent Magazine, Lufthansa, MIT Technology Review, Monocle, Mother Jones, National Geographic, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, The New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, Stern, Spotify, Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, The Telegraph Magazine, The Telegraph, TIME, Underline Studios, Vanity Fair, Variety, VICE, Winkreative, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Wallpaper*
Contact
For commissions, licensing, print sales and exhibition requests, please contact:
Email: philipcheungphoto@gmail.com
Phone: +1 323 736 6341
Instagram: @philipcheungphoto
Solo Exhibitions
2019 – The Central Pacific, SFO Museum, curated by Kai Caemmerer, San Francisco, United States
2019 - Arctic Front, Circuit Gallery at Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, curated by Claire Sykes, Toronto, Canada
2017 – The Edge, Circuit Gallery, Prefix Institute of, Contemporary Art, curated by Claire Sykes, Toronto, Canada
Selected Group Exhibitions
Upcoming Oct 2025-Aug 2026 – The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
2022-2023 – ZUHAUSE No. 6, Sprengel Museum Hannover, curated by Dr. Reinhard Spieler, Hannover, Germany
2022 – Russian War Crimes, UK Parliament, curated by Bjorn Geldhof and Ksenia Malykh, London, United Kingdom
2022 – Russian War Crimes, Ukrainian Institute of America, curated by Bjorn Geldhof and Ksenia Malykh, New York, United States
2022 – Russian War Crimes, European Parliament, curated by Bjorn Geldhof and Ksenia Malykh, Brussels, Belgium
2022 – Russian War Crimes, Pinchuk Art Centre, curated by Bjorn Geldhof and Ksenia Malykh, Kyiv, Ukraine
2022 – Russian War Crimes, NATO Headquarters, curated by Bjorn Geldhof and Ksenia Malykh, Brussels, Belgium
2022, Russian War Crimes, Russian War Crimes House, curated by Bjorn Geldhof and Ksenia Malykh, Davos, Switzerland
2020-2021 – Canadian Forces Artist Program - Group 8, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Canada
2018 – Juried Exhibition, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, curated by Jonathan Griffin, Jamillah James, Steven Nelson, Los Angeles, CA, United States
2017 – Mudun: Urban Cultures in Transit, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
2016 – Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
2014 – Carmichael Canadian Landscape Exhibition, Orillia Museum of Art & History, Orillia, Canada
2014 – 4th Lumix Festival, World Exhibition Grounds, Hannover, Germany
2014 – Flash Forward, Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Portland, ME, United States
2011 – Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2011 – Public Domain: Public and Civic Spaces in the Arab World, RIBA-Gallery 2, London, United Kingdom
2011 – London Festival of Photography, German Gymnasium, London, United Kingdom
2011 – Emerging Artists Auction, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York, NY, United States
2010 – 2nd Lumix Festival for Photojournalism, World Exhibition Grounds, Hannover, Germany
Selected Press & Publications
2025 – “Wildfire,” KGP Monolith, New York
2024 – “Ukraine: Love+War,” by Svetlana Bachevanova, FotoEvidence, New York
2023 – “The Politics of Artists in War Zones: Art in Conflict,” by Kit Messham-Muir, Uroš Cvoro, Monika Lukowska-Appel, Bloomsbury Publishing, London
2023 – “These Chinese immigrants opened the doors to the American West,” National Geographic, Washington D.C.
2022 – “Days of Destruction,” by Katie Underwood, Maclean’s Magazine, Toronto
2021 – “Postcards from the edge,” by Ayesha Sohail, Harper’s Bazaar Art Book, Dubai
2020 – “The Bomb in the Wilderness – Photography and the Nuclear Era in Canada,” by John O'Brian, UBC Press, Vancouver
2020 – “Polar Ideas,” Prefix Photo Magazine, Issue 42, Toronto
2020 – “Canadian Forces Artists Program Group 8 exhibition book,” by Stacey Barker and Marie-Louise Deruaz, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa
2020 – “Watchers on the Land,” by Mark Mann,
BESIDE Magazine, Issue 09, Montreal
2020 – “Living Through History - A Visual Time Capsule,” LALA Magazine, Los Angeles
2020 – “Photographers are capturing the stark mood of major cities amid the coronavirus pandemic,” by Gabriella Angeleti, The Art Newspaper, New York/London
2020 – “War museum photo exhibit chronicles service on the home front,” CBC News, Ottawa
2020 – “Canadian photographer documents the development of Abu Dhabi’s coastline,” by Yasmeen Awaja, CNN Arabic, Dubai
2019 – “Get the look,” by Georgina Lavers, Open Skies – Emirates Inflight magazine, Dubai
2019 – “Les résidences d’artistes : regard sur la création,” by Marie-Ève Leclerc-Parker, Vie des Arts, Issue 256, Montreal
2019 – “The America in Asian America,” by Chris Ip, Banana Magazine, Issue 5, New York
2019 – “Rangers John and Steven Ukuqtunnuaq and Simon Tucktoo, King William Island,” Harper’s, Monday Gallery Series, New York
2019 – “Forces of nature,” by Rachel Wine, The Globe and Mail, Toronto
2019 – “Watchers in the North - On patrol with the Canadian Rangers in Nunavut,” The Walrus, Toronto
2019 – “On the Arctic front,” by Angela Schader and Gilles Steinmann, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich
2019 – “This Photographer Captured What Canada’s Military Looks Like at the Arctic Front,” VICE Magazine, Toronto
2018 – "What comes after oil?," by Christian Schule, Mare Magazine, Issue 129, Hamburg
2018 – "2018 Portfolio Prize Runner-up," by Amelia Lang, Aperture, New York
2018 – "Souvenirs from the front," by Angela Schader and Gilles Steinmann, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich
2018 – "A country constantly under construction: A photographer documents the changing coast of the UAE," by Chloe Coleman, The Washington Post, Washington D.C.
2017 – "A Soldier Turned Photographer Remembers War", by Caoimhe Morgan-Feir, Canadian Art, Toronto
2017 – "Sphinx, Umm al-Quwain," Harper's, Readings, New York
2016 – "Gaining Ground, Collecting Photographs from the Middle East," by Anya Stafford, Al Tashkeel, Issue 27, Dubai
2015 – "The photo collective capturing youth’s oddities," by Liv Siddall, Dazed & Confused, London
2015 – "Sharia and skyscrapers: Capturing the parallel worlds of the Emirates," by Tricia Escobedo, CNN, New York
2015 – “Être photographe et Canadien: l’expérience de Phil Cheung,” by Laurence Butet-Roch, OAI13, Paris
2014 – "Looking back to move forward," National Post, Arts & Life, Toronto
2014 – “Shifting Sands,” by Gemma Padley, The British Journal of Photography, London
2013 – "Shifting Sands: Surreal Landscapes of the United Arab Emirates," by Sophie Butcher, TIME Magazine's Lightbox, New York
2012 – "The Photo Issue," VICE Magazine - International Edition, New York
2012 – "Soldiers' Angels," VISION Magazine, by Lina Wang, Shanghai
2011 – "Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize," The Sunday Times Magazine, London
2011 – "Same as it ever was," by Olivier Laurent, British Journal of Photography, London
2011 – "30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch," by Holly Hughes, Photo District News, New York
2011 – "The Final Deployment," by Mark Murrmann, Mother Jones, San Francisco
2011 – Dear Dave Magazine, Issue 9, New York
2009 – “Flash Forward,” Magenta Publishing, Toronto
Public Collections
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA, United States
The Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Akkasah, Center for Photography, New York University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Hellenic Centre for Photography Archives, Athens, Greece
Artist Grants & Residencies
2022 The Rory Peck Trust Training Fund
2021 The Aftermath Project, Finalist Grant, for the series “The Central Pacific Railroad”
2017 Canada Council for the Arts, Project Grant, for the series “The Central Pacific Railroad”
2016-2017 Canadian Forces Artists Program, for the series “Arctic Front”
2014-2016 Akkasah, Center for Photography, Artists Residency, New York University - Abu Dhabi, for the series “The Edge”
2015 – Ontario Arts Council, Visual Artists Grant, for the series “In Between”
2014 – Toronto Arts Council, Visual Artists Grant, for the series “In Between”
Selected Awards & Honors
2023 Overseas Press Club of America, Feature Photography Award, Citation of Excellence for the series Russian Invasion of Ukraine
2022 LEICA Fotografie International / BarTur Photo Award: Photojournalist of the Year, for the series Russian invasion of Ukraine
2022 Vonovia Award for Photography, for the series Russian invasion of Ukraine
2018 Aperture Portfolio Prize Shortlist,for the series The Thing About Remembering
2018 Nominated for the Elliott Erwitt Fellowship
2011 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize (selected), for Soldier’s Angels
2011 Photo District News 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch, by Holly Hughes
2011 SNAP! Best in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography
2010 NPAC Pictures of the Year, 1st Place for Picture Story, for the series A Winter in Kandahar
2009 Magenta Foundation Emerging Photographer Award (Canada)
Artist Talks
2024 – “Impact of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict,” International Forensic Photography Symposium, Toronto, Canada
2022 – "War, Culture and Conflict," Wilfrid Laurier University, Department of Global Studies, Waterloo, Canada
2021 – “New Authors, Old Histories,” National Geographic x Photoville, New York, United States
2021 – “Photography and Social Engagement,” University of California – San Diego, San Diego, United States
2019 – “Creative Approaches to History and Storytelling,” 1882 Foundation Symposium VII, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., United States
2016 – Portfolio Reviewer, Ontario College of Art & Design University, Toronto, Canada
2015 – “Artists Talk,” Ontario College of Art & Design University, Toronto, Canada
2015 – “Artists Talk,” Ontario College of Art & Design University, Toronto, Canada
Community
2025 – National Newspaper Awards (Canada), Photography, Judge
2023-2024 – NPPA Mentorship Program, Mentor to Hannah-Kathryn Valles
2023 – American Aftermath Project Grant, Judge
Safety Training
GJS Hostile Environment & Emergency First Aid Training - Conflict/High Risk (HEFAT), Washington, D.C.
Global Workplace Security / National Geographic - Kidnap for Ransom Avoidance and Survival Training
The New York Times Adversarial Reporting Training, Brooklyn, NY.
CAL FIRE Safety Training for Journalists, San Francisco, CA.