Claire Thomas

Claire Thomas (UK / Egypt) is an award-winning Welsh photojournalist, fine-art photographer and writer whose work explores conflict, social justice, cultural heritage and the relationships between people, animals and the environments they share. Based between the UK and Egypt, Claire approaches visual storytelling with empathy, curiosity and a deep respect for the people and communities she photographs.

Raised in a rural village near Carmarthen in South Wales, Claire developed a lifelong love of horses and the outdoors. While working as a horse wrangler in Wyoming, surrounded by vast landscapes and working animals, her passion for photography began. A volunteer project supporting women living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana in 2008 became a turning point, inspiring her to use photography to bring greater attention to urgent social and humanitarian issues.

Claire has since documented conflict, displacement, human rights and environmental injustice across Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Europe, Africa and the wider Middle East. From 2016 to 2019, she was based in northern Iraq, photographing the region’s conflict, recovery and cultural life. Yet her work also seeks stories of resilience, tradition and identity — from communities affected by war to the Kazakh eagle hunters of Mongolia and the enduring relationships between people, animals and the landscapes they inhabit.

Her photography and writing have appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Sunday Times, National Geographic, the BBC and Al Jazeera, and she has worked with organizations including UN agencies, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Save the Children. In 2023, her work with journalist Christina Lamb in northeast Syria received the Outstanding Impact Award at the Amnesty International UK Media Awards. Through both reportage and more personal long-term projects, Claire uses photography not only to document events, but to encourage curiosity, empathy and a deeper understanding of lives beyond our own.