About

Charlie Kwai was born in Bethnal Green, London in 1986. He studied Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins in London and went onto pursue his interest in photography and film in 2014. Charlie is known for his honest, up-front and energetic street photographs from around the World in places such as Mexico, Ghana, China and the UK. Kwai is inspired to photograph in locations that are overlooked and difficult to navigate, centering his work around places that would otherwise not exist without the people who are there. His debut solo show ‘Parade’ was in July 2015 at Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, London followed by ‘Gold Dust’ in the same space the following summer. Kwai’s self published book ‘Overtime’ was exhibited at KK Outlet. In the same year he successfully crowd funded ‘Sweet Dreams’ on Kickstarter. In 2018 he self published Al Pastor with an exhibition at Haut Space, London. In 2023 he successfully crowd-funded ‘Magnetite’ on Kickstarter. Charlie continues to work on several personal projects around the UK and often travels abroad for his own work and on assignment.

Selected Press

Features

  • Another

  • Creative Boom

  • Creative Review

  • Boooooom

  • BJP

  • Dazed

  • El Pais

  • Fotoroom

  • Huck

  • Icon

  • i-D

  • It’s Nice That

  • Les Inrock

  • Library Paper

  • Magnum

  • Metal Magazine

  • Nataal

  • National Geographic

  • Portrait of Humanity

  • Printed Pages

  • TPI

  • Volkskrant Magazine

Commissions

  • Business Week

  • ES Magazine

  • Noisey

  • Season Zine

  • The Face

  • The Wire

  • Vice

  • Volkskrant Magazine

  • Wall Street Journal

  • WeTransfer

Exhibitions

  • 2024 Portrait of Humanity Vol.6

  • 2024 Art of Paper and Paste

  • 2019 Portrait of Humanity Vol.1

  • 2019 Salon

  • 2018 Overtime

  • 2018 Live Archives

  • 2018 All our Friends

  • 2017 Gold Dust

  • 2015 Parade

  • 2015 I Scream Factory

Talks

  • Street London 17 & 18

  • KK Outlet

  • Hackney Arts

  • Fresh Faces

  • D&AD Festival

  • Nicer Tuesdays

  • Redeye

  • Guest at Greys

  • Soho House

  • The Photographers Gallery

  • Photo Dining Club