Andrea Bruce is a photographer, educator, artist and writer whose work focuses on ideas of democracy and the aftermath of war. She often concentrates on the social issues that are sometimes ignored and often ignited in war's wake. Her work bridges art and journalism and welcomes a critical understanding and reimagining of both.

Her clients include National Geographic and The New York Times as well as many publications around the globe. Andrea was a 2016 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University where she studied ideas of democracy. She is the publisher and creator of the hyper-local, visual-first publication Down in the County serving Pamlico County, NC.

Andrea started working in Iraq in 2003, bringing a local reporter’s knack for intimacy and community focus to the lives of Iraqis and the U.S. military. For eight years she worked as a staff photographer for The Washington Post, where she originated and authored a weekly column called "Unseen Iraq.” She also worked at The Concord Monitor and The St. Petersburg Times after graduating from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995. She is a member/ owner of the photo agency NOOR. 

In 2011, she was an Alicia Patterson Fellow and in 2019 she was a CatchLight Fellow and a National Geographic Explorer. Her awards include the 2018 IWMF Anja Niedringhaus award, a 2014 World Press Photo 2nd prize for Daily Life and the inaugural Chris Hondros Fund Award in 2012 for the “commitment, willingness and sacrifice shown in her work.” She has been named Photographer of the Year four times by the WHNPA, received several awards from the Pictures of the Year International contest, including the 2017 Environmental Vision Award, and was awarded the prestigious John Faber Award from the Overseas Press Club in New York. 

Currently, she is based in North Carolina, continues to freelance on a local and global scale, and teaches for New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. She will receive an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2024. You will often find her in the metal or wood shop.

Exhibitions

2022, Group exhibition, Ripples: Climate crisis, conflict, and social inequality, Atelier Néerlandais, Paris

2022, Group exhibition, 15 Years of NOOR Agency, Bibliothéque Nationale de France

2021, Group exhibition, NOOR/PULSE, Museum of Photography, Charleroi, France
2021, Group exhibition, Through the Lens, Southeast Museum of Photography, USA

2018, Solo exhibition, A Place to Go: Sanitation and Open Defecation at Visa Pour L’Image, France

2018, Group exhibition, Unframed, Brussels, Belgium

2018, Group exhibition, On Womanhood, Online
2014, Group exhibition, Women and War, War & Women's Human Rights Museum, South Korea

2012-2013, Group exhibition, War/Photography, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston

2011, Group exhibition, Conflictzone, National Press Club, Washington, DC
2011, Group exhibition, Arab Revolutions, Third-Floor Gallery, London
2010, Solo exhibition, Enamored, Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno, Guatemala
2009, Solo exhibition, Unseen Iraq, Reel Iraq Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
2008, Group exhibition, Picturing the World, The Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC

2006, Joint exhibition, Today’s Pioneers, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA

Education

2024, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, upcoming MFA
2015-2016, Nieman Fellowship, Harvard University
1995, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Journalism and Mass Communications; Art History minor, B.A.

Professional Experiences

2021-present, creator and publisher of Down in the County
2013-present, National Geographic Magazine, contract photographer
2011-present, The New York Times, contract photographer

2011-present, Nikon Ambassador
2011-present, NOOR Images, current president and owner/member of the photo agency

2016, 2017, The Pulitzer Prize, Juror

2001-2009, The Washington Post, staff photographer

2000-2001, The St. Petersburg Times, staff photographer

1996-2000, The Concord Monitor, staff photographer

Teaching Experiences

2021-present, adjunct professor, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University

2023, workshop and lecturer, Duke University
2022, lecturer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2022, lecturer, CUNY

2021, lecturer, Photo London
2019, project lead, Our Democracy, National Writing Project
2015-present, instructor, National Geographic Photo Camp, (10+ immersive workshops)

2011-present, instructor, NOOR Images, (10+ immersive workshops)
2007-present, instructor, The Foundry Workshop for Photography, (20+ immersive workshops)

2019, lecturer, Focus on the Story Festival, Washington, D.C.
2017, lecturer, Acadamia Superior, Symposium 2017, Switzerland
2017, lecturer, Columbia University
2016, lecturer, Tufts University

Selected Publications (about Andrea)

2023, The Assembly, “Wandering the Desert”
2023, Public Radio East, NPR, “Small Town Approach”
2020, National Geographic’s Overheard podcast, “Documenting Democracy”

2016, Nieman Reports, “Democracy at the Dinner Table”
2011, Columbia Journalism Review, “A Different Life”

Selected Works

2023, The New York Times, “India’s Daughters” current 6 part series

2022, National Geographic, “Keepers of Community”
2020, National Geographic, “What Democracy Means to Americans”

2019, National Geographic, “How Women Experience Democracy”

2017, National Geographic, “A Place to Go”

2016, The New York Times, “Young Rural Women in India Chase Big-City Dreams”

Books (featured in)

2019, Conversations on Conflict Photography by Lauren Walsh
2013, Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq by Michael Kamber
2012, War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath by Anne Wilkes Tucker, Will Michels and Natalie Zelt

Awards, Grants, Fellowships

2023, CatchLight Senior Fellow
2019, National Geographic Explorer
2018, CatchLight International Fellow
2018, Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award
2018, Pictures of the Year International, Environmental Vision Award

2013, World Press Award, 2nd place Daily Life
2012, Chris Hondros Award
2011, Alicia Patterson Fellow
2010, White House News Photographer’s Association Grant
2009, Aftermath Project Grant

2009, Photographer of the Year, White House News Photographers Association

2006, Photographer of the Year, White House News Photographers Association

2005, Overseas Press Club, John Faber Award
2004, Photographer of the Year, White House News Photographers Association

2003, Photographer of the Year, White House News Photographers Association