About & Contact

Pablo Albarenga is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller based between São Paulo, Brazil, and Montevideo, Uruguay. His work focuses on social and environmental justice, science, and climate change. Albarenga is a National Geographic Explorer, has been a multiple beneficiary of the Pulitzer Center, and was selected in 2020 as the Photographer Of The Year by the Sony World Photography Awards. His work has been featured worldwide in print and online publications, including National Geographic, The Washington Post Magazine, The Guardian, 6 Mois, and El País. He also collaborates with the Pulitzer Center Education team and National Geographic Learning to spread his topics to wider audiences.
HEFAT TRAINED

Awards, grants,
talks and exhibitions

Selected for the National Geographic Society Leadership Program 2025
Selected for the VII Foundation 1-1 Mentorship Program. Mentored by Nichole Sobecki.
Selected for the Santiago Wild Film Festival with The Time of Water short Film, Chile
GROUNDED Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Food Paradox Photography Exhibition, Hong Kong
National Geographic Storytelling Collective Masterclass, Hong Kong
Guest Speaker at the Royal Geographic Society of Hong Kong
The Food Paradox Photography Exhibition, Kyoto, Japan
National Geographic Storytelling Collective Masterclass, Bangkok, Thailand

The Time of Water Screening at the CCCB, Barcelona, Spain
HEFAT training, Columbia Journalism School, New York
Selected to participate in the National Geographic Diversity and Equity Convening in London, UK
Speaker and Storytelling Workshop Trainer at the NUQ University in Doha, Qatar
Seeds of Resistance Exhibition at the Indian Photo Festival
Speaker at the International Photography Center in New York
Speaker and Trainer at the National Geographic Storytelling Collective Workshop during the International Explorers Festival in Lima, Perú
Shortlisted at the HIPA Photography Awards
Pulitzer Center grant for The Time of Water (short film)
Participant at the Huge Forests exhibition in Värmlands Museum, Sweden
Explorer Story talk at National Geographic International Explorers Fest, Lima, Perú
What Does A Scientist Look Like - A Springer Nature Collective Exhibition, London
Memories of the River, exhibition in Amazònies, Ancestral Future at CCCB of Barcelona, Spain

Selected for the LENS New York Portfolio Review 2024
Selected for the Santiago Wild Environmental Film Festival Workshop, Chile
Seeds of Resistance, solo exhibition in the Montevideo Photography Center, Montevideo, Uruguay

ECO 23 Grant recipient to work on a collective project along with Mariana Greif and Soll Souza, in Altamira, Pará
POY Latam winner in the Environment Category with Raped Territories
POY Latam honorable mention in the Transmedia Category with Betikre, a Rainforest Defenders Episode.
Reynolds Journalism Institute grant recipient to attend the Kalish Workshop in Rochester, US
Selected for the Kalish Workshop 2023 cohort
Speaker at Nat Geo Be Inspired - Amazon to Archipelago Impact Storytelling with Explorer Nicola Sebastian
Seeds of resistance, exhibition, Cities Summit of the Americas, US
Raped Territories, exhibition, San José Foto Photography Festival, Uruguay
Seeds of resistance, exhibition, Tiradentes Photography Festival, Brazil
Selected as one of the five National Geographic Explorers for The Climate Pledge project
Speaker at the ASPEN Climate for climate change
Seeds of Resistance, exhibition, Africa Foto Fair World Collection

Second place in the 39º Journalism Human Rights Award, Brazil
Pulitzer Center grant with The Amazon’s tallest tree project
Fellow, Starling Lab Journalism program, with a project about
Pantanal, the destruction of the world's most extensive wetlands. Stanford University + USC Shoah Foundation
Pulitzer Center grant with Rainforest Defenders Brazil,
season 2

Selected for the Professional category of the Eddie Adams Workshop Class of 2021
Winner of the Gabo Award in the image category with project Rainforest Defenders
Selected for the LENS New York Portfolio Review 2021

Photographer of the year. Sony World Photography Awards
Winner of the Latin America Professional Awards. Sony World Photography Awards
Winner of the Creative Photography Category. Sony World Photography Awards
Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at the Somerset House of London
Speaker at Yale University ISTF Conference
Pulitzer Center grant for the project Rainforest Defenders Colombia, in collaboration with Francesc Badia i Dalmases from democraciaAbierta and Edilma Prada from Agenda Propia
Selected for the DC Environmental Film Festival with the Rainforest Defenders series
World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass nominee

Pulitzer Center grant for the project Rainforest Defenders Ecuador, in collaboration with Francesc Badia i Dalmases from democraciaAbierta
National Geographic Explorer. Grant awarded with the project “Seeds of resistance”
Pulitzer Center grant for the project Rainforest Defenders Brazil, in collaboration with Francesc Badia i Dalmases from democraciaAbierta and Engajamundo Brazil
Pulitzer Center Grant for the project “The Last River” in collaboration with Caio Mota and Luna Gamez
RETOMADA - Photo Book about the indigenous struggle in Brazil
World Press Photo Global Talent Program Nominee
Seeds of Resistance, work in progress exhibition. Fotoativa, Belém, Pará, Brazil

Retomada. Collective exhibition Addis Foto Fest. Ethiopia
Tekoha. Individual exhibition about the indigenous land conflict all over Brazil. Casa Arbus
Photobooth. Individual exhibition. iPhone-made portraits. Bar Andorra
AECID AFROAMERICANOS. Visual projects on afro-descendant communities in Latin America. 1st place along with Mayra Da Silva
Mantengo lo que dije. Exhibition about the Guaraní Kaiowá conflict in Brazil with Ana Mendes. Montevideo Photography Center
Uruguayan moving photography exhibition in Spain. Invited with “Orosmán” series