Muhammed Muheisen

Muhammed Muheisen is a world-renowned photographer. A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, a National Geographic photographer, founder and chairman of the Dutch non-profit organization Everyday Refugees Foundation, Global Ambassador for Jordan Tourism Board, Royal Jordanian Airlines and Canon. Named in 2013 by TIME Magazine as Best Wire Photographer. For over a decade he has been documenting the refugee crisis around the world.

Muheisen is a Jordanian national and graduated with a B.A. degree in journalism and political science. Since 2001 he has documented major events around the world, in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the United States of America as well as events in Saudi Arabia, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, France, Greece, Germany, Croatia, Austria, New York, the Netherlands, Serbia, South Africa and Uzbekistan.

Muhammed Muheisen on Assignment

In 2015, Muheisen established the Dutch non-profit organization Everyday Refugees Foundation which aims to document, educate, help and empower refugees, local communities and internally displaced people by conflict, poverty, discrimination and natural disasters in different parts of the world.
He is a member of the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award advisory committee at the International Women Media Foundation, in Washington D.C., a member of the nominating committee selecting the participants for the annual World Press Photo Joop Swart Master Class in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as well a member of the advisory board of Forum Anja Niedringhaus in Höxter, Germany. He is a Global Ambassador for Jordan Tourism Board, Royal Jordanian Airlines and Canon.

Muheisen served as a jury member in the 2016 Picture of the Year International in Columbia, Missouri, USA, the 2015 World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the 2013 Visa D’Or for Visa pour L’Image in Perpignan, France, the 2017 LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards, the 2019 FotoEvidence Book Award with World Press Photo and in March 2019 he was a jury member of the International Film festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2019 the main judge of the National Geographic Abu Dhabi contest “Moments”. In 2020 a nominator for the “Best Press Photo in Government” for the International Government Communication Award in Sharjah, UAE and for the second year in a row he is the main judge of the 2020 National Geographic Abu Dhabi contest “Moments”.

A decade in pictures

Among other exhibitions, a collection from a decade of his work about “Life in War” was exhibited in the French photo festival Visa pour L’Image in Perpignan. His work about refugees was exhibited at Festival des Libertes in Brussels, Belgium, his photographs about displaced people was exhibited at THE FENCE in Brooklyn, Atlanta, Boston and Houston, USA, also a selection of his work “Pursuit of Happiness” was exhibited at the Angkor Photo Festival in Siem Reap, Cambodia and for two-year in a row, his work “Victims of War” and “Faces of Sharjah” was exhibited at Xposure International Photography Festival in Sharjah, UAE. In October 2018, his exhibition “Light on the Move” was displayed at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece. In March 2019 “Light on the Move” was on display during the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. In September 2019, a selection of his images was displayed by the UNDP at Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York at Photoville. Currently, his exhibition “Our World” is displayed at the Four Seasons hotel in Amman, Jordan, in support of cancer patients at the King Hussein Cancer Center and Foundation. Most recently, from Nov. 20 – Dec. 3, 2020, his exhibition “Lest We Forget” was displayed at the JICA Global Plaza in Tokyo, organized by the Jordanian Embassy in Japan.

International Awards:
– UNICEF Picture of the Year,
– Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner.
– TIME Magazine’s Best Wire Photographer.
– POYI, Picture of the Year International.
– Multiple prizes in the National Headliner Awards.
– Multiple prizes in the NPPA Best of Photojournalism.
– Multiple prizes in the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar.
– Multiple prizes in Asian Media Awards, best in photojournalism.
– The Oliver S. Gramling Award for journalism.
– The John L. Dougherty Award.
– Festival Du Scoop Award.
– Multiple Awards in the China International Press Photo Contest.
– Sigma Delta Chi Awards.
– Multiple Prizes in Xposure International Photography Festival Award.
– Multiple prizes in the APME News Photos Award.
– The MCF Engaged Journalist Award.
– World Press Photo Joop Swart Master Class participant.