José Sarmento Matos

José Sarmento Matos is a Portuguese documentary photographer.

He is 33 years old and is currently based between London and Lisbon.

JSM focuses his work on medium / long term projects and has published his work in media such as The New York Times – with whom he collaborates frequently – New Yorker, Newsweek, Washington Post, among others.

Sarmento Matos also collaborates frequently with Bloomberg, Le Monde, LA Times, Liberation, HBO and HISTORY. IN 2020 he became National Geographic Explorer after receiving an emergency grant to work on a collaboration with the community Jamaica, in Seixal, on housing inequality in times of pandemic. This collaboration resulted in a film shown at Doc Lisboa 2021 and an exhibition at MAAT in the same year.

In 2014, JSM completed his MA in documentary photography and photojournalism at the London College of Communication, where he has been teaching since 2016.

In 2015, JSM was considered by Magnum Photos one of the 30 best photographers in the world under 30 years old, with his work “The turning of the page”. And in 2020, with the project “Where do I belong? Abandoning the Venezuelan Dream.”, he won the Estação Imagem award.