Imagining how one thing led to another can be easy: Olivia Arthur was given a camera and she discovered her vocation. Except that it did not at all happen that way. Olivia studied maths in England, as she is in fact British. She did not necessarily want to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a maths teacher but a maths qualification seemed to offer more opportunities. While studying, Olivia got involved in the university newspaper. She dedicated quite a lot of time to it, even to the detriment of her studies, she remembers. She worked as an editor and a photographer. We are finally getting there. At the end of the second year, the publication's manager took the initiative and entered Olivia's photos in a competition. As in all happy stories, Olivia won first prize. She could not believe it. "It was a shock," she says. "From then on, I thought that maybe there was an opportunity to be taken." She sat her exams and then left for London to take a course in photojournalism. Time with Orange let her carry out her first personal project on the Algerian and North African community. She then decided to head to India to join her parents who work in Delhi and, moreover, to add a string to her bow. "Finding work in London without any experience is difficult." Several English newspapers ordered regular reports from her. After two and a half years in India, she received an artist's grant to spend a year in Italy. It was a chance to refine her work on her project, "The Middle Distance", which is a report on the lives of young women in the border countries of Europe and Asia. More than anything, Olivia is driven by her interest in observing the world, understanding situations, meeting people and, finally, taking photos. When working, she takes her time, as is shown through her preference for a traditional film camera rather than a digital one. She is not the type of person who takes hundreds of photos. There is far more hidden in each photo than first meets the eye. A text often accompanies the shot – proving the importance of words. It is important to put a situation into context. A photo is born out of an encounter, trust. Thanks to this, the photos are natural and almost intimate. They are as close as possible to their subjects. In one word: moving.

Olivia is represented by Magnum agency.