ABOUT

My name is Iringo Hockley and I’m in my element when I’m able to make this world a better place, to travel (preferably with my husband and our three children on our bikes) or to express myself creatively.

My life began in Romania, behind the Iron Curtain. My family fled the totalitarian rule of the Ceausescu regime and found a new home in Switzerland. It was here that, over time, my passion for the rule of law, democracy and fundamental human rights developed.

Whether in my work as a lawyer in fragile and conflict-ridden regions, whilst travelling or in everyday life: the beauty and vulnerability of this world never cease to move me. Through photography I want to make both visible. Not as an either/or, but as a both/and.

A lot of my photographs are shot during our family cycling adventures. They are often taken with dirty hands and a long way to go, always with a minimum of gear and usually at the most inopportune of moments: whilst cooking on my knees in front of our tent, with hands wet from washing clothes, beside thundering lorries or in the midst of raging storms – or simply when a camel chooses to join our caravan.

Beauty doesn’t wait until I’m ready for it.

Photography sharpens my sense for beauty. I want to marvel at it and lose myself in it. For me, beauty goes far beyond outward appearance. It is neither pretty nor cute, and it is rarely decorative. It is the manifestation of a deeper dimension.

Beauty in this sense is a quality that touches us, moves us and takes us to the boundaries of our ability to comprehend. It often challenges more than it gratifies.

Through my photography, I want to follow the light: to help shape this world by first opening myself to it. Not resting on the answers of others, but committed to that which really matters — to explore and document the truth. No matter how uncomfortable it may be.

My hope is that my images can be a celebration of life whilst at the same time making visible those who are often overlooked and rarely heard. For me, photography involves  valuing people and standing up for a life of freedom and dignity. Or, as the etymology of the word ‘photography’ suggests: it is about painting (graphein) with light (phōs).

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