A migrant warms his hands at a grill outside the Randall's Island shelter in New York City on November 19, 2023. While the city initially planned to get rid of the Randall's Island shelter before winter, they ended up installing a heating system in the tents.

Sebastian Sele

sebastian@sele.world +41787286212 Colombia

Topics of Focus

Migration, Conflict, Peacebuilding

Biography

I am an independent photographer and multimedia storyteller whose work has been featured by The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Stern, ZEIT, Swiss national broadcaster SRF and others.​

Before going freelance, I worked as a writer and editorial lead at VICE's Zurich office and as a content strategist at WIRZ Communications. I completed a one-year program at the International Center of Photography, speak German, English, Spanish and French and am currently based between Bogotá, Colombia, and New York City, United States.

In addition to my journalistic work, I also work as an educator and for commercial clients such as the global fashion brand On.

As a writer, I have covered the killings of indigenous environmentalists in Colombia, the human cost of increasing European coal imports from Colombia, the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, bank robbers in crisis-torn Lebanon, the blind spots in Switzerland's suicide prevention, and migration across the Mediterranean, the Darién Gap, the Sonoran Desert, Lebanon, and other places.

My first photo project "Death at Sea" (2021) on sea rescue in the Mediterranean was featured in the book and exhibition "Swiss Press Photo – The Best of Swiss Journalism 2023". My second visual project "Kings Without Land" (2023/24) on NYC's historic migration crisis was developed and exhibited at the International Center of Photography, published by the New York Times, a Honorable Mention at the International Photography Award, an Editor's Pick at LensCulture's "Emerging Talent Award" and among the five finalists for "Best Digital News Story" at Visa Pour l'Image alongside work from the New York Times, Le Monde and other major publishers.

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