Born in Altea in 1979, Joan Alvado has lived in Barcelona since 2005.

His works have been published in media like The New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, The Washington Post, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, El Pais, Hurriyet, VICE, Descobrir Catalunya, 7K magazine, Huffington Post, Voima or Le Point, among others. Part of his work has been exhibited in several events and photo festivals in Spain, Cuba, Turkey, France, Slovenia or Italy. Since 2013, he collaborates with the collective of turkish photographers NAR Photos. His archive is distributed by agencies like AFP, Getty Images, Laif or Luz Photo.

In 2015, his project "School of Shepherds" receives the "Lens Culture Emerging Talent Award", and is selected for the "Descubrimientos PhotoEspaña" program. In 2016, his project "Cuban Muslims" wins the "New FNAC Photography Talent" award in Spain and is selected finalist in the DST Emergentest prize of the Encontros da Imagen in Braga (Portugal).