Per-Anders Pettersson was born in Sweden in 1967. He began his professional career in the late eighties, after studying business, working for a local newspaper in his hometown.
In 1990, he moved to New York and has covered major news and feature stories in over 80 countries, most recently in Congo, South Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda, Chad and China.
His works regularly on assignment for STERN, GEO, Newsweek, and many other major international newspapers and magazines. In 1995, Mr. Pettersson produced a book with work from 1991-1995. His work on the ”Flying Squad’ a South African police unit was exhibited at Visa Pour L’image in Perpignan in September 2001. He participated in the ”A day in the life of Africa” book project in the spring of 2002, shooting in Kinshasa, Congo.
He received second prize for his essay of ”Sexual abuse of children in South Africa” in the category ”Issue reporting picture story” in the Pictures of the year international (POY) in 2003. Mr. Pettersson was an also finalist for The 2003 International Grand Prix for humanitarian reporting for the same story, was exhibited at Visa Pour L’image in Perpignan in September 2003. A part of his 10 –year South Africa project was shown as a slide show at Visa Pour L’image in Perpignan in September 2004. He received a prize in NPPA in 2005 in the Magazine Feature Story category, for his essay on the black elite in South Africa, shoot for STERN Magazine. He also received honorary mention in NPPA 2006 in the General News Category for his work on poverty in Malawi. Mr., Pettersson recently photographed a book project, 24 hours in the life of the Catholic Church, shooting in South Africa. He was a finalist for the 2006 CARE International Grand Prix for humanitarian reporting for a story on child prostitution in Kinshasa, Congo, DRC. It will be exhibited at Visa Pour L’image in Perpignan in September 2006. Finalist in Unicef Photo of the year 2006 and awarded in Contemporary issues in World Press Photo 2007. Per-Anders was also awarded in POY, PDN Photo Annual, CHIPP (China), American Photography 23, Photography Annual 48 in 2007.
His work on Soweto was exhibited at Visa pour L'mage in Perpignan in September 2007, and he was also nominated for the Visa D'or in Feature photography.
He was awarded in POYi, NPPA and American Photography 24 in 2008. He was also finalist for the Henri Nannen Preis, Germany’s biggest journalism awards in May 2008. His work on the South African Emerging black elite was exhibited at the Hereford Photography Festival in the UK in May-June – 2008.
Awards in 2011 include Photo District News (PDN) Annual, USA. Communication Arts, USA.
