NOYES MN UNITED STATES — FEBRUARY 19 2017: An exhausted asylum seeker, bogged down by heavy snow, crosses the Canadian border, in Noyes, Minnesota, February 19th, 2017. Asylum seekers have been migrating north through Minnesota and North Dakota to enter Manitoba for years, but their numbers are rising in recent months.
(Ian Willms / The Globe and Mail)
Ian Willms, based in Toronto, is a founding member of Boreal Collective and is represented commercially by NAMARA. He has carried out assignments internationally, contributing to the New York Times, the International New York Times, Harper’s, TIME, the New Yorker, the Guardian Magazine and The Globe and Mail, among others. Willms holds an Honours Diploma in Photojournalism, previously worked as a contract photographer at The Toronto Star and completed the Reportage by Getty Images Emerging Talent mentorship.
His photo essays have garnered various accolades, including a Canada Council for the Arts grant, two Ontario Arts Council grants, the CONTACT Photography Festival Exhibition Award, three Magenta Foundation awards, a Pictures of the Year International award and a National Magazine Award.
Willms’ work has been shown in exhibitions and installations at venues around the world, including the Museum of Photographic Arts, Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, Photoville, CONTACT Gallery and O’Born Contemporary.
Photojournalism program testimonial
Studying Photojournalism at Loyalist gave me the foundational knowledge and confidence needed to begin my career as a photographer. The culture of the program is more like that of a family, rather than a large, impersonal, academic institution. The program is a good mix of technical challenges and indispensable discussions surrounding the ethical questions that come with working as a photojournalist. To say that I enjoyed my time in the program would be an understatement. Overall, the years I spent at Loyalist were some of the best of my life.