Born in Boston, Massachusetts, JOSEPH-PHILIPPE BÉVILLARD started drawing and painting after losing his hearing at the age of three. He became interested in photography in high school and formally began studying photography in 1985 at the Rochester Institute of Technology. In 1990, Bévillard continued his studies at the Art Institute of Boston, where he began sharpening his photographic style while shooting square format black and white portraits of people he met in nightclubs and on the street. After working for several major photo labs in Massachusetts in the latter half of the 90s, he moved to Ireland at the beginning of the Millennium to start his property management business. In 2007, he returned to photography, creating images in the manner of his portrait work of the early 90s. In 2010, he started a new project that would largely define his photographic course moving forward: photographing communities of Irish Travellers (aka Mincéirs). These documentary photographs, shot in vibrant color, have been widely celebrated and have most recently earned him many awards including All About Photography, Budapest International, Fotonostrum, Head On, International Photography Award, Kolga Tbilisi International, LensCulture, Lucie Foundation, Miami Street Photography Festival, Moscow International, ND, Photo Vogue, Pollux, PX3, The Independent Photographer, Tokyo International. Mincéirs is Bévillard’s first book and second printing of his book is currently available.
