Signed copies during ARLES 2025
“I’m not a war photographer, but the need to understand was stronger than the fear.”J.V
Not quite a war reporter. Not quite a traveler. But always present — where people search for shelter, for meaning, for home.
John Vink’s lens doesn’t chase the breaking news. It lingers after. In Bosnia, Vietnam, Guatemala, Romania — and most deeply, Cambodia — he documents what conflict leaves behind: silence, strength, survival.
In 1989, a single visa took him to Cambodia. He stayed 16 years. His photographs capture a country marked by genocide but driven by resilience. His images are quiet but unflinching — stories of people rebuilding, one day at a time.
From Belgian carnivals…to the Tour de France…to rice fields and refugee camps…
Vink’s work is about belonging and displacement. The everyday and the extraordinary.
A refugee found proof of his identity in one of Vink’s photos. A woman recognized her father in a long-forgotten frame. His images don’t just document — they matter.