Tamara Merino

Documentary photographer Tamara Merino is a National Geographic Emerging Explorer (2020) who focuses on human and sociocultural issues. Born in Colombia and now based in Chile, Tamara has traveled extensively throughout South and Central America, and teaches photography workshops globally. Her work has been featured in multiple print and online publications worldwide including National Geographic, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker, and Der Spiegel. A National Geographic grant currently supports Tamara’s “Underland” project, which documents communities living underground or in cave homes around the world. While her initial work on “Underland” explored subterranean communities in Australia, Spain, and the United States, the project is expanding to include other regions from Central America to North Africa and Asia. Tamara is also a fellow of the International Women’s Media Foundation and honoree of the 2020 Magnum Foundation’s Inge Morath Award.