Stephen Kelly was born in West Cumbria, England in 1983. He lives and works in Ticino, Switzerland, where he is developing long-term photographic projects along the Swiss-Italian border. He previously worked in China and Myanmar for over a decade, producing personal projects and working on commissions throughout the region for a variety of clients. His current personal work focuses on exploring the nuances of Ticino’s landscape and history, with the intention of developing a better sense of understanding of this territory that he calls home.
Stephen’s photographs have most recently been shown in solo exhibitions at the Fondazione Archivio Roberto Donetta (2023) and Museo Onsernonese (2024), as well as in numerous group exhibitions in Switzerland and abroad. His prints are held in public and private collections and he is the recipient of numerous awards, grants and fellowships, most recently receiving a creation grant in the visual arts, awarded by the canton of Ticino, to develop a research project on the history of cross-border smuggling between Switzerland and Italy.
Stephen holds an MFA (Distinction) in Photography from the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University and a BA (Hons) in Documentary Photography from the University of Wales, Newport.
His first book ‘Crest’ was published by XYZ Books in the summer of 2025.