Santiago Barreiro (Montevideo – Uruguay 1985) is a National Geographic Explorer, photographer, visual storyteller and Aljazeera contributor. His approach mainly focuses on the study of dance, humanitarian topics, gender, and minorities. He trained at the Foto Club
Uruguayo (2006 – 2008) and immediately began to work for
several local and international entities, publications and print media 
including El País, Reuters, La Diaria, El Ideal de España, Gatopardo Mexico, Jungewelt Berlin, El
 Espectador, Danza Brazil, Dance Europe, Dance Magazine, Pointe
Magazine, Reuters, Ministry of Culture of Uruguay, Ballet Nacional del
Sodre, Contenidos TV, Gaynor Minden New York. He has participated
in several collective projects and exhibited his work, both inside and
outside the region, on several occasions, among which we should
mention: Fotograma 2009, shows «Iguales a la par»; Un techo para
mi país 2008; shows Reaching U, «Con fotos ayudamos», in New
York; shows Movida Joven 2009; shows of the Inter-American
Development Bank 2012; Grand Prix Photography Optec – Carl Zeiss
Uruguay 2012 and Fotograma 2013, with the collective exhibition
«Detrás de una mirada». His photographs have been part of several publishing projects such as «Uruguay Panorama 2012»; «Bicentennial Uruguayan», of the Ministry of Education and Culture; a WHO publication for Latin America, «Divino Salvo» – A look at the surprising icon of Montevideo», «Jogo do Corpo» of the San Pablo Dance Company, and he has participated in several festivals and reviews of international photography portfolios. As a result of a deep and dedicated interest in dance, in 2012 he was invited by famous dancer Julio Bocca to take the photograph of the Ballet Nacional del Sodre in Uruguay. From that time on, he has dedicated himself to researching, studying and photographing the world of dance, both in a documentary and conceptual way, constantly collaborating with several dance companies and developing photographic research projects on a personal level. In 2015, he published his own dance book called «Pueblo Ballet» (Ballet Village), which through photographs tries to bring dance closer to those who do not always have the opportunity to access it. Thus, democratizing access to ballet in Uruguay. In 2019 he won the first prize at “multimedia” short form category of the “PoyLatam” contest (Picture of the year Iberoamerican), and two years later, in 2021, he received the first prize in the individual sports category of the same contest.

Some awards, grants & mentions to highlight.


National Geographic Society Grantee 2018 | National Geographic Society Explorer Community funding Grantee 2020 | National Geographic Society Covid-19 Grantee 2020 | Poy Latam 2021 – First prize Sports | Poy Latam 2019 | First prize short Multimedia |2020 World Press Photo Joop Swart nominee | Third prize IPA nudes 2017 | Third prize IPA multimedia 2017 | Phmuseum photographer of the day | Natgeo Publication 2017 – Photo of the day on yourshot NG | Jury for MEC (Uruguayan Ministry of Culture) funding grants- 2 consecutive years | Finalist Parati in focus Festival 2014  Brazil | Participant of short festival FESTIN (Portugal) with documentary “the children of Terpsícore/ aldenice 2017” | Exhibition “Eyes of Uruguay: Viena 2016, Portugal 2017 and Luanda 2017 | Uruguayan photographers exhibition in Panama 2016 | Photographer of the month in Russia (Ana Pavlova contest) | Lensculture 2016 Finalist | Exhibition in Brussels 2016 with Tictacartcollection Art gallery | Photographer of the day PhMuseam 2017| Selected for portfolio review at Errante (National Geographic) 2017 International Festival | IPA 2018 Honorable Mention.