Eric Peris (Photo by Yong Yen Nie)

Eric Peris is one of Malaysia’s first photojournalists. Born in 1939, he started his career in photojournalism by joining Fanfare magazine published by Time Publishing in 1957.

He has had a long and illustrious career and, as reported in an article written by Yong Yen Nie for Invisible Ph t grapher Asia, has sat on the regional selection panel of the Joop Swart Masterclass by the World Press Photo since 1995.

He is 74 right now and, of course, is still taking pictures. His advice for Malaysian photojournalists is what struck me the most.

“Someone once told me they could arrange a trip for me to photograph the Lake District in England. But I told them, ‘We got enough lakes here.’ The duty of Malaysian photographers is to record something about this country. When we only want to travel overseas for our projects, are we saying that we have nothing here? What have we got against our own background, our own culture that we found no interest in them to do creative work with the camera?” he is quoted to have said.

Peris currently has an exhibition running at the Sutra Gallery until 25 May 2015 titled NAMO.

Please read the in-depth profile of Eric Peris written by Malaysian photographer Yong Yen Nie at Invisible Ph t grapher Asia. Very insightful!