Interviews, since 2013.
What he has said on the radio, on stage and in print, what others have written about the work, and where it has been shown.
Year by year
When people wanted to hear from him. The Walkley and the Opera House in 2013 and 2014, his film and the return of the Taliban in 2021, the State Library in 2024.
2013Nikon-Walkley
2014TEDxSydney
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021A Refugee Journey
2022
2023
- National Library
- ArtsHub
- AMES Australia
- AMES Australia
- The Saturday Paper
- Shark Island
- State Library Victoria
- The Hawke Centre
2024State Library
2025
43 pieces since 2013. Point at one to see what it is, and choose it to go there.
Pick out , , , or .
Listen
Seven programmes and more than 100 minutes of his own voice. Radio and podcasts, the most recent first.
Late Night Live
29 November 2021
ABC Radio National, with Phillip Adams
15 minSeeking Asylum: the perspective of a Hazara refugee
Phillip Adams talks with him about his family leaving Afghanistan, his years as a photojournalist, the death threats that followed the work, and the journey to Australia.
RN Breakfast
21 July 2021
ABC Radio National, with Fran Kelly
11 minOn board sinking asylum seeker boat in new documentary
On Batoor: A Refugee Journey and the footage he shot on the boat bound for Christmas Island. He also talks about offshore detention, and the danger to Hazaras as foreign troops left Afghanistan.
The Curb
19 July 2021
with Andrew F Peirce
43 minBatoor: A Refugee Journey Interview with Photojournalist and Documentary Filmmaker Barat Ali Batoor
A long conversation about Batoor: A Refugee Journey, published ahead of its screenings at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
Finding Humanity
10 March 2021
Season 2, episode 6
Captured: Afghanistan’s ‘Dancing Boys’ and the Hazaras
His life and work: The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan, the danger it brought him, and the history of the Hazara people.
SBS Dari
22 June 2017In Dari
with Sahib Shakaib
8 minInterview with refugee week ambassador Barat Ali Batoor
In Dari. As an ambassador for Refugee Week, on what the week is for.
Afternoons
5 May 2015
RNZ
23 minFeature interview - Barat Ali Batoor
On the boat from Indonesia in 2012, his escape from detention there, and the UN process that brought him to Australia. He also says why he opposes offshore detention and turning boats back.
“Once you are travelling you have no control over your life and you are at the mercy of these smugglers.”
Committee to Protect Journalists
19 June 2013
Audio
Audio: Exiled Afghan journalist Barat Ali Batoor
Recorded for the special report Journalists in Exile, on the threats that began after The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan was published in The Washington Post.
Watch
TEDxSydney at the Opera House, the year after he arrived: 1,079,778 plays on TED.com, as of 15 Oct 2026.
TEDxSydney
My desperate journey with a human smuggler
Talk, 26 April 2014, 10 min
At the Sydney Opera House, the year after he arrived.
National Library of Australia
Hopes and Fears: Oral histories
Oral history, 10 September 2024, interviewed by Fay Anderson
His oral history, excerpted in a short film for the exhibition Hopes and Fears: Australian Migration Stories (2024 to 2025), beside four other voices. The Library also holds three of his photographs, from 2012 and 2013.
“I have cameras with me and I want to document my journey, I will only go with you if you allow my camera with me”
ABC, 7.30
Tensions growing over Afghan Bazaar renaming
Television, 20 March 2025
On the dispute over the Afghan Bazaar name in Dandenong. He started the petition to call the precinct Little Bamiyan.
TEDxIIITV
The struggle of identity and belonging
Talk, 2021
On identity and belonging, seven years after Sydney.
Read
His own words first. Then what critics and writers have made of the work, then the reports.
In his words
Ten things he has said, 2013 to 2021, each beside one of his own photographs.
“This award is not about me. It is about my people the Hazara and the genocide against them that is getting worse every day.”
AMES Australia, 15 October 2013
Seeking Asylum, 2012. See the photograph
“I’ll be speaking about my journey and about the persecution of the Hazaras in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
Dandenong Leader, 14 April 2014
Dandenong award-winning photographer Barat Ali Batoor invited to speak about refugee journey at April 26 TEDx conference in Sydney, Melissa Townsend
Ashura, 2010 to 2012. See the photograph
“We were just waiting for the boat to sink because the water was coming in fast.”
Broadsheet, 13 June 2014
Barat Ali Batoor: A snapshot of the reality of asylum, Alana Mitchelson
Seeking Asylum, 2012. See the photograph
“News photography has a very short life, but documentary photography is there forever.”
Australian Photography, 8 September 2014
Flight to Freedom: Barat Ali Batoor, Anthony McKee
Afghanistan, 2002 to 2012. See the photograph
“Receiving this award puts more responsibility (on me) to work even harder for raising those unheard voices (of refugees) to the next level, and to the broader audience”
UQ News, 27 October 2014
Refugees in Indonesia, 2012 to 2013. See the photograph
“I slipped into the water and destroyed my camera. Thankfully, my memory card survived.”
ideas.ted.com, 16 April 2015
Seeking Asylum, 2012. See the photograph
“There was a 90 per cent chance of dying there in the sea. I was taking the risk. But it was just for that tiny bit of the hope.”
UNHCR Canada, 25 June 2015
Acclaimed photo-journalist and refugee records his harrowing sea journey to Australia, Fiona Irvine-Goulet
Seeking Asylum, 2012. See the photograph
“As a photojournalist you have to take risks.”
The Adelaide Review, 17 September 2018
Afghanistan, 2002 to 2012. See the photograph
“I think these first hand stories are important to give an actual picture to who these people are.”
SBS News, 10 May 2019
‘Everybody has the same hopes, dreams’: New book sheds lights on refugees’ stories, Gloria Kalache and Amelia Dunn
Refugees in Indonesia, 2012 to 2013. See the photograph
“Since the Taliban has returned, they’ve ended the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and turned it into an office for the religious police.”
Sydney Criminal Lawyers, 30 September 2021
Women Under Reimposed Taliban Rule: An Interview With DANA’s Barat Ali Batoor, Paul Gregoire
Afghanistan, 2002 to 2012. See the photograph
On the work
Behrouz Boochani
The Saturday Paper, 21 September 2024, Review, Subscribers
Photographer Barat Ali Batoor captures the truths of displaced refugees
Behrouz Boochani on Searching for Sanctuary, and why the photographs belong to Hazara history as much as to the story of refugees.
Jahan Rezakhanlou
ArtsHub, 26 June 2024, Review
Exhibition review: Searching for Sanctuary, State Library Victoria
The exhibition as a timeline of the journey, read through the photographs, his footage and his recorded voice.
Mohammed Hanif
Dawn, 22 October 2017, Essay
Where should Hazaras go?
Mohammed Hanif on the killing of Hazaras in Pakistan and the refugees waiting in Indonesia, opening on his photograph from the boat.
Jane Lydon
The Conversation, 29 July 2016, Essay
Friday essay: worth a thousand words – how photos shape attitudes to refugees
Jane Lydon on how photographs have shaped Australian attitudes to asylum seekers. The section headed At sea turns on his photograph The First Day at Sea.
Madeleine Dore
ArtsHub, 12 June 2015, Feature, Subscribers
Art highlights refugees’ hopes and dreams
On art in Refugee Week, opening on his photograph of Kaw Doh, a Karen refugee living in Nhill, made for Heartlands 2015.
Reported
2025
Dandenong Star Journal21 April 2025, News
Name drops, heat rises on Afghan Bazaar
After the council voted to stop using the name Afghan Bazaar.
IF Magazine15 January 2025, News
AIDC selects projects for 10th FACTory pitching showcase
In Focus, the film that became My Refugee Journey, chosen for the FACTory pitching showcase.
2024
AMES Australia29 August 2024, News
Stunning photo essay explores the asylum seeker experience
On Searching for Sanctuary at State Library Victoria.
AMES Australia28 June 2024, News
Exhibition exposes the human face of refugee journeys
On the exhibition in the Keith Murdoch Gallery, and the journey behind it.
2023
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre11 October 2023, His photographs
Why these refugee women are walking 640 km to Canberra
His photographs of the women who walked from Melbourne to Canberra, asking for permanent residence and citizenship for about 10,000 people failed by the fast track refugee system.
2016
SBS News22 January 2016, Feature
First day: The photojournalist who documented his boat journey from Afghanistan
The point where his life and his work met: photographing his own journey to Australia.
2015
Trend Hunter, Keynote Speak14 April 2015, Write-up
A short write-up of the TEDxSydney talk, with the video.
2013
Australian Photography15 October 2013, News
Barat Ali Batoor Wins Nikon-Walkley ‘Photo of the Year’ Award
The inaugural Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year, for his photograph of asylum seekers on a timber boat bound for Australia.
Broadsheet16 September 2013, Arts
The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan
The photographs that made him leave Afghanistan, on show at 10x8 Gallery in Surry Hills.
The Guardian9 September 2013, News
Journalists arrive in Australia on asylum seeker boat
A report on two foreign journalists who reached Australia by boat. Its last paragraph points to his photographs of the 2012 crossing.
Exhibitions and screenings
On now
Hazara Exodus (a selection) 2009-2012
Palm Plaza, DandenongFrom October 2025, ongoing
His photographs of asylum seekers’ journeys, his own among them, printed on fifteen blades suspended in Palm Plaza. Part of the council’s Transformed temporary public art program.
Kerry Packer Civic Gallery, Adelaide
5 to 28 June 2024
The Hawke Centre, Exhibition
Journey of Resilience
The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan and the voyage that failed, at the University of South Australia.
Keith Murdoch Gallery, Melbourne
1 June 2024 to 30 January 2025
State Library Victoria, Exhibition
Searching for Sanctuary: A journey of survival
The photographs from his year as an asylum seeker, from Pakistan and Thailand to Indonesia and Australia.
Allan Scott Auditorium, Adelaide
1 April 2023
The Hawke Centre, Screening
Batoor: A Refugee Journey
His film, then a panel with him, Mary Anne Kenny and Nicholas Procter.
Online
Opened 26 October 2021
Silk Roads @ UNSW, Online exhibition
Peoples and Landscapes in Motion
His photographs of Bamyan and Kabul, beside work by Hoda Afshar, Muzafar Ali and John Gollings. Curated by Ayshe Eli and Louise Edwards.
Kidogo Art House, Fremantle
21 November to 8 December 2013
Curtin University, Centre for Human Rights Education, Exhibition
21 photographs from Afghanistan
Shown for the Centre’s tenth anniversary, with a seminar at Curtin and an artist’s talk at the gallery.
Writing about him?
Biographies, images cleared for publication and the press contact are on the press page. For an interview, send a media request.