Edson Chagas was born in 1977 in Luanda - Angola.
He began his training in audiovisual at the Community Center of Arcena, Portugal (1998); photography at the Professional Image School (EPI-ETIC), Portugal (2002); photojournalism at the London College of Communication, England (2007); documentary photography at the University of South Wales, Newport, Wales (2008).
For four years, Chagas worked as a photojournalist and image editor at the Angolan newspaper Expansão (2014).
In 2013, he represents the Angolan pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, with the project “Luanda encyclopedic city” awarded the Golden Lion, in the category of best national pavilion. In 2015, he was one of the three artists selected to participate in the 11th edition of Novo Banco PHOTO, which he paticipated at Museu Coleção Berardo (MAC/CCB), in Lisbon, Portugal. That same year he participated in the exhibition “Ocean of Images”, The New Photography, at MoMA, New York (Museum of Modern Art | New York). In 2018 Chagas was once again distinguished as one of the recipients of the African Art Prize by the Smithsonian African Art Museum (Smithsonian - Museu Nacional de Arte Africana). Edson´s series Tipo Passe is part of the most recent group show entitled A WORLD IN COMMON, on display at the TATE Modern in London, until January 2024.
Interested in social issues, the Artist has developed a more introspective practice, outside the standards of photojournalism. His work can be presented as intangible without demarcating it from a social context. Edson lives and works between Angola and Portugal.