Veejay Villafranca was born in Manila. He started out in journalism as a staff photographer for the national news magazine Philippines Graphic. After becoming a freelancer in 2006, he worked with several international news wire agencies before pursuing the personal projects that later paved the way to his career as a full-time documentary photographer.
He has tackled issues such as changing Filipino cultural and religious practices, the transformation of Filipino gang members, and the climate displacement and other environmental issues. In 2008, he was awarded the Ian Parry Scholarship and a residency at Visa Pour l’Image for his project on the lives of former gang members in Manila and in 2013 attended the prestigious Joop Swart Masterclass program of the World Press Photo Foundation. His first book was co-published with MAPA Books, SIGNOS, garnered the 2018 Invisible Photographer Asia first photobook award.
In addition, Veejay has mounted a number of print shows since 2006 in exhibition spaces in New York, France, Netherlands, Rome, Portugal, Japan, Singapore and his work is collected by institutions and private collectors in Asia, Europe and the U.S.
Veejay continues to work around the Asian region and collaborate with different organizations to distribute his ongoing projects and to engage a wider set of audience.