Story Collaborative Socially Engaged Photography Programs
Zefanias “Jeff” Joel Zango discusses why he made some of the images he made during a Listening Session attended by about 40 of his fellow fishermen in Závora, Mozambique. In collaboration with Rare. (photo: Brian Ullmann/Rare)
A Facebook post on the community group page after our final exhibition of the Klemtu’s youth’s photographs. When a photography exhibit becomes more interesting than video games, you know you’re on to something.
If you are interested in how we can help integrate Story Collaborative workshops into the work you are doing and more deeply engage those communities in that work, contact us, and we can share more information on the process along with examples of how these efforts have impacted communities.
We began developing the Story Collaborative program as a participatory photography process in 2016 to prioritize listening to local Communities and begin to dismantle the “Savior vs. Saved” narratives in international nonprofit work. Our program strives to rebalance issues of authorship and representation, promoting equity and inclusion in purpose-driven nonfiction storytelling through sharing wisdom as we work together toward the healing of all people and the planet. We learn with and from our collaborators—not just about them.
A behind-the-scenes video from a recent workshop in Namibia. You can also view some of the photographers’ photos online at the WWF website.
Articles in WWF’s World Wildlife featuring the work of four members of the Oglala Lakota Nation (above), and seven photographers living in Dzilam, Mexico (below).
Zefanias “Jeff” Joel Zango in Zavora, Mozambique photographing a women’s savings group meeting.
We have spent most of our careers in magazines, documentary film, and photojournalism and have seen many examples of manipulative, extractive, inequitable, not always intentional but as a result harmful storytelling done on behalf of the people and communities in front of the cameras and at the heart of the stories. And, unfortunately, it is these outside perspectives that dominate and define how most of us learn about people and places that are not our own.