In the Very Beginning

PhotoVoice was built on a partnership between Anna Blackman and Tiffany Fairey which originated while both were studying for MA s in Social Anthropology at Edinburgh University. They independently established the Street Vision project in Vietnam and the Children's Forum project in Nepal in 1998. These two projects became the two founding initiatives of the organisation.

In 1999, in a bar in Arles, France, the idea of PhotoVoice the organisation was conceived. Unlike many good intentioned and innovate ideas Tiffany and Anna’s vision became a reality when PhotoVoice became a registered company in 2000 and PhotoVoice’s first official project, Positive Negatives: Picturing life with HIV/AIDS, started in the People's Democratic Republic of Congo in 2001. PhotoVoice then went on to win the arts, culture and heritage category at the Charity Awards for Transparency in 2003 and picked up the award for Best New UK Charity at the UK Charity Awards in 2004.

Image Caption: Flying to reach the sun, “I saw this my friend playing in the rain. He was a street child like me. I was so excited to take this picture, to capture the expression of freedom"
From Street Vision: Photography by street and working children
©Vo Cong Thang/Street Vision/PhotoVoice


Image Caption: Star of Bhutan
From Children's Forum: Photos by young Bhutanese refugees in Nepal
©Bishnu Maya/LWF/PhotoVoice

Today, PhotoVoice is proud to have completed over 50 projects in 23 different countries and to have Sarah Moon and Nick Danziger as Patrons, six permanent members of staff, a board of Trustees, a network of Ambassadors, a huge team of freelancers, facilitators and volunteers, hundreds of donors and thousands of wonderful followers who support the charity online and at PhotoVoice events.

PhotoVoice Today

The landscape of participatory photography has changed considerably due to the hugely increased access to image making, mobile communications and web distribution. ‘Photovoice’ as a methodology has become a global phenomenon and we, PhotoVoice the charity, continue to evolve in order to remain at the forefront of the participatory photography field. For 2010 and beyond PhotoVoice’s programme focuses on four main groups; young people aged 15 – 24, people affected by migration (including refugees and asylum seekers), people with disabilities, and people with mental health issues.

PhotoVoice outputs now go beyond the conventional exhibitions and print materials to include DVDs, CD-Roms, music videos, digital stories and web campaigns. As well as working directly with marginalised communities, PhotoVoice promotes best practice within the field by creating up-to-date tools, resources and training courses for people wishing to develop their own participatory photography practices worldwide. Here’s to the next 10 years!



Image Caption: Big boots to fill
From Making the Change: Young disabled people share their experiences of the transition from child to adult services
©Katie Langley/St Helens/PhotoVoice

Current Projects

Having Our Say (Working Title) Photography with young people at risk of or affected by sexual exploitation.
In partnership with National Working Group for Sexually Exploited Children and Young People (UK)

Images of What Is Ours Advocacy training project with landless indigenous minority teenagers in Paraguay.
In partnership with Amnesty International (UK)

Visible Rights Photography with Afghani Children and NGO Staff.
In partnership with Media Support Partnership Afghanistan (Afghanistan)

Making the Change Young disabled people share their experiences of the transition from child to adult services
In partnership with Liverpool City Council (UK)

Moving Stories One day photography taster with teenage Irish Traveller girls (part of Discover Young Hackney 2010)
In partnership with Hackney Homes Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Team (UK)

Images of Foul Play Dalits (‘untouchables’) producing images for the campaign to end the illegal practice of manual scavenging, India.
In partnership with Safai Karmachari Andolan (India)
 
Vaccination Against Fear Photography by young people living with HIV/AIDS in St Petersburg, and young Roma people in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
In partnership with World Vision.

Where the Founders Are Now

Anna Blackman

Anna left PhotoVoice in September 2008 to study for an MBA at Oxford University where she received a full scholarship from the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.  After a challenging and exciting year looking at new ways of combining business practices with positive social impact, Anna is now back in London, working as an enterprise development associate at participle.net  Anna and her husband Giles are also looking forward to the arrival of two new people into their lives later this summer; having recovered from the initial shock of learning they are expecting twins!

Tiffany Fairey

Since taking a step back from day-to-day workings at PhotoVoice in June 2009, Tiffany has remained involved as a consultant and advisor on specific projects.  She is currently based between the UK and Venezuela, where her husband, Charlie, works as a journalist.  In April they were joined by their first child, Finn.  When not busy being a mum, Tiffany continues to pursue her PhD research into photography as a tool for empowerment.

PhotoVoice Lecture Series
Autumn 2010, Conway Hall, London
5th October – Sarah Moon
11th November – Mary McCartney
2nd December – Anastasia Taylor Lind in conversation with Marcus Bleasdale 

PhotoVoice Auction of Exceptional Photographs
Hosted by Reuters, Canary Wharf, London
23rd November 2010

PhotoVoice Training Workshops

We are pleased to launch our 2010 series of workshops in participatory photography with three 3-day and three 1-day courses.  In response to feedback from previous participants we are now offering separate one-day courses for people with a photographic background and for people without. All the workshops are fast paced, participatory and create a forum for questions and discussions within the field.

The workshops will take place in Dalston, London, E8, near the new tube, from 9am – 5pm. For more information and to book your place visit the website or e mail silvie@photovoice.org

Over 100 Trusts, Foundations and other agencies have supported us over our first decade. Most of these grants have been given for specific - and often innovative – pieces of work that have taken participatory photography into new areas or for work with new groups. Many such projects would have never been accomplished without this support. However, core support is especially valuable as it allows the organisation to develop and pursue new and exciting initiatives. We would like to thank in particular the Baring Foundation, the Joseph Levy Charitable Foundation and the Sylvia Adams Charitable Trust – all of which made important contributions to PhotoVoice’s endeavors at crucial stages. Also to the trust which is currently supporting us anonymously in our bid to take PhotoVoice to new and exciting heights.

PhotoVoice would also like to thank all the individuals who have so generously given their time, support and donations. There are too many to mention by name but PhotoVoice is especially grateful to all past and present Trustees, volunteers and interns, Friends of PhotoVoice, Ambassadors, individual donors, donor photographers, print buyers and event attendees.

If you can’t wait three months until the next newsletter from PhotoVoice you can now keep up to date with what we are doing on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube!