Background
‘PhotoVoice is working to bring new voices to photojournalism: hear the world through their eyes.’
Sebastiao Salgado, photographer
PhotoVoice was built on a partnership between Anna Blackman and Tiffany Fairey which originated whilst both were studying for MA’s in Social Anthropology at Edinburgh University. Both, with a background and interest in documentary photojournalism, integrated participatory photography into their MA dissertations, independently establishing the Street Vision project in Vietnam and the Rose Class project in Nepal in 1998. These two projects became the two founding initiatives of the organization.
Awards to Date
2006 - PhotoVoice wins prestigious Wavemakers Award for Moving Lives
2005 - Anna and Tiffany are two of seven short-listed entries for Young Philanthropist of the Year by the Beacon Fellowship
2004 - PhotoVoice wins award for Best New UK Charity at the UK Charity Awards
2003 - PhotoVoice wins the arts, culture and heritage category at the Charity Awards for Transparency
Work to Date
Since 1999 PhotoVoice has initiated over 21 projects working in over 12 different countries with over 1000 beneficiaries, pioneering the use of photography with refugee groups, street children, orphans, the homeless, HIV/ AIDS sufferers and special need groups. Countries that PhotoVoice has worked in include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the United Kingdom.
Consultancy and partnership projects that have been run to date have included those with Christian Aid, UNICEF, Amnesty International, Save the Children, The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, Healthlink Worldwide, HIV/AIDS Alliance and United Response. Locations include Macedonia, Russia, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Cambodia, India and Equador.
The PhotoVoice Forum, the first international network for participatory photography was launched in 2004. PhotoVoice co-ordinates quarterly PhotoVoice network meetings in London which bring together freelance PhotoVoice facilitators, volunteers and participatory photography practitioners to showcase projects, discuss good practice and issues relating to participatory photography practice.
Exhibitions, Events and Conferences
PhotoVoice have held or contributed to over 80 photographic exhibitions both in local project countries and around the world including in the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona and at the Asia Society, New York to coincide with the UN special session on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2002.
PhotoVoice is often asked to participate in conferences on international development and issues relating to the communities with which we work. PhotoVoice exhibitions are shown at these events and PhotoVoice staff and participants are often asked to speak.
PhotoVoice holds an annual photographic print auction in London, UK to generate funds for its work. Clare Short MP opened the event at Bloomberg in 2004 and in 2005, Niall Fitzgerald, Chairman of Reuters, opened the auction at Reuters’ new building in Canary Wharf. Over 120 photographers have donated to these auctions including renowned photojournalists Sebastiao Salgado, Phillip Jones Griffiths (Magnum Photos) and Abbas (Magnum Photos) as well as Eve Arnold, Sarah Moon, Sam Taylor Wood, Rankin, Malcolm Venville and Nadav Kander.
Press and Publications
PhotoVoice has had significant press coverage in numerous local, national and international newspapers including the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Bangkok Post, The Guardian and The Times and also on the BBC, CNN through BBC news online, BBC London Live and in numerous photography magazines. The 2005 PhotoVoice auction was featured every day for a week in the Independent in December 2005.
PhotoVoice images are often used in publications, as well as PhotoVoice’s work being featured in publications showcasing good practice and innovative approaches to development. These publications include: Another World Possible - Careers Un-Ltd (Published by Pearson Education 2003); 365 Ways to Change the World (Published by Myriad Editions, 2005); A Sense of Belonging: Arts and Culture in the integration of refugees and asylum seekers (Published: by Creative Exchange. Funded by The Home Office, 2005); and Pandemic Facing Aids (Published by Umbrage Editions, 2002).
In 2006/2007 PhotoVoice produced series of individual booklets on PhotoVoice projects which are sold at events and exhibitions and in 2007/8 PhotoVoice will be publishing the PhotoVoice manual.
To view quotes from press coverage click here. Further details and clippings can be provided on request.
Patrons and Celebrity Endorsements
PhotoVoice’s patron is the world-renowned photographer Sarah Moon. Sarah Moon hosted a collaborative exhibition with PhotoVoice in Paris in December 2005 and organised a photographic print auction in aid of PhotoVoice with Ebay France. Donations included prints from Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Robert Doisneau.
Influential photojournalist Philip Jones Griffiths was also one of PhotoVoice's original patrons, remaining so right up until he passed away in 2008. Philip provided an introduction to PhotoVoice’s 2005 Auction catalogue, as well as speaking on the evening alongside Niall FitzGerald, Chairman of Reuters.
Other PhotoVoice high-profile supporters include Sebastiao Salgado, Kenneth Brannagh, Alan Rickman, Rosamund Pike, Juliet Stevenson and Benjamin Zephaniah. Clare Short spoke at PhotoVoice’s Auction 2004.
‘PhotoVoice projects enable people to stand proud on a platform and ‘tell it how it is’. They give voice to the very people who aren’t often given the opportunity to express themselves to the world. There is something very profound in these collaborations, simply put, they have found new ways of telling the truth, and in doing so they are reaching audiences that may not have previously been ready to listen.’
(Dr) Benjamin Zephaniah, author, poet, musician (London, UK)
