– Deena Ganwer, Community Photographer, Chhattisgarh
As part of a joint initiative between the Magnum Foundation and
Video Volunteers, Magnum Nominee, Olivia Arthur, and Magnum Foundation Fellow,
Sohrab Hura, led a series of workshops with community photographers from across
India.
The group totalled twenty, all Community Correspondents with
the community media organisation, Video Volunteers, and most of them women. Working
with people from oppressed groups across India, Video Volunteers hosts the
largest number of salaried community media makers in the world. Included in this
are Dalits, transgender persons, Tribals and numerous individuals from India’s
conflict regions, all living below or near the poverty line. For many, the
journey time to the workshops took close to two days.
Titled “Storytelling through Photography”, the workshop
focused on creating visually strong, contextualised images and building a
narrative into picture stories. “Taking good photographs is about being
creative, patient and experimental”, said Olivia, while stressing “one must get
one’s feet dirty to get that elusive picture”. In between workshops,
photographers worked on their own images, receiving mentoring and feedback
along the way from Olivia and Sohrab.
“To work with such a diverse group is a pleasure. We’ve seen
real progress in their photography between the first and second workshops. My
hope is that one day these people will have their images published and
exhibited alongside international photographers” said Sohrab Hura.
Between unreliable Internet connections, poor transport, and
an unpredictable postal service, it was part miracle that the photographers
were able to submit their work in the first place.
What makes this participatory photography project exciting is
the collaboration between community members and world-renowned professional
photographers. Both Magnum and Video Volunteers feel that such collaborations
will be more and more crucial to all aspects of the arts and journalism in
future years, as citizen reporting grows. There is potential for much more
work: With 150 community correspondents across India, and the number set to
rise to 200 by the end of 2013, reporters at Video Volunteers have access to
untold stories across India, covering topics such as disability, water
shortages and illegal land encroachment. The future of the project will see
community correspondents continuing to work on their own stories, with support
and mentoring from the Magnum Foundation.
To learn more about the Magnum Foundation and Video Volunteers click here.
