“Dispatches by NOOR is a series of photoessays and interviews, dedicated to the community of storytellers within and around us.”

In an era of fleeting visuals, NOOR recognises the need for deep, lasting connections that produce narratives extending beyond instant gratification. With this in mind, we are excited to introduce DISPATCHES by NOOR, a new concept and the first of its kind, designed for learning, exchanging ideas, sparking discussions, and promoting educational solidarity in visual storytelling.

DISPATCHES aims to inspire like-minded creatives to learn from each other, fueling inclusive conversations on key contemporary issues, and amplifying each other's voices through the personal experiences of visual storytellers. We believe it is crucial to highlight not only the stories themselves but also what drives the narrators to focus on their projects, their personal journeys, creative processes, and outcomes.

Witnessing Syria with Hasan Belal

Through his lens, Hasan Belal documents the everyday resilience and quiet strength of Syrians amidst the shadows of conflict. In this interview, he reflects on his journey into photojournalism, the stories that move him, and the power of bearing witness.

Thank you for being part of DISPATCHES by NOOR. We would like our community to get to know an aspiring young talent like you. To begin, can you please introduce yourself and tell us when you picked up the camera for the first time?

I am Hasan Belal, a freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer from Syria, originally from a coastal city called Tartous. I moved to Damascus in 2017 and graduated from the University of Economics. 

I remember my first encounter with a camera — it was through my cousin's camera, which actually belonged to my mother. He owned a Nikon D2 and I was struck by how heavy it felt in my hands. I would wait for the weekend, when the family would gather, and Uncle Mustafa would hand me the camera so I could take pictures of everyone and capture those moments together. I felt an incredible sense of trust from them. 

They treated the camera as a precious object that needed to be  handled with great care, and it meant so much that they trusted a 15-year-old boy like me to document their memories. Those were the first moments I truly began to interact with the camera. 

Over the years, my interest in photography grew, especially as I began to see  the results of my images. Unfortunately, my family couldn't afford to buy me a camera, so I started asking my aunt  — who lived in Venezuela and visited Syria every summer  — to bring me one. I was fascinated by the Nikon D3100, and wrote her many notes asking for it, but to no avail. 

I waited three years. Each summer, she brought me a different camera. They were all digital and not professional, but they allowed me to practice more and more, gradually building my skills with the semi-professional gear.

Can you share with us your journey into photography and what inspired you to pursue photojournalism in Syria?​ 

Personally, I'm a storyteller. I enjoy sharing stories when I am  with friends, relatives, or even strangers. I started photography as a hobby. I remember bundling pencils together and taking macro photos with my digital camera. At the time, I felt like a world-class artist. I also took close-up shots of backgammon and dice. 

Things changed in early 2012, after the war in Syria began. I started volunteering with a civil society organisation working in humanitarian aid and health promotion. My camera was always with me. After finishing my tasks in the field, I would take photos and write short notes about what I had captured. I also documented gatherings with friends and scenes of daily life on the street. I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew I loved it. I loved connecting with people, even strangers, through my camera.

My work with civil society and international organisations gave me access to places I couldn’t reach before. It allowed me to photograph and document important moments, like the displacement of families from Aleppo and Idlib to coastal cities in 2014 and how they rebuilt their lives within new communities. 

Later, I moved to Damascus and began photographing new places and stories. Over time, I built a meaningful collection of images showing daily life in Syria between 2013 and 2018. I applied for training with Thomson Reuters and Dar Al Musawar in Beirut. After that training, I realised what I was doing had a name: photojournalism, and that in the future I would be a photojournalist, not a humanitarian activist.

I began practicing the profession in a simple way and gained experience by following YouTube tutorials and asking specialists and photographers I admired, — especially street photographers in Egypt, whose style had a strong influence on me. I was also inspired by war photographers like the Lebanese Patrick Baz, among others.

Then, I started to introduce what is known as visual anthropology into my work, after a workshop I attended in Egypt.

Your work has captured profound moments amidst the Syrian conflict. Could you describe some of the challenges you faced while documenting life during the war?​

Working as a photographer in Syria, especially under Bashar al-Assad's rule, is a real risk, particularly if you're an independent photographer like me. Journalism in Syria is controlled by  only five news agencies, and the regime requires them to share all the material they want to cover. If the Ministry of Information agrees, they can film, which stifles photographers and journalists. Any photographer outside these agencies is subject to accountability and arrest.

Every time I took to the streets with my camera, sweat dripping down my skin, my body trembled with the realisation that I was being watched. State Security not only monitored journalists but also encouraged the community to do the same. I learned to adapt, sometimes feigning naive tourist status, and other times ignoring interrogation. I took pictures in secret, capturing glimpses of daily life that seemed both ordinary and challenging. This situation regarding street photography never changed in Syria. 

It wasn’t until I was arrested in 2024 that things took a turn. I was detained in the infamous Palestine Branch (the intelligence military branch) for covering the funerals of Iranian leaders killed in the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Damascus. I spent eight days on the third floor underground, and that's when I learned what freedom meant. What it feels like to be arrested in Syria and have everything taken away from you in an instant. I don't want to go into detail about those days, but I vividly remember the terror I experienced when I was released from prison, and the depth of sadness at the thought of having to leave my profession and pursue another just because I wanted to live in peace.

With the recent changes in Syria, including the fall of the Assad regime, how has the environment for photojournalists evolved? Are there new opportunities or challenges that have emerged?

In the first weeks after the fall, I could finally say I was a photojournalist working for the Turkish Anadolu Agency, an agency where you could have been killed in prison. It was truly a wonderful feeling, holding my camera and pointing it at civilians and soldiers. Everyone wanted to take pictures, and everyone was happy. This was something we were not used to in Syria, especially when dealing with security. I remember rushing into the streets during the early moments of the fall and beginning to photograph the convoys of  HTS (Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham) celebrating in the streets of Damascus. 

However, after a month, the challenges and difficulties began to resurface. The Ministry of Information and its officials, including journalists from the north (Idlib and Aleppo), considered all photographers and journalists in Damascus to be loyal to the Assad regime, myself included. This greatly upset me, as I had already suffered so much before the fall. I had been optimistic that all that fear and harassment would end, but unfortunately, the same issues returned.

Note: Idlib is a Syrian province to which many Syrians have migrated since 2018. It has since become a small state led by Abu Muhammad al-Julani where all those opposed to the regime gathered until liberation arrived.

How do you feel about the current situation in the country? Can you tell us a bit of what is going on from within the borders?

On the national level, no one denies the joy felt by Syrians during the initial period, but Syria is a collapsed country. We still lack the fundamental components of a state. We do not have an army, heavy equipment, or any military presence to rely on in the face of foreign intervention, which is extremely dangerous. The economy is collapsing, and poverty and crime have increased, although they are still at acceptable levels. However, most Syrians depend on the state for their salaries, and now Syria has no money. Therefore, many employees have not received their salaries for four months, which is highly concerning.

Regarding  civil peace, minorities are now at greater risk than during Bashar al-Assad's time. More than 1,800 innocent Alawite people were killed on the coast by undisciplined armed factions affiliated with the new Ministry of Defense. This represents a major threat to civil peace, though  efforts are being made to restore stability, with both  the government and the people working hard towards this.

Socially, new waves of emigration have begun, primarily among minorities, who are preparing to leave, notably after the recent events on the Syrian coast.

What is the current state of visual education for photographers in Syria? Are there institutions or programmes supporting emerging photographers?

Unfortunately, there are no such programmes or institutions in Syria at the moment. In the past, a few private universities offered photography as a secondary subject within the architecture and arts curriculum, but there are no dedicated  institutes or training workshops for photography.

Looking ahead, what projects or themes do you hope to explore in your photography? How do you envision your role in shaping the narrative of Syria's future through your lens?

Right now, all I'm striving for is work and finding a suitable job opportunity, given the risk I face, especially the lack of stability. As for projects, I'm working on a long-term one called "Open the Drawer." You can follow my work on Instagram account and through my website.

Do you like DISPATCHES by NOOR and want to see more? Support the NOOR Foundation with a donation. By supporting us, you contribute to the creation of educational programmes that empower storytellers to amplify urgent narratives often overlooked in mainstream media. Your support is crucial in enabling us to continue teaching and inspiring future generations of visual storytellers. Together, we can make a difference by creating deep, lasting connections and driving meaningful change through storytelling.

“NOOR wants to tell these stories. Their stories. They make a difference. We believe they can change people’s perspectives.” – Stanley Greene

Embracing Change & Amplifying Voices

At the heart of NOOR burns an inextinguishable fire fuelled by a passion to inspire action on the critical issues of our time through the power of visual storytelling. Since our founding in 2007, we have grown into a global collective of artists, storytellers, and visionaries who believe in the transformative impact of visual storytelling to create a fairer, more just place.

As the industry and global culture continue to shift, NOOR has been adapting to meet these changes. After much reflection and with the trust and support of our founding partners, whose legacy will always be a vital part of NOOR, we are taking a significant structural step forward: transitioning from a collectively owned agency led by its photographers to an independent foundation that supports a global community of visual storytellers and educational initiatives. This transformation enables us to more effectively support and showcase a diverse range of voices while carrying NOOR into a sustainable future. We are extremely grateful to NOOR’s authors, shareholders, and NOOR’s interim managing director, Bas Siers, for their guidance and essential contributions in making this important transition possible. Moving ahead, we look forward to continuing to work with NOOR’s former shareholders and the collective of visual storytellers in new and different capacities within our evolving organisational structure.

In line with this new framework, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Sarvenaz Fassihi as our new managing director. Sarvenaz brings extensive experience working with international foundations. With the support of NOOR's team and board, she will ensure a smooth transition to NOOR’s new organisational model.

Sarvenaz Fassihi is an Amsterdam-based strategist and consultant specialising in social impact and the creative and cultural industries. Having worked with global non-profit institutions in various capacities, she has expertise in issues such as gender, the climate crisis, migration, and social change. Sarvenaz holds a master’s degree from the UCLA, and a master’s degree from SOAS. Born in Iran, Sarvenaz spent her childhood living across continents, which has fostered her love for cross-cultural collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Future Vision: Our commitment remains steadfast: to address pressing global challenges—such as climate crisis, forced migration, and social injustice—through the lens of ethical representation and inclusivity. With this new chapter, NOOR aspires to be a global organisation that collaborates with local talent and expands its educational programmes to learn from and contribute to diverse perspectives.

We aim to create a future where visual storytelling reaches new heights, connecting people across borders and bringing critical narratives to the forefront. We are proud to share this exciting news with you and look forward to what we will achieve together.

Interview with Sarvenaz Fassihi

Read the interview with Sarvenaz Fassihi, NOOR's new managing director, as she discusses the foundation's new chapter and her future vision with head of communications & community, Betül Ellialtıoglu.

- Congratulations on your new role, Sarvenaz! Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and what inspired you to take on the role of managing director at NOOR Foundation?

Thank you! Visual artists and cultural facilitators are at the heart of innovation. They are the constant forces propelling cultural, social, and critical policy changes on the pressing issues our world confronts today. I believe in the power of visual storytelling to drive change and connect with audiences across cultures and political spectrums. Having these stories told by the people who are directly affected, or in close contact with issues such as the climate crisis, migration, displacement and conflict is crucial to humanising their experiences, especially in a world where mass media is often, sadly, focused on the dehumanisation of these individuals.

On a personal level, I am a child of immigrants, and have lived in a number of countries because my birthplace was no longer safe. It is the stories and images, kept in boxes and carried with me throughout different stages of life, that have allowed me to understand my own and my people’s history from a nuanced perspective. This has helped me recognise the significance of personal archives in connecting to the shared experiences of others who have faced, and are facing, similar situations.

- Given your extensive experience with foundations, how do you plan to leverage that expertise to shape NOOR's new direction?

My experience with international and local organisations has equipped me with knowledge and expertise in change management that will help NOOR Foundation through its transition to becoming a sustainable organisation. With a strategic vision, a strong team, and the essential input from the NOOR board, partners, and community this goal is no doubt achievable. In addition, I hope to bring in my knowledge and experience, particularly in working with vulnerable and marginalised communities, to the programming of future projects and to NOOR as a whole.

It is very exciting to be a part of NOOR during this organisational transition to a foundation model. I am proud of the NOOR team and founding members for collectively making the decision to preserve its rich legacy while adapting a new model that ensures stories are sourced locally by those whose communities are directly affected. This approach builds local industries and capacities, builds trust, and helps to counter dominant narratives, which are often biased, politically driven, harmful and difficult to verify. I will be working with NOOR’s interim managing director, Bas Siers, and the rest of the NOOR’s dedicated team to ensure a smooth transition.

- NOOR is transitioning to a foundation with a focus on education and global community. How do you envision this shift impacting the organisation’s work and outreach?

I believe NOOR's core values and objectives will remain the same: to advance education and media literacy with a focus on diversity and representation. Our goal is to expand on this with a new organisational model, working with visual storytellers across the globe, supporting them to strengthen their capacities, and connecting them with colleagues and collaborators worldwide. It's amazing what can come out of collective efforts, and our goal in building a community is to create a basis for knowledge and exchange and provide the critical support needed to strengthen and amplify their voices. NOOR's role here is to facilitate this process, acting as a partner to support our community and learn from their experiences as much as they learn from us.

- How do you plan to engage with local communities and artists to ensure their voices are represented in NOOR's initiatives?

We will collaborate with local visual storytellers and past and present NOOR authors as facilitators and mentors for our educational programmes. They will provide valuable insights to inform us of local contexts and needs when co-creating these programmes. With environmental sustainability as part of our core ethos, we will also work with our local partners to develop exhibitions within their communities, countries, and regions. The NOOR Foundation will serve as a vehicle to share their stories and collaboratively present these exhibitions worldwide, with sustainability at its core, to influence mainstream narratives and inspire dialogue and debate to co-create change.

- What do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges for NOOR in this transition, and how do you plan to address them?

The biggest opportunities and challenges go hand in hand. The challenge lies in the current state of our world: media saturation, censorship, political polarisation, and a disconnect between people and communities. However, this also presents our greatest opportunity: to collaborate with remarkable individuals and minds to take back conversations and spaces, focus on humanity and solutions, and create connection and nuanced perspectives.

- Finally, what message would you like to share with NOOR’s supporters and partners as we begin this exciting new chapter together?

Your support is invaluable and greatly appreciated during this exciting time of transition for NOOR. It is only through collective action that we can create a more just world, where every human story is valued and every image and narrative makes a difference. We look forward to engaging with all of you and sharing this journey together.

Header photo: © Stanley Greene / NOOR

Survivors of the Samashki massacre - Women and children took flight after an infamous massacre. Russian troops are accused of destroying the village by torching houses, pillaging, raping and executing civilians. Of 100 people killed, only four were identified as rebels, April 1995.

Backed by the Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands in Abidjan, the NOOR Foundation will support eight visual storytellers in the identification, research and realisation of stories that investigate and highlight regenerative agricultural practices in Côte d'Ivoire.

Regenerative agriculture is an outcome-based food production system that aims to have a lower, or even net-positive environmental impact on the Earth. In the African context, regenerative agriculture means using smart farming techniques that work synergistically with the local climate and fertilise the soil while restoring lost wildlife and biodiversity. These high-yield techniques produce enough food to help feed a growing population and improve livelihoods in food systems. They also make the farms more resilient and adaptive, able to handle the changes in weather caused by climate change. 

The adoption of regenerative agriculture practices has the potential to improve the livelihoods and resilience of farmers, processors and consumers. It can also help restore natural systems which, in the case of West Africa, are highly eroded from centuries of intensive farming.  

This programme is a 6-month advanced visual storytelling training course during which the participants will be guided and supported by the mentors and the educational team of the NOOR Foundation in the creation of impactful stories on regenerative agriculture practises in Côte d'Ivoire and Benin.

Mentored by award-winning photographers Bénédicte Kurzen (France) and Aïda Muluneh (Ethiopia / based in Côte d'Ivoire), the programme is a combination of a physical workshop in Abidjan and an online mentorship programme to develop individual projects on regenerative agriculture in the region.

©Zahui Yvann

©Jean-David Niangoran

©Olivier Khoudiani

©Romane Yebwa

©Kra Kouassi

©Charles Hougbedro

©Emilia Doliani

PARTICIPANTS

• Romane Yebwa –– Instagram

• Mira Mariani –– Instagram

• Charles Houngbedji –– Instagram

• Maria Emilia Alberto Doliani –– Instagram

• Jean-David Niangoran –– Instagram

• Yvann Zahui –– Instagram

• Olivier Khouadiani –– Instagram

• Kra Kouassi
  

The program's results will be showcased on the NOOR Foundation's website, social media, and at a closing event organized by participants, mentors, the NOOR Foundation, a local cultural institution, and the Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands in Abidjan.

At this event, the work will be publicly displayed as an exhibition or digital presentation. The goal is to connect with young and diverse audiences, discussing the significance of embracing regenerative practices as a viable solution to environmental concerns and the challenges posed by the climate crisis.

Header image: © Mira Mariani

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]]>Visualising Regenerative Agriculture Practises: Participants announcedGuest UserMon, 26 Jun 2023 08:46:14 +0000https://www.noorimages.com/newsroom/2023/6/14/open-call-noor-visual-storytelling-educational-programme-on-regenerative-agricultural-in-cte-divoire58cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:6489da6a2ae90f74f0966278Submissions are open for the NOOR Visual Storytelling Educational Programme on regenerative agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire.

As the climate crisis accelerates and intensifies beyond the most dramatic projections, science-based research, indigenous knowledge and reciprocal practices tells us that we must restore our land, if we are to stand a chance at surviving the future. 

Are you a visual storyteller, photographer or visual artist interested in investigating and documenting regenerative agricultural practices in West Africa and their immense potential to make a positive societal and environmental impact on the region? Apply with an ongoing project or a project idea you hope to realise for a chance to earn a place in the tuition-free 6 months mentoring programme of the NOOR Foundation with authors Bénédicte Kurzen and Aïda Muluneh.

In the coming decades, Africa is set to become home to 40% of the world’s population and one region in particular, the 600-mile stretch between Abidjan and Lagos in West Africa is experiencing fast paced development at an astonishing speed. This rapid population growth, combined with extreme changes in the climate and the ecosystems it supports poses a very serious question: how is the region going to be able to feed the ever-growing population?

Experts believe the only solution lies in regenerative agriculture: an outcome-based food production system that aims to have a lower, or even net-positive environmental impact on the Earth. In the African context, regenerative agriculture means using smart farming techniques that work synergistically with the local climate and fertilise the soil while restoring lost wildlife and biodiversity. These high-yield techniques produce enough food to help feed a growing population and improve livelihoods in food systems. They also make the farms more resilient and adaptive, able to handle the changes in weather caused by climate change. 

The adoption of regenerative agriculture practices has the potential to improve the livelihoods and resilience of farmers, processors and consumers. It can also help restore natural systems which, in the case of West Africa, are highly eroded from centuries of intensive farming.  

Backed by the Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands in Abidjan, the NOOR Foundation will support eight French-speaking Ivorian visual storytellers in the realisation of stories that investigate and highlight regenerative agricultural practices in Côte d'Ivoire.

What are the topics we are looking for:

Stories surrounding agricultural practices, challenges, issues and solutions in Côte d'Ivoire in times of climate change – that is the focus for the research and images produced during the NOOR Educational Programme.

What you receive when selected:

• Tuition-free participation to the programme;

• Travel costs, accommodation and food paid for during the 5-day live workshop (2 October - 6 October 2023);

• 5-6 month mentoring programme by the NOOR Foundation in French;

• 3-5 one-on-one online sessions with one of the mentors;

• Participation of your story in the closing event in Abidjan which will take the form of an exhibition, a public presentation event, or a combination of different presentation forms;

• Publication and promotion of your story on all the NOOR communications channels: newsletters, social media and website;

• Access to the NOOR Network, a dynamic, international community where a variety of opportunities (including exhibitions, assignments, and other educational activities) will be openly accessible. 
  

What we expect from you when selected: 

• Cooperation, flexibility, professionalism and commitment to the project: please keep in mind that when you are selected we are denying entry to someone else. 

• Availability to travel to Abidjan to attend the live workshop between 2-6 October 2023, which is a mandatory part of the programme.

• A visual story to deliver at the end of the programme (January-February 2024) composed of:

1. Images (at least 20 high res captioned still and/or moving images: we also accept film/video but take note that we prefer photographs or a mix of both mediums); 

2. A title and a project description (max. 500 words) in French;

3. A source sheet wherein all data points have a note that connect them to a reliable source.
   

The programme is divided in 4 phases:

1. An online kick-off session where you will be informed on the programme and mutual expectations.

2. A 5-day live workshop in Abidjan between 02-06 October 2023 with mentors Bénédicte Kurzen and Aïda Muluneh;

3. A 4 month online mentoring programme composed of 3-5 one-on-one sessions aimed at supporting the development and production of your chosen story;

4. A closing event in Abidjan wherein your work will be presented publicly in the form of an exhibition or a digital presentation.
   

Apply before 28 July 2023 - 23:59 p.m. CET following the guidelines in the document below for a chance to participate in this unique opportunity.

For any inquiries on the programme and the application process please write to stefano@noorimages.com.

Header photo: © Benedicte Kurzen / NOOR

The Wacken Rock ‘n Roll Photography Workshop is a tuition-free educational initiative launched as a collaboration between the Wacken Foundation and the NOOR Foundation. Taking the opportunity of the 2023 Wacken Open Air festival (2 - 5 August 2023) and led by NOOR author Pep Bonet, it will support six selected English-speaking photographers by facilitating the development of their visual mastery in music, event and festival photography.

During the 4-day workshop, you will be working as part of a group and gain the unique opportunity of creating a variety of images with a fresh style - shooting, editing and post-producing new photography work on the Wacken Open Air festival grounds, which will be shared on the official Wacken communication channels.

About the Workshop

• The workshop (and application) is free

• Application deadline is 25 June 2023, 23:59 CET

• The workshop takes place on the festival grounds of Wacken Open Air, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

• The workshop will be conducted in English. Open to English-speaking photographers of all ages and career stages

• Photographers with physical and/or invisible disabilities are also encouraged to apply, special accommodations will be provided to ensure optimal participation experience for everyone

• It’s easy to apply through Picter
  

The criteria for selection of candidates is as follows:

• Portfolios will be reviewed on the basis of original, human-focused storytelling, including but not limited to community focus on musicians, teams, attendees, volunteers and the many faces of human connection in music festival culture

• Personal moments of humour, spontaneity, fun and memorable moments

• Inclusive and ethical representation of diverse individuals, couples and groups

• Capacity for the creation of rich single images that are exciting, expressive or captivating

• Capacity for the creation of visual stories that can act as effective communication

• We push for gender parity, and actively pursue equal representation of candidates
  
  For any questions, please email NOOR Projects Director Maria Goirigolzarri at maria@noorimages.com

Header photo: © Fabian Ritter

The NOOR Advanced Visual Storytelling Educational Programme is a long-term training tract in partnership with the Chocolonely Foundation. We have joined hands to organise an extensive educational programme in West Africa to bring together young talent and communities, create a collective space, develop creative collaborative processes, and shape up new narratives.

This initiative will bring together the talent of regional visual storytellers, the knowledge of community facilitators, the NOOR mentoring expertise and the underrepresented voices of the workers of the cocoa communities in Ivory Coast.

Our international panel of jury members has selected 10 participants who will take part in this programme in 2023.

participants

• Maroussia Mbaye – Senegal
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• Justin Makangara – Congo
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• Ayaba Lina Florence Mensah – Togo
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• Massow Ka – Senegal
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• Olivier Khouadiani – Ivory Coast
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• Clara Watt – Senegal
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• Joannès Mawuna Doglo – Benin
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• Ngadi Smart – Sierra Leone
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• Guerchom Ndebo – Congo
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• Fabrice Mbonankira – Burundi
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Header photo: © Ngadi Smart

The NOOR Advanced Visual Storytelling Educational Programme is a long-term training tract in partnership with the Chocolonely Foundation. We have joined hands to organise an extensive educational programme in West Africa to bring together young talent and communities, create a collective space, develop creative collaborative processes, and shape up new narratives.

This initiative will bring together the talent of regional visual storytellers, the knowledge of community facilitators, the NOOR mentoring expertise and the underrepresented voices of the workers of the cocoa communities in Ivory Coast.

This week, our international panel of highly accomplished jury members is coming together to choose out of all the applications we received 12 participants who will take part in this programme in 2023.

Ken Aicha Sy – founder Wakh’Art and Idea Box

Ken Aicha Sy was born in Dakar, from a Franco-Martinican mother, journalist and a Senegalese plastic artist father, she grew up in the Senegalese capital before going to study in Paris in Design and Art History ... It was during the period of the World Festival of Negro Arts that Ken Aicha returned to Senegal. Sensitive to the creative environment and the cause of Senegalese artists, she sets up a cultural platform called Wakh'Art to participate in the promotion of Senegalese cultural industries. Sometimes producer, sometimes curator, Ken Aicha Sy is a woman active in culture. Through her space the Idea Box, now installed on the small coast, she fights to follow her motto: she works to make art a factor of development and emancipation.


Ishola Akpo – photographer, programme mentor

Ishola Akpo (b. 1983) is a photographer and multimedia artist in Benin. The artist experiments with the possibilities of digital mediums, while mixing modernities and traditions in his work, playing on different levels of reading to make plural metaphors. The border between reality and fiction, fixed identities and multiple identities, remains at the heart of his approach. In 2013, he won the Visa pour la Creation (French Institute, Paris), where he presented the series Pas de flash sil vous plait! – A reflection on the interaction of light on photographed subjects, presented in the form of a performance and exhibition at the Institut Francais de Cotonou.
In 2014, he published the series L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux (Africa Is NoIsland, MACAAL, Fair 1.54 in Morocco, 2018), based on a family experience, which illustrates his grandmother's dowry, while insisting on its memory load.

This reflection will lead him to explore contemporary marriage. In 2015, with the series Les maris de notre poque, Ishola Akpo, won the Photoquai, entering the collection of the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.
Since then he has multiples artistic residencies: Montresso Foundation (Morocco) with the Dabi series and more recently the Zinsou Foundation (Benin) with 'AGBARA Women' presented at the Ouidah Museum as an ode to the power of women, embodied with portraits of known and forgotten queens from African history. His work has been presented in several major international events including: The Museum of the History of Immigration, (Palais de la Porte Dore, Africa 2020 - Paris), Weltkulturen Museum Frankfurt (Germany), Fotonoviembre, Tenerife (Spain), Nuit Blanche de Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Lagosphotos Festival (Nigeria), Festival Afreaka (Brazil).


Julie Banâtre and Léa Perier Loko – founders and directors SEPTIEME Gallery

SEPTIEME transmits a cosmopolitan vision, by questioning affiliations and exploring the subtlety of the world. The gallery hopes to disturb perceptions and work with commitment, to make its activity a manifesto of the in-between.

Founded in 2019 in Paris in the 7th arrondissement, the gallery quickly took on significant growth where it imposed its place as a young, dynamic and cosmopolitan gallery. The gallery works in favor of an international influence and a deep integration into the world art market, by participating in fairs in cities as eclectic as they are pillars of the art world (Beirut, Cape Town, London, Lagos, New York, Miami).

Based in Paris in a Haussmann-style setting, SEPTIEME wanted to open a second space in September 2022 in Cotonou, Benin, in a 200m2 warehouse in the center of the city in order to offer exhibitions in a new format to meet people. of the public in the West African sub-region. It made sense for SEPTIEME to deploy its vision spatially and participate in pushing back the frontiers of contemporary art as well as contributing to the construction of new strongholds of contemporary art, the city of Cotonou being in full cultural and artistic for several years.


Illa G. Donwahi – president and artistic director Donwahi Foundation

Born in Abidjan, Illa G. Donwahi, an economist by training, grew up in Ivory Coast, before continuing her studies in France and the United States.
Collector, independent curator, I. G. Donwahi created in 2008 in Abidjan the Charles Donwahi Foundation for contemporary art, with the general objectives to participate in the socialization of art, and to remedy the ignorance from which the whole of African artistic production internationally, but also within the borders of the continent.

Visual arts, living arts, through its exhibition programs, its workshops, artist residencies, external collaborations, the Donwahi Foundation dedicates its spaces to contemporary creation in all its plurality, and thus brings support, accompaniment, visibility to creators and animators of the cultural scene. An incubator, a place of exchange and sharing open to artists from all walks of life, and to the public, the donwahi foundation also aims to be a place of convergence and transmission of our identities, a bridge between our past, our present and our future.

Illa g. Donwahi has also participated as a curator or speaker at various editions of the Dakar Biennale, at art fairs paris art fair, 1:54 london, akaa. External collaborations include major projects such as the moleskine foundation's atwork program, the one carried out with the sindika dokolo foundation, and with the "clavé archives" at the 2022 venice biennale, as well as future partnerships with, in particular, the nubuke foundation , and the secular solidarity association. Keynote speaker at the opening of the 2018 cape town fair, member of the catchlight 2020 visual leadership fellowship jury, portfolios reviewer at addis foto fest, panelist at canex weekend 2022.

Seydou Camara – photographer, artistic director of Yamarou photo

Seydou Camara, born in 1983 in Ségou in the fourth administrative region in Mali. Since his childhood, he has had a passion for the image. Thus, after obtaining his degree in private law at the University of Bamako, he preferred to enroll in 2007 at the Center de Formation en photographie (CFP) in Bamako.
After exhibiting at Documenta 14 in Athens, Greece and Documenta 15 in Kassel (Germany). He was just the finalist for the Howard Chapnick Scholarship 2022.

In 2018 he was selected for the 100 photographers of the World who exhibited at the festival in Wilson. He is the holder of the Fondation Blachère prize; He was selected for the 11th and 8th edition of the Biennale des Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie in Bamako. Subsequently his images were published in many catalogs and magazines such as l'Insensé and Aperture.
He trains many young people in photography in all regions of Mali and in the sub-regions. He has also hosted conferences in the United States, Switzerland and France, his works are collected by one of the largest museums in the United States and at Carlton University. He is the founder of "collective Yamarou - Photo: A space for exchange and meeting around photography". He was also the president of Phot'art Mali.


Bénédicte Kurzen – photographer, NOOR author

Kurzen’s photographic career began when she moved to Israel in 2003, covering hard news as a freelancer in the Gaza Strip, Iraq and Lebanon. Bénédicte holds a master’s degree in Contemporary History from the Sorbonne, Paris. For the past twenty years, Bénédicte has been covering conflicts and socio-economical changes in Africa. In South Africa, where she was based, she explored some of the deepest social challenges of the post-apartheid society producing “Next of Kin”, “The Boers Last Stand” and “Amaqabane”, on the life of former anti-apartheid combatants. The latest was produced for the prestigious World Press Joop Swart Masterclass 2008.

In 2011, she received a grant from the Pulitzer Center, which allowed her to produce a body of work on Nigeria, “A Nation Lost to Gods”. Her work has been screened and exhibited at Visa pour l’Image and was nominated for the Visa d’Or in 2012. After becoming a NOOR full member in 2012, she decided to move to Lagos, from where she could pursue her coverage of Africa, with a focus on Nigeria. She won a World Press Photo for her collaborative project with NOOR Photographer Sanne De Wilde for "Land of Ibeji" in 2019. 


Élise Fitte-Duval – artist and photographer

Artist born in Martinique, Élise Fitte-Duval lives and works in Senegal for twenty years. She graduated from the School of Plastic Arts of Martinique (DNAP, 1989) and the National School of Arts Decorative Paris in photography in 1996. She pursues a photographic search for form narrative. She received the Casa Africa award for a woman photographer at the Photographic Meetings of Bamako 2011. Until 2018, Élise Fitte-Duval was photographer editor at the Panapress press agency, pan-African news agency at the headquarters in Dakar. One of her first series “Portraits Nus” produced in Paris, where she resided at the time, was presented during the Revue Noire exhibition in Bamako in 1994, at the des Trois Continents in Nantes in 1998 and appeared in the anthology of black woman photography: The Black Female Body by Deborah Willis.

Seeking to tell stories, she became interested in world of creation of contemporary dancers Africans. This research has been exposed under the title. Dance for Hope at the Pan-African PANAF Festival in Algiers within the exhibition Reflections of Africa and at the gallery Le Carousel in the collective exhibition Danses, in June 2009. Since then, she continues to collaborate with the companies of dance. Continuing her series of portraits of humans in their struggles with everyday life, she exhibits her series Vivre les pays in water at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Cape Town in 2010, at the Fort-de-France festival and was finally awarded at the Bamako Biennale in 2011. Then she continued her narrative research by working on the topicality of civic engagement, Dakar, Ouagadougou and Madrid. His reflection on the city and its inhabitants evolves with the Trottoirs series in 2018. It collaborates with organizations to which it offers its vision of portraits and landscapes, in particular his last virtual exhibition "Invisible Giants", in 2020.


Marie-Cécile Zinsou – founder and artistic director Zinsou Foundation 

Born in 1982, of French and Beninese nationality, Marie-Cécile Zinsou, after studies in France and England, began teaching art history in Benin, at the secondary school of crafts Sos Hermann Gmeiner, in Abomey Calavi, in 2003. In 2005, she created, in Cotonou, the Zinsou Foundation, dedicated to contemporary art and her influence – foundation over which she presides and of which she is the artistic director. In 2013, she opened the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ouidah and joined the Global Museum Leader Colloquium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Since 2015, Marie-Cécile Zinsou has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles and, since 2019, of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Islamic Cultures. She chairs the board of directors of La Maison Maria Casarès, a cultural center dedicated at the theater, located in Charente.

On the proposal of the French Minister of Culture in October 2021, the president of the French Republic appointed Marie-Cécile Zinsou Chairman of the Board Board of Directors of the French Academy in Rome - Villa Medici for a term of three years. Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters, she received through the action of the Foundation Zinsou, the Praemium Imperiale - Grant for young artists - in 2014 in Japan.



Header photo: © Ishola Akpo

Tanya Habjouqa

"Beita -- I imagine intergalactic rebels. An outake from a series I did for ICRC called "We Never Left the Mountain". An exploration into Beita's nonviolent approach to resistance against territorial expropriation in the town of Beita. Despite the high price Beita has paid and the settlers’ evacuation of the outpost, the Israeli military has turned the site into a base. Since May 2021, ten Palestinians have been killed, including two children, and many were injured or left with disabilities as a result of confrontations in Jabal Sabih in Beita. Amid attempts by Israeli settlers to re-establish an outpost on Jabal Sabih contrary to the law, Palestinian villagers have expressed their opposition in the form of marches and protests, bringing them into confrontations with the Israel Forces. The image illustrates their tactics in "night confusion" utilizing lasers and music and prayer on loud speakers.”

– Tanya Habjouqa

Alixandra fazzina

“On western shores, where the Atlantic Ocean rains down its waters shaping the landscape, Ireland’s peatlands are one of Europe’s last great wildernesses. Unique ecosystems, these dark yet fragile habitats that cloak the hills, not only absorb and store vast amounts of carbon but also clean and regulate water, playing a key role in preventing flooding. Degradation of the peatlands however, has reached a critical tipping point.”

– Alixandra Fazzina

Kadir van lohuizen

“This is an image which is part of my project on the food industry ‘Food for thought’. For the first time in my career I was forced to remain in the Netherlands and had to find a way and look professionally in my own backyard. I knew the Netherlands was a big food producer, but being the second producer of agricultural commodities in the world? How is that possible in such a small country? Is it part of a solution or is it showcasing an unsustainable system? My quest for an answer continues in other parts of the world this year.”

– Kadir van Lohuizen

sanne de wilde

The image is of my project ‘Land of Ibeji’, but it is part of a new piece that I would like to develop further in the future. Thanks to the support of Nikon and the Flemish delegation in Paris - from whom we received support for our exhibition in Arles - I was able to print fabrics with photos for the first time, which is what this image is. It is a research -work in progress- around the colonial tissue by means of visual research into the nonverbal storytelling in textile art.

– Sanne De Wilde

Running time: February 16 – 22, 2023
Location: Near Baradari, Bolan Gate (Gate-2), Fatimah Jinnah Park (F-9 Park), Islamabad 

2023 marks 75 years of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Both countries share a rich history of strong economic cooperation and cultural relations. 

The Netherlands Embassy in Pakistan presents  - After Us The Deluge - the work of renowned Dutch photographer Kadir van Lohuizen. The exhibition shows the impact on communities of rising sea levels caused by global warming. Also included is a photo by Manoj Genani - winner of Water is Life Photo Competition and a poster from Pakistan (1953) - advertising the Netherlands Floods Relief Efforts.

2022 was a difficult year for Pakistan with economic challenges and catastrophic floods. The disaster caused massive losses to human lives, property, infrastructure, agriculture lands and livestock; one third of the country was submerged in water. 

As an emergency response, the Netherlands provided financial assistance and technical support in flood mitigating measures to Pakistan.

The Netherlands has decades of experience dealing with rising waters and floods and Dutch companies are known worldwide for their solutions and expertise in flood management. Building upon the successes and achievements of the past 75 years, both countries are committed to continue to work together in solving global challenges for a prosperous future.

After Us The Deluge looks at the human consequences of the rising sea level. Due to the climate crisis the glaciers all over the world are retreating and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are melting at an alarming pace. Also the expansion of seawater due to warming of the upper kilometer or of the ocean is a large contributor. The melting of the Greenlandic icecap and glacial melt, particularly in Greenland and Antarctica, are the large contributors. If the icecap of Greenland completely melts the sea would rise 7 meters, if Antarctica would completely melt the rise would be 80 meters.

Coastal erosion, inundation, loss of fresh drinking water resources and frequent coastal surges mean that people have to flee their homes. Should humanity start preparing for the biggest displacement of mankind in known history?

The future human cost of rising sea levels is dramatic. The entire country of Kiribati, for example, will have to relocate, while it is estimated that in Bangladesh about 50 million people will need to move from the delta region by 2050. Nobody knows where they will go. The east coast of the USA is experiencing sea level rise which is three-times higher than the global average. It is predicted that major centres such as the Miami Beach area will need to be evacuated by 2060.

After Us The Deluge provides visual coverage of how climate change is already affecting places where people live, Greenland with its melting glaciers, Kiribati, Fiji, the Carteret islands in Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, the Guna Yala archipelago in Panama, the United Kingdom, Jakarta, the Marshall islands, the Netherlands and the United States. Before the sea floods land permanently, sea water intrudes at high tides, making once-fertile land no longer viable for crops and water undrinkable. The exhibition shows people who still live in affected areas, but also those who have already moved to safer ground. The exhibition also shows what could be done to prevent great loss of land, but does ask the question if we are doing sufficient with all the knowledge we have. Can the world really meet the goal that temperatures should not rise above 1.5 degrees or are we continuing like this and will make the planet for many parts unliveable for future generations? If so this will create conflicts on a very large scale and we will experience massive numbers of people fleeing coastal regions. 

I hope that After Us The Deluge will contribute to a better understanding of what is happening already today and will make us all realise that there is no time to waste. 

– Kadir van Lohuizen | NOOR

Applications are open for the Advanced Visual Storytelling educational programme by the NOOR Foundation, with a focus on the stories of the cocoa communities in Ivory Coast.

At NOOR, we strongly believe that visual storytelling is a powerful medium that can bring awareness to underrepresented stories and human experiences. We believe that everyone, regardless of background, should have the opportunity to tell the stories that matter to them. Are you a visual storyteller eager to learn about ethical representation and looking for a way to use your skills to tell stories of people in a meaningful way?

In partnership with the Chocolonely Foundation, we are organising an extensive educational programme in West Africa to bring together young talent and communities, create a collective space, develop creative collaborative processes, and shape up new narratives.

This initiative will bring together the talent of regional visual storytellers, the knowledge of community facilitators, the NOOR mentoring expertise and the underrepresented voices of the workers of the cocoa communities in Ivory Coast. By focusing on these stories and creating a wide-reaching platform for local talent, we aim to contribute to a shift in the power balance towards equality within the cocoa supply chain.

This educational programme offers a tuition-free 8 month training tract consisting of an in-person workshop in Ivory Coast and continued with an online mentoring phase. The programme is mentored by a group of photographers and industry experts from the NOOR team and the West African region. Through this programme, we aim to elevate your visual storytelling skills and facilitate your journalistic, investigative and visual expertise over the photographic medium. In addition, you will have the chance to network with other like-minded visual storytellers and become part of NOOR’s international professional network.

About the Workshop

The workshop is divided in three phases:

• Phase 1: Online kick-off session(s), remote
  During the month of March 2023, the selected participants and the mentoring team will gather remotely in a (series of) kick-off session(s) aimed at setting up expectations, sharing bodies of work and establishing a personal connection ahead of the in-person workshop in Ivory Coast. 

• Phase 2: 7 day workshop in Hermankono-Diès, Ivory Coast

  The physical workshop will take place in and around the city of Divo from March 31 st to April 7th, 2023 and the stories will be shot in Socoopacdi agricultural cooperative.

  During the physical workshop, you will focus on the development of a visual narrative story in tight cooperation with the cocoa communities. You will learn theoretical and technical skills, gain knowledge on how to structure work and how to implement it on the ground with limited time. You will be guided and supported through the whole process by the mentors who will facilitate your access, the approach to the subjects, guide you in finding the narrative of your stories and the visual impact that your images can achieve.

• Phase 3: 5 month online mentoring programme, remote

  After the completion of the 7-day workshop, you will participate in a five month mentoring program online to further develop your work, expand your knowledge and tighten relationships in what we hope might form a new community. Through regular online meetings, you will finalise and improve the edit and curatorial process of your stories. You will also gain access to online lectures from leading experts of photography with a varied mix of backgrounds on thematics and subjects such as curating, editing, visual anthropology, archiving or grant writing.
  
  

More details

• The application and the workshop are free of charge. Travel expenses, accommodation and a daily stipend for food are also included.

• The participant photographers are expected to bring their own gear.

• All participants are expected to arrive/land in Abidjan two days before the workshop starts (no later than March 30th) and book their departure flight or trip at least one day after the workshop ends (not earlier than April 8th).

• Local transport from/to Abidjan and accommodation ahead and during the workshop will be arranged for the group. 

• The workshop will be taught in French.

Application process 

• Application deadline is February 22, 2023 - 11:59 pm CET. 

• The participants selected will be announced on February 28, 2023

• Open to French speaking photographers of all ages, nationals of  Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

• Dates: 

• The 7 day workshop will take place in Hermankono-Diès (Divo, Ivory Coast) between March 31st and April 7th, 2023.

• The online mentorship program will consist of bi-weekly meetings from April 30 to September 30, 2023.

• The jury is formed by NOOR author Bénédicte Kurzen, NOOR Creative Director Stefano Carini and a West African photography expert.  

• The participants will be selected based on the quality of their work, factoring in critical aspects such as gender parity, inclusivity and equality, as well as the relevance to the subject of previous bodies of work.

• The options to apply are: 

• Through PICTER

• Sending a PDF* to maria@noorimages.com

• Sending a PDF* via WhatsApp to +31 649 772 197.

• *The PDF must include, at least:

  1. Name and last name

  2. Date of birth

  3. Nationality

  4. Address of residence

  5. Email 

  6. Mobile number

  7. Website and Instagram account (if applicable)

  8. CV

  9. Motivation letter: Why do you want to take part in such a program?

  10. A portfolio of at least 20 images. We advise applicants to apply with coherent bodies of work, a series of images or visual stories as opposed to collections of single images. 

  For any questions, please email NOOR Projects Director Maria Goirigolzarri at maria@noorimages.com

Mentoring Team

Confirmed

Ishola Akpo (Benin)
Ishola Akpo (b. 1983) is a photographer and multimedia artist in Benin. The artist experiments with the possibilities of digital mediums, while mixing modernities and traditions in his work, playing on different levels of reading to make plural metaphors. The border between reality and fiction, fixed identities and multiple identities, remains at the heart of his approach. In 2013, he won the Visa pour la Creation (French Institute, Paris), where he presented the series Pas de flash sil vous plait! – A reflection on the interaction of light on photographed subjects, presented in the form of a performance and exhibition at the Institut Francais de Cotonou.
In 2014, he published the series L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux (Africa Is NoIsland, MACAAL, Fair 1.54 in Morocco, 2018), based on a family experience, which illustrates his grandmother's dowry, while insisting on its memory load. This reflection will lead him to explore contemporary marriage. In 2015, with the series Les maris de notre poque, Ishola Akpo, won the Photoquai, entering the collection of the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.
Since then he has multiples artistic residencies: Montresso Foundation (Morocco) with the Dabi series and more recently the Zinsou Foundation (Benin) with 'AGBARA Women' presented at the Ouidah Museum as an ode to the power of women, embodied with portraits of known and forgotten queens from African history. His work has been presented in several major international events including: The Museum of the History of Immigration, (Palais de la Porte Dore, Africa 2020 - Paris), Weltkulturen Museum Frankfurt (Germany), Fotonoviembre, Tenerife (Spain), Nuit Blanche de Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Lagosphotos Festival (Nigeria), Festival Afreaka (Brazil).

Bénédicte Kurzen (France)
Kurzen’s photographic career began when she moved to Israel in 2003, covering hard news as a freelancer in the Gaza Strip, Iraq and Lebanon. Bénédicte holds a master’s degree in Contemporary History from the Sorbonne, Paris. For the past twenty years, Bénédicte has been covering conflicts and socio-economical changes in Africa. In South Africa, where she was based, she explored some of the deepest social challenges of the post-apartheid society producing “Next of Kin”, “The Boers Last Stand” and “Amaqabane”, on the life of former anti-apartheid combatants. The latest was produced for the prestigious World Press Joop Swart Masterclass 2008. In 2011, she received a grant from the Pulitzer Center, which allowed her to produce a body of work on Nigeria, “A Nation Lost to Gods”. Her work has been screened and exhibited at Visa pour l’Image and was nominated for the Visa d’Or in 2012. After becoming a NOOR full member in 2012, she decided to move to Lagos, from where she could pursue her coverage of Africa, with a focus on Nigeria. She won a World Press Photo for her collaborative project with NOOR Photographer Sanne De Wilde for "Land of Ibeji" in 2019. 

Hervé Mian (Ivory Coast)
Hervé Mian started his professional career as a civil aviation officer and aviation manager in the United Nations. After several personal experiences and his unwavering faith in the development of any living or non-living organisation through personal training, his career path moved into the world of individual and organisation coaching as well as business consultancy. He now collaborates with diverse organisations in Africa, including large scale corporations, SMEs and schools, assisting them in the creation and the implementation of business development and leadership programs. Hervé is also the country manager of an NGO called Anansi Mentoring Academy, an organisation that aims at promoting a disruptive and humanistic African leadership based on pan-African mentoring. For the past three years Hervé has also been working with Tony’s Chocolonely, a Dutch chocolate manufacturer, leading the implementation of the Tony’s Ambassadors Program. With the mission to remove child labour and slavery from the cocoa production chain, the purpose of this impact program is to train role models in the cocoa communities with storytelling methodologies in a joint effort to sensitize the cocoa farmers to follow and promote the movement of protection of children rights.

Partners

This educational program is organised in partnership and made possible thanks to the support of the Chocolonely Foundation.

Header image: © Bénédicte Kurzen / NOOR

NOOR, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Slovak Press Photo have joined forces to organise a tuition-free, advanced photography workshop for visual storytellers from the Visegrad countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) entirely dedicated to creating impactful visual stories on the climate crisis. 

The Visualising Climate Crisis Workshop will be led by NOOR mentor, multi-award winning photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen, who has worked extensively on covering the effects of the climate crisis, and Esther Horvath, award winning Hungarian photographer and a Fellow at International League of Conservation Photographers. The workshop will empower a selected group of 12 participants from four Central European countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) by facilitating the development of their journalistic, investigative skills and visual mastery over the photographic medium. 

The workshop is divided in two phases: a physical 4-day intensive workshop, and an online mentoring program lasting for a minimum of 3 months during the production phase of the visual stories.

At the end of the training, the produced projects will be edited and curated into an exhibition that will open in Bratislava in June 2023 and will travel between 2023 and 2024 to Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland. 

Participants

Jana Hunterová

Tomek Stabinski

Diana Takacsova

Zsolt Balázs

Rafal Siderski

András Zoltai

Judit Ruprech

Tomáš Hrivňák

Kinga Wrona

Tomas Predajna

Márton Kállai

November 3 - 13, 2022
Atelier Néerlandais
Rive gauche, 121 rue de Lille 75007, Paris

Ripples will be held at the Atelier Néerlandais, Paris. As part of PhotoSaintGermain, the exhibition will run from 3 November until 13 November, and is made possible by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 

The Netherlands has a long-standing and deeply interwoven relationship with water. Its dykes, polders, boats, canals and reclaimed land are globally renowned, from international trade to urban infrastructure, the very culture of the Netherlands is based on and revolves around water.

NOOR, an Amsterdam-based collective of international, visual creators, has been at the forefront of global, ethical, and reliable visual journalism and storytelling for over 15 years. This proposal offers an extensive, innovative exhibition, curated from the prestigious NOOR archive, and an accompanying programme of public events on the overarching thematic of water, used to explore the nuanced and complex subjects of human life, socio-political inequality, migration and the climate crisis.

Water makes life on Earth possible, it covers over 70% of our planet, and makes up more than 60% of the human body. All living creatures, human, plant and animal are entirely dependent on it for survival. Throughout our agriculture and industry we make use and even abuse of this essential element, and yet water is not an infinite resource. It is a resource that will become increasingly valuable in the decades to come, and so will play an ever more central role in our future.

Ripples casts out deeper, nuanced, trans-national connections between the world through the overarching theme of water, to explore global issues of climate crisis, human life and social inequality. 

This multidisciplinary exhibition is developed by Stefano Carini (creative director, NOOR), and Samira Damato (Head of Exhibitions, NOOR) around the various aspects of water. Ripples is an exhibition that explores complex issues through the subject of water. At its core, the exhibition aims to be both a celebration of this crucial and mysterious element, and an accessible and educational review of its many roles in the socio-political inequalities of the contemporary world.

This exhibition offers a unique curated collection from the immense archive offered by NOOR, which features over two decades of high-calibre visual work from the 12 core members of the agency, among whom are Kadir van Lohuizen, Tanya Habjouqa, Francesco Zizola and Sanne de Wilde. Ripples aims to create an accessible space in which the complex connections between the many functions and interpretations of this essential element in human life, its role in varying cultures, its impacts on our lives and livelihoods, and its fragility in the face of the climate crisis will be laid bare. In keeping with its core mission, the exhibition is devised to be as radically future-forward and sustainable as possible.

In keeping with our ethos, this exhibition consists of exclusively upcycled materials and archival content. Everything that can be seen throughout this exhibition is salvaged or reused. In this way we hope to make a small difference in the culture of exhibition making.

Programme 

November 3
Soft Opening

18:30 - 20:30
Ripples’ exhibition curator Samira Damato and 
NOOR author Olga Kravets present the soft opening of Ripples
Followed by drinks and bites

___

November 10
Official Opening Event: Vernissage

17:00 - 20:00
Guided exhibition tour at 18:00
Ripples’ exhibition curator Samira Damato and
NOOR Creative Director Stefano Carini present the official opening of Ripples
With the presence of NOOR authors Kadir van Lohuizen, Tanya Habjouqa,
Olga Kravets, Sanne De Wilde and Benedicte Kurzen
Followed by drinks and bites

___

November 11

10:00 - 12:00
Breakfast with NOOR
Meet NOOR for a fresh start of the day with coffee and croissants 

Portfolio reviews
As part of Ripples, we hold portfolio reviews (20 minutes per session) with
NOOR Creative Director Stefano Carini and NOOR author Kadir van Lohuizen

14:00 - 15:00
Panel talk + Q&A
with NOOR author Tanya Habjouqa and NOOR Creative Director Stefano Carini on the role of water in the Israeli occupation of Palestine through the work of the author. Followed by a visual presentation of the artists’ body of work.

17:00-18:00
Panel talk + Q&A 
with NOOR author Kadir van Lohuizen, author of the project Rising Sea Levels, Arctic Frontier and several other large-scale projects on Climate Crisis in conversation with NOOR Creative Director Stefano Carini. Followed by a visual presentation of the artists’ body of work

___

November 12

10:00 - 12:00
Breakfast with NOOR
Meet NOOR for a fresh start of the day with coffee and croissants 

Portfolio reviews
As part of Ripples, we hold portfolio reviews (20 minutes per session) with
NOOR Creative Director Stefano Carini and NOOR author Tanya Habjouqa

17:00-18:00
Panel talk + Q&A 
NOOR authors Sanne De Wilde and Benedicte Kurzen in conversation with
NOOR Creative Director Stefano Carini. The artists will present their work and discuss the importance of the water element as a fundamental part of their respective works. Benedicte Kurzen will share insider stories on her work around Lake Chad, while Sanne De Wilde will elaborate on the role of water in her project
Island of the Colour Blind 

The 2022 Nikon-NOOR Advanced Storytelling Workshop consists of four all-day sessions directed by three NOOR authors and a facilitator from the NOOR team. The authors will work closely with the 12 participants, sharing experiences, working on portfolios, guiding editing skills, and offering advice on creating impactful visual stories. 

During the four days participants will work on one-on-one sessions with the tutors as well as develop their projects within a group. The workshop is centred around proactive and constructive feedback sessions and aims at providing the participants with new perspectives for the development of their projects and a deeper understanding of the state of visual storytelling for their professional development. 

The tutors of the NOOR Advanced Storytelling Workshop are: Andrea Bruce, Tanya Habjouqa and Olga Kravets.

Participants

Carlotta Steinkamp
My name is Carlotta Steinkamp, I am 24 years old and currently studying photography and media in Bielefeld, Germany. After I finished my matura in Düsseldorf in 2016, I did a voluntary year in a local media centre where I mostly worked with documentary film. I began studying photography and media in 2018 and plan to finish my Bachelor of Arts in Hanover, Germany in 2023 or 2024. Over the past two years, I have turned mainly towards photojournalism after taking classes from documentary and war photographer Christoph Bangert at my university.
Instagram

Daniel Chatard
Daniel Chatard (*1996 in Heidelberg) is a Franco-German photographer. In his projects, Chatard investigates themes revolving around our environment, identity, and trauma. He is particularly interested in how these manifest themselves in the landscape. He describes his approach as involved documentary, making his own relations to his subjects part of the work and using collaboration to create new knowledge. Daniel holds a bachelor's degree in photojournalism and documentary photography from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover. In 2018, he studied for an exchange semester at Tomsk State University in Russia. He is currently studying in the MA Photography & Society at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Daniel has worked with various international media, such as The Washington Post, National Geographic, The British Journal of Photography, L‘OBS and Die ZEIT. He has been awarded the German Youth Photo Prize and shortlisted at the German Photobook Prize, was a finalist of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2018 and got nominated for the Prix Pictet 2019.
Instagram

Eyad Abou Kasem
A documentary photographer interested in telling the stories of the region by observing my surroundings, visually documenting my own life for extended periods of time to be produced as subjects of social significance. Graduated from the Faculty of Literature Arts in Damascus, Syria in 2013 and is currently studying Photojournalism and Documentary photography at the Hochschule Hannover.
Instagram

Gerd Waliszewski
Gerd Waliszewski, born in 1996 in the USA, grew up in Poland and Germany. He has been studying at the Ostkreuzschule fuer Fotografie in Berlin since spring 2021. In his photography he works with a documentary approach and is interested in its vague border to fiction.
Instagram

Katharina Kemme
Katharina Kemme (1991) is a documentary and portrait photographer from Essen, Germany. After her youth in a small Bavarian village, she first studied journalism with and worked for a news agency. Her freelance work is characterized by a sociological interest and is concerned with finding identity, as well as self-presentation and -staging of persons. With her photo essays, she wants to give an insight into how multi-faceted people's lives and passions can be, in order to enable greater acceptance and understanding of social coexistence. She is currently studying for a master's degree in photography in Dortmund.
Instagram

Katja Feldmeier
Katja Feldmeier was born in Odessa (Ukraine) and grew up in Berlin, Germany. She is currently completing a photography degree at Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie in the class of Tobias Kruse. Katja graduated with a BA in Law from the University of Oxford in 2012 and an MA in Communications from Universität der Künste Berlin in 2018, but has since turned to more artistic projects in visual media. She is particularly interested in topics of gender, socio-economic inequality and structural discrimination.
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Leonard Mann
Leonard Mann studies and lives in Düsseldorf. He focuses his interest on social and political discourses. The translation into a visual language happens in images as well as in moving images.
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Magnus Terhorst
Magnus Terhorst was born in 1994 in Germany and graduated with a bachelor's degree from Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2022 and is currently enrolled in the master's program Photographic Studies there. He is the winner of the Otto Steinert Award 2021/22 and a member of Fotobus e.V. and DGPh. Since his early semesters, he is focusing on documentary long term projects about society and social problems.
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Marysia Myanovska
Ukrainian photographer born Feb 15 1990 in Kyiv. Currently based in Hamburg, Germany. Graduate Victor Marushchenko School of Contemporary Photography. Works on projects about Ukrainian youths.
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Tanya Sharapova
Tanya Sharapova is a Berlin-based artist working with documentary, archive, and art photography. Born in Moscow in 1984, Tanya began her career as a travel photographer and writer for travel magazines, such as National Geographic, Conde Nast Traveler, GQ Travel, Asian Geographic. Over time she expanded her interests from travel stories to stories, with a focus on the relation between individual and society, collective memory, and issues of territorial isolation. She works in Russia, Germany, and the Himalayas.
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Tatsiana Tkachova
Tatsiana Tkachova is an independent documentary photographer. Originally hailing from Mogilev region (Belarus), she is currently based in Hamburg. Tatsiana graduated from Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts with a Degree in Cultural Studies in 2014, and from the Academy of Documentary Photography and Photojournalism, Fotografika, in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2016. In 2022 Tatsiana took part in the International Class for Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the University of applied sciences and arts in Hannover. She teaches photojournalism at the Johannes Rau International Education Centre (Minsk, Belarus), The Belarusian Association of Journalists (Minsk, Belarus). The most important part of her professional activities is devoted to personal, long-term projects that are focused on the women’s rights, particularly the topics of gender violence, conflict and resistance. Also, Tatsiana Tkachova works with subjects of borders, identity and isolation. She has been a winner of various competitions. She is a recipient of World Press Photo 2020, and others awards. Tatsiana Tkachova works with Belarusian and foreign media, including Takie Dela, The Guardian, 6 MOIS, Der Spiegel, De Volkskrant, Meduza.io, Esquire.ru, Republic.
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Victoria Jung
Victoria Jung, 1991, is a german freelance documentary and portrait photographer. She completed two bachelor‘s degrees in communication design at the HTWG Konstanz and in photography at the FH Dortmund. She is currently studying for a Master‘s degree in photography in Dortmund parallel to her freelance work and independent projects. Since 2019, she has been photographing in the journalistic field for numerous magazines and newspapers. In the printed DIE ZEIT she photographed the weekly portrait column „Who are you?“ from October 2019 to January 2022. In her personal projects, she mainly focuses on social phenomena in sub- and youth cultures in relation to their local environment. She is interested in the political in everyday life, the struggle for one‘s own (free) spaces and the effects of systemic upheavals on a small scale.
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Header photo: © Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR

Thursday 22 September 2022 19:30 - 21:00
Pakhuis De Zwijger, Piet Heinkade 181, Amsterdam
Followed by drinks and bites at the café

NOOR is elated to invite you to celebrate this milestone with us. We start off the evening with a journey  through 15 years of NOOR’s iconic moments in visual storytelling, where we will touch upon the unwavering passion for documenting and witnessing the human experience in all its facets which lies at the heart of NOOR.
The second part of the evening will consist of a roundtable panel discussion centred around the the future of visual storytelling with NOOR’s creative director Stefano Carini, NOOR members Kadir van Lohuizen, Pep Bonet, Andrea Bruce and Sanne De Wilde, moderated by Samira Damato. We conclude with an open Q&A in which we invite you, the audience, to imagine the future of visual storytelling together with us. 

Programme 

19:00 doors open  

19:30 NOOR anniversary presentation

20:00 break 

20:15 panel discussion 

20:45 Q&A 21:00 drinks and bites 

Admission: free 

15 Year Anniversary Event Video
Missed the event in real-time? Watch a full video recording of the event here:

The tuition free Visualising Climate Crisis Intensive Workshop will take place in Bratislava, Slovakia between 21 and 24 of November 2022

The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges the world is currently facing: we strongly believe that impactful visual storytelling can inspire climate action. By shedding light on the facts through the power of photojournalism, the immediacy of visual communication has the potential to change history.

That is exactly the reason why NOOR, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Slovak Press Photo have joined forces to organise a tuition-free, advanced photography workshop for visual storytellers from the Visegrad countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) entirely dedicated to creating impactful visual stories on the climate crisis. 

The tuition-free workshop will take place in Bratislava, Slovakia between 21 and 24 of November 2022. 

The Visualising Climate Crisis Intensive Workshop will be led by NOOR mentor, multi-award winning photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen, who has worked extensively on covering the effects of the climate crisis, and Esther Horvath, award winning Hungarian photographer and a Fellow at International League of Conservation Photographers. The workshop will empower a selected group of 12 participants from four Central European countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) by facilitating the development of their journalistic, investigative skills and visual mastery over the photographic medium. 

By creating stories that expose the impact of the climate crisis on a regional scale, the workshop facilitates long-term capacity building for local visual storytellers, and supports their professional development. This educational programme elevates the level of local communication around urgent climate issues, in order to raise awareness, spark discussion and inspire action. 

The workshop is divided in two phases: a physical 4-day intensive workshop, and an online mentoring program lasting for minimum 4 months during the production phase of the works. 

The projects will be edited and curated into an exhibition that will open in Bratislava in June 2023 and will travel between 2023 and 2024 to Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland. 

During the workshop, the candidates will learn theoretical and technical skills from the tutors, to boost the development of their own visual practices. Participants will discuss, share and learn about the development of a long-term photographic project. Esther and Kadir, who excel at creating compelling visual narratives  on the climate crisis, will support the candidates as they develop their stories. Together with the candidates, they will work on the (re)conceptualising, sequencing, and editing of the storytelling projects. 

After the completion of the 4-day workshop, the participants will be given a period of a minimum of 4 months to create new bodies of research-based climate photojournalism, based on the initial idea developed during the physical workshop, under the guidance of the tutors via online review, discussion and mentorship. This will allow for the creation of thorough, expansive and high-quality visual journalism.

Application process

All prospective participants must apply with their portfolio, or a selection of images. The application process will be implemented through Picter, an accessible and easy-to-use online resource dedicated to easily navigate and fairly review photography and visual content for contests.

The prospective applicants will be required to send in a motivation letter outlining the project they would like to focus on during the workshop, accompanied by a portfolio of images. We highly encourage applicants to apply with coherent bodies of work, a series of images or visual stories as opposed to portfolios of single images. 

The jury, composed of the two tutors, NOOR’s education team, and local experts from V4 countries, will select the 12 candidates (3 from each of the 4 Visegrad countries) based on the quality of their work, factoring in critical aspects such as gender parity, inclusivity and equality, as well as the relevance and feasibility of the proposed projects.

About the Tutors

Kadir van Lohuizen 

(NL) has covered conflicts in Africa and elsewhere, but is probably best known for his long-term projects on the seven rivers of the world, the rising of sea levels, the diamond industry and migration in the Americas. His most recent project ‘Arctic: New Frontier’, created in collaboration with Yuri Kozyrev for the Fondation Carmignac was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London. 

Esther Horvath 

(HU) is a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, iLCP, a member of The Explorers Club, and a photographer for the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. A recipient of the Infinity Award from the International Centre of Photography in New York for her work in raising awareness of conservation, environmental justice, and climate change, Esther has dedicated herself to photography in the polar regions, in the Arctic and Antarctic where she has photographed fifteen scientific expeditions, and behind the scenes stories of climate science. 

Dates: 21-24 november 2022

Time: 9:00-18:00

Location: Bratislava, Slovakia

Application deadline: 26/10/2022 23:59 CET

Applications are now open for the tuition-free Nikon-NOOR Advanced Storytelling Workshop which will be held in Düsseldorf, Germany. 

The 2022 Nikon-NOOR Advanced Storytelling Workshop is open to 12 participants and consists of four all-day sessions directed by three NOOR authors and a facilitator from the NOOR team. The authors will work closely with participants, sharing experiences, working on portfolios, guiding editing skills, and offering advice on creating impactful visual stories. 

During the four days participants will work on one-on-one sessions with the tutors as well as develop their projects within a group. The workshop is centred around proactive and constructive feedback sessions and aims at providing the participants with new perspectives for the development of their projects and a deeper understanding of the state of visual storytelling for their professional development. 

The tutors of the NOOR Advanced Storytelling Workshop are: Andrea Bruce, Tanya Habjouqa and Olga Kravets.

THE APPLICATION PROCESS

The 2022 Nikon-NOOR Advanced Storytelling Workshop is tuition-free for participants and open to emerging visual storytellers currently living in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Applicants are encouraged to include in their portfolio a personal project they would like to engage with during the workshop and indicate in their motivation statement what they want to explore concerning that work. Jurors are looking for compelling visuals and stories.

Participants will be chosen by a panel of industry professionals. The deadline to apply is Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 11.59PM CET. 

For more information contact: Xiang Yu Yeung | xiang@noorimages.com

Right after the Coronavirus pandemic outbreak and the European Commission Recovery Plan was presented in 2019, NOOR understood the need to launch a long-term photography project documenting initiatives supporting the implementation of the EU Next Generation program.

While implementation of the program takes shape, this set of ten stories aims at providing a visual glimpse into the vast efforts and diverse green-led initiatives that are already taking place across Europe in the field of food production, distribution and consumption, protection of underwater ecosystems, boost for rail travel, energy transition and more.

With the support of the European Cultural Foundation

© Charlotte Anna Rathmann

© Fabian Ritter / DOCKS Collective

© Patrick Junker

© Ronja Falkenbach

© Paula Hornickel

© Jonathan Mahlendorf

The selected candidates are:

Ronja Falkenbach

Paula Hornickel

Patrick Junker

Jonathan Mahlendorf

Charlotte Anna Rathmann

Fabian Ritter

ABOUT

The Wacken Rock ‘n Roll Photography Workshop is a new educational initiative launched as a collaboration between the Wacken Foundation and the NOOR Foundation. Led by NOOR author Pep Bonet, it will empower selected young photographers by facilitating the development of their visual mastery in music, event and festival photography.

Taking the opportunity of the 2022 edition of Wacken Open Air (WOA) Festival, the selected group will be mentored in a live setting by NOOR Author Pep Bonet. For three days, the mentor and candidates will be working as a group, dividing tasks, ccreating a variety of images with a fresh style - shooting, editing and post-producing new photography on the spot to be used on the official WOA communication channels.

Former photographer of Motörhead, official photographer of Wacken Open Air for various editions, Pep has been committed to the visual documentation of Rock ‘n Roll and Heavy Metal scenes across the globe.

His last personal project ‘Hellbangers’ is an audiovisual project and book documenting the unique underground metal music scene of Botswana.

NOOR x WACKEN Rock 'n Roll Photography Workshop

• When: 4-6 August 2022

• Where: Wacken Open Air

Supported by:

The Details

DIGITAL EVENT | image ownership and theft in the digital age: a new protocol for digital photography. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2022.

7 PM CET | 1 PM ET

REGISTER HERE

On the week of NOOR’s first ever NFT drop in collaboration with Pix.T, we ask how we can create new protocols and systems to protect digital ownership? What does authenticity and ownership mean in regards to digital, perfectly reproducible, images? And what steps can be taken to ensure the protection and fair-use of images on the internet? 

To address the urgency of this development in digital image culture, the conversation will touch on the NOOR authors’ personal experiences with the theft and misuse of their work by third parties online. The discussion will further expand on the unique manifesto and ethos around the newly developed Pix.T blockchain-backed technology, which aims to promote a new set of professional protocols and a healthier digital economy for professional photographers and visual storytellers. 

MODERATOR

JEFF ISRAELY

Jeff Israely is the co-founder and editor of Worldcrunch. A former Time magazine bureau chief in Rome and Paris, he has also been a correspondent for the Associated Press, Boston Globe and Oakland Tribune. He teaches at the Graduate School of Journalism of the Institut d'Etudes politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).

PANELLISTS

ANDREA BRUCE

Andrea Bruce is a documentary photographer whose work brings attention to people living in the aftermath of war. She concentrates on the social issues that are sometimes ignored and often ignited in war's wake. 

Andrea’s work started in 2003, Iraq, where she focussed on the obstacles of the conflict experienced by Iraqis and the US military. Over the last decade, she has chronicled some of the world’s most troubled areas. She has worked within various agencies and institutions, including the Washington Post, where she authored the column Unseen Iraq. Andrea went on to join the VII Network before becoming a member of the NOOR agency and foundation. 

She has been named Photographer of the Year on four occasions by the White House News Photographers Association, and has been awarded 2nd prize in the category Daily Life by the World Press Photo Foundation. Andrea is the recipient of multiple awards, grants and fellowships, including; the International Pictures of the Year contest, the prestigious John Faber Award from the Overseas Press Club, NY.

FRANCESCO ZIZOLA

Francesco Zizola (IT) has documented some of the world's major conflicts and the social and humanitarian issues that define human life, keeping intact his strong ethical commitment and signature aesthetic sensibility. In 2008, Zizola founded 10b Photography, Rome, a centre for contemporary digital photography and visual culture. 

Through his many assignments and projects, he has travelled around the world to carefully portray forgotten crises often disregarded in the mainstream media cycle. His work has been awarded on several occasions over the years, including four Picture of the Year International awards, and ten awards from the World Press Photo Foundation. His work has been published in seven books, among which Uno Sguardo Inadeguato (Collana Grandi Autori, FIAF, 2013), Iraq (Ega/Amnesty International, 2007) and Born Somewhere (Delpire/Fusi Orari, 2004), an extensive work on the living conditions of children from 27 different countries.

In 2018 he was awarded the SIAE Prize for Creative Talent at the Venice Film Festival for his movie 'As if we were tuna', selected for 'Giornate degli autori', the autonomous review inside the Festival'

OLGA KRAVETS

Olga Kravets is a journalist by education. She started to take photographs as an alternative means of expression in Russia, where press freedom continues to be a struggle. Filmmaking came naturally after that, a love at first sight. She decided not to choose among the three mediums but combine them all for the sake of the story, be it a week-long reportage or a long-term project.

She is fluent in English, Russian and French. She has working knowledge of Serbo-Croatian and Ukrainian, but she also enjoys working in countries where she does not speak the language.   

In 2018, she accomplished her longest project up to date, Grozny: Nine Cities. Since 2009 she has been exploring the complexity of the aftermath of the two gruesome wars in the tiny North Caucasian republic of Chechnya. Together with Maria Morina and Oksana Yushko, they produced a three-screen installation, a web-documentary that won the 2014 Prix-Bayeux Calvados for war correspondents and a book that launched at Les Rencontres de la Photographie, in Arles, accompanied by an exhibition of the project during the festival.

Currently she is working on a documentary feature set across Europe, taking pictures, filming and directing for media, institutions and companies, as well as teaching documentary storytelling. She works principally in ex-USSR, Europe and Middle East and she is always happy to expand her geography. 

ALLISON CRANK

With a Master's from EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) in Advanced Studies, Design Research in Digital Innovation, Crank works at the intersection of art, technology, and digital user experience. She helped conceive and design the Pix.T platform.

STEFANO CARINI

Born in Torino, Italy in 1985, Carini is the Creative Director of NOOR Images and the NOOR Foundation. 

An independent thinker, visual artist, photographer, curator, book designer, writer and filmmaker Carini’s core interest lays in visual education, visual literacy and indigenous production of visual work. After studying photography and photojournalism in London, UK and Arhus, Denmark, he briefly worked as photo editor for NOOR Images in Amsterdam before moving to Iraq where he lead Metrography, the first Iraqi photo agency through the war with ISIS and until October 2015 producing several bodies of work which were exhibited across Europe. In 2016 he co-founded DARST Projects, an independent cultural hub for the research, production and publishing of documentary projects that produced ground breaking projects ever since. Carini trains photographers and visual storytellers in Europe and The Middle East and has given lectures at different institutions across the world. He has led visual laboratories with children in the Roma community, with refugees and IDPs in Iraq and with students across Europe.

He is based in Torino Italy where he lives with his two children. 

For more information contact:

Stefano Carini | Creative Director

stefano@noorimages.com

#THEFT

Never has photography (in general, and press photography in particular) occupied such a prominent place in our daily lives of on-the-move, informed citizens. Still, the value of the photography market has collapsed in recent years, severely affecting photojournalists, while fake news and piracy are on the rise.

The Pix.T project aims to create a solution that is capable of resolving that paradox, by collaborating with all relevant players in the field: from global press agencies and photographic agencies to freelance photojournalists, media and technology platforms.

We believe that the .JPEG format has undermined the value of images, both in terms of economics and traceability – much like the .MP3 format was detrimental to the music sector, or the .MPEG4 format for the cinema and video sectors, until user-friendly legal offers were designed.

With the support of the European Commission, the consortium is now able to continue developing:

• an end-to-end solution for photo agencies and freelance photographers, allowing them to host and monetize their photo archives, as well as their daily production in a transparent and secure environment, while exploring new markets and new sources of revenue such as NFT and micro-payments;

• an API system for generalist news agencies, allowing them to access and use Pix.T's blockchain authentication system and automate their contracts and revenue sharing processes with their partners.

Finally, readers and platform users will be just one click away from being able to trace the origin of an image, verify whether a photo is an original or if it has been modified.

With the support of the European Commission

Header photo:

© Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR

ABOUT PIX.T

Pix.T is a blockchain-backed technology to drive a new digital economy for professional photography and visual storytelling. Bringing together leading technologists with photojournalists, visual creatives, international media and art market leaders, Pix.T aims to maximize the value of photographic work, ensure control and ethical practices for creators and find new market opportunities for the industry.

Guided by values of transparency and widening of access, the Pix.T project is part of a dynamic of raising awareness around the issues faced by the world of online professional photography. In that spirit, Pix.T's mission is to provide the online information ecosystem with the necessary tools to restore and strengthen the trust between media outlets and the general public.

https://pixt.cloud/

FOLLOW PIX.T ON SOCIAL MEDIA!

The film portraits are part of the communication campaign of the Martin Ennals Foundation to present the 2022 nominees’ struggle and life commitment to defending human rights during the yearly ceremony awards.

The laureates of this year are Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja (imprisoned), a Bahraini-Danish leader of freedom and democracy, Dr. Daouda Diallo, a Burkinabe pharmacist by training and a committed human rights defender documenting human rights violations by both government factions and Islamist groups, and Pham Doan Trang (imprisoned), a leading journalist and an advocate for democracy, raising awareness on a broad human rights agenda in Vietnam.

Header illustration © Julie de Halleux

In addition to the exhibition, a panel discussion with NOOR authors Olga Kravets, Francesco Zizola, Sanne De Wilde and Bénédicte Kurzen was held on April 19 at the François-Mitterrand - Petit auditorium.

© Stanley Greene/ NOOR

© Francesco Zizola/ NOOR

© Nina Berman

Photo © Olga Kravets/NOOR

© Bénédicte Kurzen/ NOOR

© Jon Lowenstein/ NOOR

© Andrea Bruce/ NOOR

© Alixandra Fazzina/ NOOR

© Pep Bonet/ NOOR

© Sebastian Liste/ NOOR

The Details

EXHIBITION Dates: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13 - SUNDAY, JUNE 5

Open: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday from 10H - 19H & Sunday from 13h - 19h.

Location: Donors’ Gallery at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Quai François-Mauriac, 75013 Paris.

Created in 2007, NOOR is comprised of 13 award-winning photographers from 9 different nationalities. This year the agency celebrates its fifteenth anniversary. For the occasion, these established visual storytellers delved into their archives to share over sixty prints with the Bibliothèque nationale de France's Department of Prints and Photography.

This collection of images, which highlights global events, will be presented in the François-Mitterrand location in the Donors' Gallery from April 13 to June 5. Titled “This World That Watches Us: 15 Years of NOOR Agency,” this exhibition embodies the motto of one of the agency's founders, Stanley Greene, that "some things simply need to be seen," a maxim for members who continue to demonstrate their photographic intent and commitment to the world around them.

Officially launched during the Visa pour l'Image festival in Perpignan, France, in September 2007 by Stanley Greene and Kadir van Lohuizen, they were soon joined by seven other co-founders, including Pep Bonet, Yuri Kozyrev and Francesco Zizola. This new agency came at a time when the codes of photo-reporting and visual documentation had been turned upside down; budgets were downsizing, and crowd-sourced photojournalism was becoming increasingly prominent. For NOOR members, the aim was to apply their journalistic approaches to shed light on forgotten stories that media organizations gradually turned away from. The creation of this agency, in the form of a cooperative, is all the more poignant for its continued commitment to educating talented young photographers around the world as part of the Nikon-NOOR Academy sponsored by Nikon Europe.

By integrating different themes––reports on elections, wars, ecology, sociological or economic research––with supportive writings, this exhibition is an immersive experience as witnessed by NOOR photographers.

This exhibition is generously supported by Matthew Rothman and the NOOR Documentary Foundation USA. NOOR would also like to thank Nikon for their continued commitment to the agency.

Entry requirements: This exhibition is free to the general public. The Health Pass is compulsory to access the exhibition. It should be noted that the conditions of access may change according to the ongoing health situation. Be sure to consult bnf.fr before your visit.

RSVP is required to attend the panel discussion. Contact 01 53 79 83 00 or evenements@bnf.fr to express interest.

Header Image © Sanne De Wilde/ NOOR

Check out the Panel Discussion held on Tuesday, April 19.

Location: François-Mitterrand - Petit auditorium, Quai François-Mauriac, Paris 13 Arrondissement.

Please note: In French only.

Press

Arte.fr: ‘Photographie : les 15 ans de l'agence Noor’, published on April 21, 2022.

For more information contact:

Samira Damato, Project Manager & Curator

samira@noorimages.com

#expoAgenceNoorBnF

For this edition of the Nikon-NOOR Academy, three workshops will take place independently in three different countries in Europe. Each workshop has 15 participants and consists of four all-day sessions directed by three NOOR authors. These authors will work closely with participants, sharing experiences, working on portfolios, guiding editing skills, and offering advice on creating impactful visual stories. Additionally, key industry figures will join the sessions to give inspiring lectures on new approaches and innovative practices relating to visual storytelling.

Nikon-NOOR Academy Poland

The workshop in Poland is dedicated to female-identifying and non-binary visual storytellers. It will be held from March 29 to April 1 in Warsaw with NOOR authors Andrea Bruce, Olga Kravets and Tanya Habjouqa.

Photo © Katarzyna Ślesińska

Photo © Alexandra Stanescu Radu

Photo © Jagoda Malanin

Photo © Katerina Kouzmitcheva

Participants include:

Kasia Ślesińska

Ursula Groos 

Doro Zinn 

Anna Liminowicz 

Julia Zabrodzka

Katerina Kouzmitcheva

Jagoda Malanin 

Jadwiga Janowska

Iga Mroziak 

Sylwia Penc 

Zula Rabikowska

Milena Natalia Soporowska 

Kasia Rysiak

Alexandra Radu

Nikon-NOOR Academy Hungary

Held from April 3 to April 7 in Budapest, Hungary, this workshop will be led by NOOR authors Kadir van Lohuizen, Pep Bonet, and Tanya Habjouqa.

Photo © Tkachova Tatsiana

Photo © Kölcsey Sára

Photo © Gabriela Bulisova

Photo © Damian Lemański

Participants include:

Marton Monus

Sára Kölcsey

Marco Sacco 

Nemanja Pancic

Márton Béres

Gabriela Bulisova

Tatsiana Tkachova

András Zoltai 

Bahrudin Bandić 

Todd Rigos 

Emanuele Occhipinti

Mugur Varzariu

Sofie Puttfarken

Damian Lemański

Francis Farrell

Nikon-NOOR Academy France

NOOR authors Francesco Zizola, Sanne De Wilde, and Bénédicte Kurzen will led the Nikon-NOOR Academy workshop from April 11 - April 14 in Paris, France.

Photo © Luca Rotondo

Photo © Arianna Todisco

Photo © Natalia Kepesz

Photo © Salome Jishkariani

Participants include:

Natalia Kepesz

Salome Jishkariani

Svetlana Talanova

Phyllis Wong

Luca Rotondo

Arianna Todisco

Tim Gassauer

Moses Omeogo

Mirko Viglino

Julia Albrecht

Antonio Rodriguez

Ivan Navarro

Francesco Andreoli

Viviana Peretti

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

KYLA WOODS | KYLA@NOORIMAGES.COM

NOOR, in collaboration with the Houston Museum of African American Culture, presents an online conversation about agency and authorship in visual storytelling with Christopher Blay, Sasha Phyars-Burgess, Tanya Habjouqa and Andrea Bruce.

Digital Event | Agency and Authorship: Approaches to visual storytelling, Christopher Blay in conversation with Sasha Phyars-Burgess, Andrea Bruce and Tanya Habjouqa

Thursday, March 3, 2022.

7 PM CET | 1 PM ET

Registration has closed for this event.

On Thursday, March 3, the Chief Curator of the Houston Museum of African American Culture, Christopher Blay, will converse with 2020 Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship recipient Sasha Phyars-Burgess and NOOR members Tanya Habjouqa and Andrea Bruce about agency and authorship in visual storytelling, both as authors in the documentary community and as visual practitioners entering spaces. This conversation will touch on the history of photography and contemplate the role agency has in evolving documentary and journalistic practices.

During the conversation, Sasha will share her work “UNTITLED AND YET TO BE DETERMINED, 41.8949° N, 87.7654° W (AUSTIN)” and Christopher, Andrea, and Tanya will speak to this subject through their own selection of visuals. Each participant will discuss their motivations for different stories as it relates to different environments and how their understanding of self corresponds to their progressing approach to photography.

To view the conversation on March 3, visit the link below.

The Moderator

Christopher Blay

Christopher Blay is the Chief Curator of the Houston Museum of African American Culture. The Liberian-born American artist, writer, and curator was the News Editor at Glasstire Magazine from 2019 - 2021 and served as curator for the Art Corridor Galleries at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth for the ten years prior to Glasstire. Blay has been a guest lecturer at the University of North Texas, Texas Christian University, Tarleton State University, Sam Houston State University, as well as the University of Texas at Arlington and Stephen F. Austin university in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Blay’s writing credit includes art criticism, Op Ed essays, and interviews for the Fort Worth Weekly, Glasstire Magazine, and most recently, the November/December cover article for Art in America Magazine.

Blay has spoken at length about his work at museums such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Kimbell Art Museum and the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. His public lectures also included conferences such as the Texas Society of Architects convention in 2014, New Cities, Future Ruins presented by Southern Methodist University in Dallas in November, 2016, and Texas A&M University in 2021.

A list of awards Blay has received for his work includes the Otis and Velma Davis Dozier travel grant from the Dallas Museum of Art, a Nasher Sculpture Center Artist’s Grant, and Critics Choice awards from the Dallas Observer and the Fort Worth Weekly. Blay has served on jury panels for the Nasher Sculpture Center, Southern Methodist University Meadows Museum's Moss/Chumley award, Big Medium’s Tito’s Prize, as well as numerous University gallery exhibitions including the recent student exhibitions at Texas State University in San Marcos, and the Juried Members exhibition of the South Central Chapter of the Society for Photographic Education in Dallas. The artist hosted a panel discussion on the mural boom in Fort Worth at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in September.

As an artist, Blay uses photography, video, sculpture, and performance in exhibitions, and his work considers the Black experience in America. His exhibitions and public art projects follow the themes of the Black experience and include the ongoing East Rosedale Monument Project in Fort Worth, Texas, and Dindi (for Annibel) in Dallas' Coombs Creek park near Oak Cliff. His most recent exhibition, Power, Traps, and Targets: New Work by Christopher Blay was exhibited at Big Medium gallery, Austin, Texas, and is part of the Amarillo Biennial-600 in Amarillo, Texas. The exhibition focuses on justice, equality, and race, and will be on view through January, 2022.

Blay is a 2003 Graduate of Texas Christian University with a BFA in Photography with a minor in Art History.

PANALISTS

Sasha Phyars-Burgess

b.1988.

Scorpio.

Black.

Alive.

Tanya Habjouqa

Born in Jordan and raised between Texas and the Middle East, Tanya Habjouqa fuses a mordant sense of irony with unstinting, forensic interrogations of the implications of geopolitical conflict on human lives. Largely focusing on the Middle East, her work on Israel-Palestine, in particular, has been cited as a powerful investigation of the cross-currents of religion, politics, economics, and cultural production. Her project Occupied Pleasures received critical acclaim from Time Magazine and Smithsonian and the project won a World Press Photo award. A leading advocate for new methods in photojournalism and documentary practice, Tanya is the co-founder of the Middle East visual storyteller organization Ruwa, and is a mentor in the Arab Documentary Program, providing marginalized narratives and narrative-creators with the space and skills to tell their stories. She is an artist, educator, and member of NOOR Images. There is always a layer of gravitas and an intuitive sense of metaphor beneath her work.

Andrea Bruce

Andrea Bruce is a documentary photographer who brings attention to people living in the aftermath of war. She concentrates on the social issues that are sometimes ignored and often ignited in war's wake. 

Andrea started working in Iraq in 2003, following the intricacies and obstacles of the conflict experienced by Iraqis and the US military. For over ten years she has chronicled the world's most troubled areas, focusing on Iraq and Afghanistan. For eight years she worked as a staff photographer for The Washington Post and later as part of the VII Network (2010-2011). At The Post, she originated and authored a weekly column called "Unseen Iraq.” She also worked at The Concord Monitor and The St. Petersburg Times and after graduating from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Her awards include top honors from the White House News Photographers Association (where she has been named Photographer of the Year four times), several awards from the International Pictures of the Year contest, and the prestigious John Faber Award from the Overseas Press Club in New York. In 2010 she received the WHNPA grant for her work in Ingushetia and was a 2011 recipient of the Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship. In 2012 she was the recipient of the first Chris Hondros Fund Award for the “commitment, willingness and sacrifice shown in her work.” The World Press Photo awarded her 2nd prize Daily Life singles for the image 'Soldier's Funeral’ in 2014. In 2016 she was a recipient of the Harvard Nieman Fellowship.

Andrea Bruce was a CatchLight Fellow in 2018 and is currently a National Geographic Explorer. She is presently based in North Carolina and is the author of a weekly bulletin about the region, Down in the County.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

KYLA WOODS | KYLA@NOORIMAGES.COM

Monday, February 14, 2022

7 PM CET | 1 PM ET

Registration for this event is now closed.

Stanley Greene was known for his poetic, haunting, and unfiltered images, ranging in visual essays on conflict to stories on SF’s thriving underground music scene. During his career, he was the recipient of five World Press Photo awards, the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Visa d’or Award, the 2004 Eugene Smith Grant, and published six books, Somnambule, Marval, 1990; Open Wound, Trolley, 2003; Stanley Greene n°118: Photo Poche n°118, Actes Sud, 2008; The Road to Ruin, Visa pour l'Image, 2008; his photographic memoir Black Passport, Schilt Publishing, 2009; and The Western Front, André Frère Éditions, 2013.

On Monday, February 14, NOOR and NOOR Foundation hosted an online conversation to remember and celebrate the late photojournalist Stanley Greene. This informal conversation will engage friends, colleagues, and the Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship recipients, Sasha Phyars-Burgess and Tako Robakidze, with the acclaimed photographer’s work and methodology. 

This online event was an opportunity to learn about Stanley Greene and interact with his work in a very candid and personal way: through the musings and recollections of his closest companions, and the questions of the Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship recipients.

View the event below.

Remembering Stanley Greene will include the memories and voices of:

• Andrea Bruce, documentary photographer from the U.S. whose work focuses on people living in the aftermath of war, concentrating on the social issues that are sometimes ignored and often ignited in war's wake. For the past five years she has turned her attention to the U.S. to examine how people define and experience democracy. She is a member of NOOR.

• Kadir van Lohuizen, photography lecturer and co-founder of NOOR photo agency. He has been a professional photographer since 1988, and has received numerous prizes, including two World Press Photo awards, a Visa D’or for his work in Chad and in 2004 was awarded the prestigious Dutch Dick Scherpenzeel Prize for the best reporting on the developing world.

• Nina Alvarez, journalist, documentarian, video photographer and assistant professor of journalism at Columbia University. In her documentary work, she has concentrated on women and girls and the impact of migration.

• Nina Berman, American documentary photographer, filmmaker, author and professor at Columbia University in New York City. She was a NOOR member from 2009-2021.

• Sasha Phyars-Burgess, Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship recipient. b.1988. Black. Alive.

• Tako Robakidze, Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship recipient and documentary photographer based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Tako has dedicated a significant part of her photographic work to voice the stories of the war and the occupation in Georgia and socioeconomic conditions in regions of the country.

• Teun Van der Heijden, graphic designer and co-founder of Heijdens Karwei, a graphic design agency based in Amsterdam and New York. Next to running Heijdens Karwei where he has designed award-winning photography books like Black Passport, Diamond Matters, Rape of a Nation, Interrogations, War Porn, among others, Teun is a professor of Visual Design and Hybrid media at the LUCA School of Arts in Genk, Belgium and a faculty member of ICP, the International Center of Photography in New York and mentor of MAPS (Master of Photography and Society) at the KABK Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague.
  
  

Refugees in a deserted cattle farm in Chechnya. December 1999.

Photo © Stanley Greene/ NOOR

This man had been waiting more than a week to enter the camp with his wife and children but was being held up in a bureaucratic limbo as his wife was Saudi Arabian. Only Syrians can enter as refugees to Jordan, so this family was sent to a special holding area near the new arrival center until they could negotiate safe passage to Saudi Arabia. Thousands of non-Syrians, including Palestinians who had been living in Syria, are in legal limbo and stuck inside Syria as countries are not accepting “double” refugees. December 2013.

Photo © Stanley Greene/ NOOR

Zelina, after the death of her child. She says she is already dead herself, if only time would hurry up. Downtown Grozny, Chechnya. April 2001.

Photo © Stanley Greene/ NOOR

A Chechen woman who fled fighting in Grozny now lives as a refugee in Georgia. Her son was wounded during bombing attacks.

Photo © Stanley Greene/ NOOR

Stanley Greene

During the early years of his career, Stanley Greene (USA, 1949-2017) produced The Western Front, a unique documentation of San Francisco’s punk scene in the 1970s and 80s. An encounter with W. Eugene Smith turned his energies to photojournalism. Stanley began photographing for magazines, and worked as temporary staff photographer for the New York Newsday.

In 1986, he moved to Paris and began covering events across the globe. By chance, he was on hand to record the fall of the Berlin Wall. The changing political winds in Eastern Europe and Russia brought Greene to a different kind of photojournalism. He soon found himself photographing the myriad aspects of the decline of communism and the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Stanley was a member of the Paris-based photo agency Agence VU from 1991 to 2007. Beginning in 1993, he was based in Moscow working for Liberation, Paris Match, Time, The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Le Nouvel Observateur, as well as other international news magazines. In October 1993, Stanley was trapped and almost killed in the White House in Moscow during a coup attempt against Boris Yeltsin. He was the only western journalist inside to cover it. Two of his resulting pictures won World Press Photo awards.

In the early 1990s, Stanley went to Southern Sudan to document the war and famine there for Globe Hebdo (France). He traveled to Bhopal, India, again for Globe Hebdo, to report on the aftermath of the Union Carbide gas poisoning. From 1994 to 2001, Stanley covered the conflict in Chechnya between rebels and Russian armed forces. His in-depth coverage was published in the monograph Open Wound: Chechnya 1994-2003 (Trolley 2003) and in the 1995 publication Dans Les Montagnes Où Vivent Les Aigles (Actes Sud). The work also appeared in Anna Politkovskaya’s book, A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya (2001). In 1994, Stanley was invited by Médecins sans Frontières to document their emergency relief operations during the cholera epidemic in Rwanda and Zaire. He has covered conflict and aftermath in Nagorno-Karabakh, Iraq, Sudan, Darfur, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Lebanon.

Stanley was awarded a Katrina Media Fellowship from the Open Society Institute in 2006. In 2010, to mark the fifth commemoration of Hurricane Katrina - together with Dutch photographer Kadir van Lohuizen - Stanley made “Those who fell through the cracks”, a collaborative project documenting Katrina's effects on Gulf coast residents. The same year, Stanley’s book Black Passport was published (Schilt). In 2012, Stanley was the guest of honor of the Tbilisi Photo Festival and began his project on e-waste traveling to Nigeria, India, China and Pakistan. 

Stanley has received numerous grants and recognitions including - the Lifetime Achievement Visa d’Or Award (2016), the Aftermath Project Grant (2013), the Prix International Planète Albert Kahn (2011), W. Eugene Smith Award (2004), the Alicia Patterson Fellowship (1998) and five World Press Photo awards. Stanley presented the Sem Presser keynote lecture at the 2017 World Press Photo Award Festival. 

Stanley Greene is a founding member of NOOR. Stanley passed away in Paris, France on May 19th, 2017.

For more information contact:

Kyla Woods: kyla@noorimages.com

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tanzania and NOOR Images, in partnership with SNV and JustDiggit, are now proud to present the corresponding exhibition, which will open to the general public on February 9 at the Alliance Française in Dar es Salaam. This event will coincide with a roundtable meeting with candidates from the program on Tuesday, February 8; public portfolio reviews with Photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen and Curator Samira Damato on Wednesday, February 9; and a lecture by Kadir van Lohuizen on Friday, February 11.

Dar es Salaam, TZ – The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and NOOR Images are proud to present the exhibition “Capturing Climate Change”. 

The climate crisis has an immense impact on our world. Without immediate action, these adverse effects will continue to increase in the upcoming years. This exhibition brings together various visual stories on the climate crisis, from its global consequences to the everyday impact on local communities in Tanzania and Kenya. 

To empower local voices, eight talented photojournalists were selected to take part in a mentorship for the professional development of their visual practice when documenting climate change. The results of this dedicated program, made possible by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and NOOR Images, can be seen throughout this unique exhibition.

The photographic works, developed by four Tanzanian visual storytellers, Calvin Kulaya, Rahabu Manyasani, Imani Nsamila and Michael Mbwambo; and four Kenyan visual storytellers, Anthony Ochieng, Cynthia Maiwa, Billy Miaron and Gordwin Odhiambo; explore many aspects of life, from urban living to wildlife, and engage with both critical and constructive visual journalism to highlight the local impact of the climate crisis. These works are showcased alongside the works of award-winning photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen. 

A series of events will be additionally held at the Alliance Française in Dar es Salaam. This includes:

Tuesday, February 8:

• 10 am - press conference 

• 14 pm - roundtable meeting with the photographers

• 18:30 pm - an invitation only visage of “Capturing Climate Change”

Wednesday, February 9:

• 10:30 am - portfolio reviews with photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen and Curator, Samira Damato

Friday, February 11:

• 10 am - Lecture by Kadir van Lohuizen

Pictured below are some of the highlights and behind-the-scenes moments from the program in November.

Photos © Anthony Dar

This exhibition includes a selection of images showcasing the dedicated programs for climate action in Tanzania and Kenya, which are supported by the Netherlands and partners such as SNV and Justdiggit. 

By highlighting these valuable stories through powerful visual journalism, this exhibition aims to inspire climate action, to remind you that change is possible, and that together we can create a better world.

NOOR would like to acknowledge the efforts of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tanzania and Kenya and the support of SNV, JustDiggit, PAWA254, the British Council Tanzania and the Alliance Française in realising this initiative.

For more information, contact:

Samira Damato - Project Manager & Curator for “Capturing Climate Change”

samira@noorimages.com

Applications are now open for the tuition-free Nikon-NOOR Academy which will be held in France, Hungary and Poland.

For this edition, three workshops will take place independently in three different countries in Europe. Each workshop has 15 participants and consists of four all-day sessions directed by three NOOR authors.These authors will work closely with participants, sharing experiences, working on portfolios, guiding editing skills, and offering advice on creating impactful visual stories. Additionally, key industry figures will join the sessions to give inspiring lectures on new approaches and innovative practices relating to visual storytelling.

Due to COVID19 restrictions, all Nikon NOOR Academy workshops are postponed and will take place in March 2022 at the earliest. These workshops aim to be in-person and will abide by each country’s COVID19 regulations.

The application process

Applicants are encouraged to include in their portfolio a personal project they would like to engage with during the workshop and indicate in their motivation statement what they want to explore concerning that work. Jurors are looking for compelling visuals and stories. It should be noted that each workshop has specific criteria.

All three workshops are tuition-free for participants and open to emerging visual storytellers from the following countries: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan.

Applicants can only apply to one workshop location. Multiple applications to different workshops will not be considered. We strongly encourage photographers to apply to workshop locations in their surrounding regions.

Participants will be chosen by a panel of industry professionals. The deadline to apply is Sunday, January 30, 2022.

NOOR Authors

NOOR authors involved in the 2022 Nikon-NOOR Academy include Andrea Bruce, Tanya Habjouqa, Yuri Kozyrev, Olga Kravets, Bénédicte Kurzen, Kadir van Lohuizen, Sanne De Wilde, and Francesco Zizola. Please note that this may be subject to change.

Note: The 2022 Nikon-NOOR Academy in Poland is dedicated to female and non-binary identifying talent. Please refer to the application portal for more details.

NOOR Images is a foundation and creative production platform dedicated to pressing environmental, social, and humanitarian issues through compelling visual narratives. We are dedicated to driving social change through documentary practice and supporting the craft and professional aspirations of underrepresented photojournalists, whose creative work embodies the commitment and passion Stanley brought to photography. The 2021 Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship recipient is Tako Robakidze for her long-term project 'Creeping Borders', which shows how the Russian occupation in Georgia affects people's daily lives in the villages along the alleged "border" and shares the stories of Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) who have suffered along the way.

"It is an absolute honour to receive the prize and fellowship associated with Stanley Greene", says Tako Robakidze. "He knew my country intimately and worked on projects that conveyed the depth of the Caucasus region".

In the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian-backed separatists in the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region started a war to claim independence from Georgia. Up to 300,000 Georgians were displaced. These figures have only increased since the so-called "Five Day War" between Russia and Georgia in 2008, and up to 20% of Georgian territory is now under Russian occupation. Since 2011 Russian armed forces have pursued the policy of so-called "borderization", the installation of artificial barriers along the occupation line.

"I was born one year before the collapse of the Soviet Union", recalls Tako Robakidze. "A series of wars followed in my country. My parents were doctors and worked in hospitals where IDPs from Abkhazia settled. After school, I'd go to the hospital where my mother worked–– I played with children from the IDP families. These are some of my fondest memories, yet I had no accurate understanding of what was happening".

"Learning about these people, who I had spent my childhood with, and seeing the realities of today, motivated me to pursue this underreported topic, which focuses on displacement. I initially researched borderization in 2015 and visited every village bordering the Tskhinvali region to investigate the consequences of this process", says Robakidze. "It seemed unimaginably absurd to live in this reality, with these changing places without moving from places".  

As the Russian occupation and the shifting of de-facto borders moves deeper, more territories gather behind the barbed-wire fences, leaving the local community without land, harvest, and even residents' own houses. It divides families and communities, preventing people-to-people contact; moreover, kidnapping residents for "illegal border crossing" by the Russian FSB has become almost a common practice. Since the start of the "borderization", more than 1000 people have been detained. Families across the occupation line have to deal with violations of human rights daily. 

"The installation of barbed wire fences and artificial obstacles changed the local population's everyday life, and for odd reasons, this reality has become "normal". With this project, I want to demonstrate the numerous ways mass media can change normalized discourse through awareness. Hopefully, this will lead us all to think about result-based actions".

"With the support of the Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship, I am going to create a separate platform on my website dedicated to continuing the stories of people affected by war and those who no longer have a home in their homeland. The platform will focus on Georgia initially; however, it is equally important for me to cover other regional experiences of war. My aim in the next iteration of 'Creeping Borders' is to support opportunities of care, discussion, and empathy within the communities". 

"There are many stories, such as the human toll of borderization, that illustrate 'grey areas' in international relations, and they are not common knowledge to the majority of the world. I hope that my stories somehow can elevate the stories of small countries like Georgia. I want to remind locals and foreigners that the occupation is still ongoing, and somewhere people just like us are suffering from circumstances like this".

‘Creeping Borders’ was produced with the support of the Magnum Foundation as part of the Photography and Social Justice Fellowship. This body of work was exhibited at the 2018 Tbilisi Photo Festival.

TAKO ROBAKIDZE

Biography: Tako Robakidze is a documentary photographer based in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 2008 she received a Bachelor's degree in Law at Tbilisi State University. In conjunction with her university studies, she was enrolled in the documentary photography 'Sepia' and continued her studies for 5 years. In 2015, she received her master's degree from Caucasus University's Graduate School of Journalism. Since 2010 she has worked as a freelance photographer, cooperating with Georgian and international NGOs, covering diverse social topics. 

Since 2015, she has been a member and co-founder of the documentary photo collective ERROR IMAGES. In 2017 she received the Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellowship. In 2020 she was the recipient of the Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum Multimedia Lab Production Grant. In 2020 for her work about Georgian IDPs, she got a production grant from Goethe Institute. Her work is focused on documenting socio-political and economic conditions in Georgia and aspects of daily life, especially in regions of the country and minority groups of society.

2021 PRIZE AND FELLOWSHIP JURY

NOOR acknowledges this year’s Stanley Greene Legacy Prize & Fellowship judges, which included a panel of experts in the visual storytelling field.

• Tanya Lokshina, associate director for Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division.

• Thomas Dworzak, photographer and Magnum Photos Member.

• Marie Sumalla, deputy head of Le Monde photo department.

• Andrei Polikanov, visual director of Takie Dela online media.

• Nestan Nijaradze, co-founder and Artistic Director of Tbilisi Photo Festival.

• Raisa Borshchigova, senior program officer at Urgent Action Fund.

• Frank Zuidweg, Nikon Professional Services at Nikon Europe (Amsterdam).

• Jean-François Camp, president of DUREV Events.

Learn more about the 2021 Fellowship jury.

NOOR additionally extends a special thanks to Nikon. The Stanley Greene Legacy Prize & Fellowship is made possible by Nikon’s sustained support.

Dar es Salaam, TZ – NOOR, a cultural institution based in the Netherlands, announces the attendees of the four-day photojournalism program, ‘Capturing Climate Change’, with renowned photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen. From the 8th to the 11th of November, these eight photojournalists will develop their climate-related visual stories under the guidance of Kadir, encouraging them to strengthen their documentary practice and examine their construction of climate change narratives.

Initiated by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tanzania and Kenya and supported by PAWA254, the British Council Tanzania and the Alliance Française, ‘Capturing Climate Change’ hopes to engage visual journalists, Calvin Kulaya, Rahabu Manyasani, Imani Nsamila and Michael Mbwambo (Tanzania) and Anthony Ochieng, Cynthia Maiwa, Billy Miaron and Gordwin Odhiambo (Kenya), in the global conversation of climate change by elevating the significance of human stories.

“The program will provide these photojournalists with the skills needed to tell stories about how climate change is affecting their communities,” says Kadir van Lohuizen, “[as well as] how to work on long-term projects and create powerful work that will bring awareness and engage with adaptation strategies to confront the climate crisis”.

Undeniably, climate change is impacting the world, and the adverse effects will only increase in the future. Kadir has devoted his career to this critical issue. With his direction, program attendees will produce eight unique and impactful visual stories that highlight the ongoing climate dynamics Tanzanian and Kenyan urban youth face. Afterwards, these productions will be showcased in an exhibition on the climate crisis at a later date in both Tanzania and Kenya.

“This is part of the Netherlands commitment to co-create solutions to global challenges,” says the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tanzania, H.E. Wiebe de Boer. “Climate change might be the biggest challenge we face at this moment. By empowering the local photojournalists, we hope to contribute to give youth a voice and raise awareness on how the climate crisis affects their communities”.

For more information, contact:

Samira Damato - Project Manager & Curator

samira@noorimages.com

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]]>Announcing the 2021 Tanzanian and Kenyan Climate Photojournalism Program ParticipantsGuest UserThu, 21 Oct 2021 09:04:41 +0000https://www.noorimages.com/newsroom/2021/10/18/2021-shortlisted-stanley-greene-legacy-prize-fellowship-announced58cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:616d77b8f29da53af5aeaf5dIntroducing the 2021 Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship Shortlist: Biayna Mahari, Tako Robakidze and Mouneb Taim.

NOOR, a lens-based cultural institution, and the NOOR Foundation, a non-profit committed to social change through documentary practice, supports the craft and professional aspirations of underrepresented photojournalists whose creative work echoes the commitment and passion with which Stanley approached photography. The 2021 shortlisted candidates for the Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship are Biayna Mahari, Tako Robakidze and Mouneb Taim.

“In my opinion, the three shortlisted photographers each represent the courageous dedication that the Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship embodies,” says jury member Thomas Dworzak. “Biayna Mahari, an emerging photographer, presented a very intimate, and at times quirky, poetic expression of a well-covered conflict in her own country. Tako Robakidze, on the other hand, concentrated relentlessly on documenting an easily forgotten conflict with an unending commitment. And, Mouneb Taim, a very young photographer, recorded his country's disintegration.”

This iteration of the fellowship focused on applicants based in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Biayna Mahari, positioned between her native country of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, draws on traditional photojournalism and metaphorical photography to investigate the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and how it intersects with personal identity both in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh; Tako Robakidze, based in Tbilisi, Georgia, explores the impact of Russia’s borderization process on Georgians; and Mouneb Taim, born in Syria and established in Turkey, focused on the Syrian conflict and the humanitarian crisis that ensued.

The 2021 Shortlisted Photographers

Biayna Mahari

Project: Diary of a non-war photographer investigates the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and how it intersects with personal identity both in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. “On September 27, 2020,” Biayna Mahari writes, “I woke up to a war. I was living my life––planning to meet my friends or maybe read a book, I no longer remember––when all of a sudden, with a single news announcement, I appeared in a conflict zone.”

Since that day, there has been little semblance of the life that existed before. In an effort to understand this new reality, Biayna looked away from the frontline of the conflict, and focused on the intimate details that were shared by others, civilians, who were experiencing the same seismic upheaval. Biayna says: “It’s me standing in the yard watching Arthur burn his own house down in the village’s last hour, and me saying goodbye to the Dadivank monastery before it will be given away, and me drinking beer in the only pub in Stepanakert, talking about the war with the owner, while he cleans his gun.” 

“It's me, but it is not about me. It’s about Armenians trying to survive through grief and loss, about those who took their weapons and went to protect their land, those who didn’t, those who came back home and who didn’t, about life and death, love and hate and, finally, it’s about all of us — humans, who create the wars, suffer from them, and then create them again.”

Biography: Biayna Mahari was born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1989. She began freelancing as a photographer and journalist in 2009, while still a student at the Russian-Armenian University, covering cultural events and festivals, and photographing and interviewing artists like Serj Tankyan and Joe Cocker for local magazines. She has since produced projects on the country's 2018 Velvet Revolution, "La vita è bella," about being trapped in Italy during the Covid19 lockdown, and "Rethinking Quarantine," a set of portraits and interviews made through skype calls with those trapped with her in the same building for a mandatory quarantine. She has produced work for many local NGOs, as well as international organizations such as Unicef, FAO, and the UNDP. Her work has appeared in many local magazines, and in Nouvelle d'Armenie and Liberation in France and La Republica in Italy. In 2020 she was awarded a director fellowship to attend the Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism program at the International Center of Photography in New York.

Tako Robakidze

Project: "For some people in my country, it is not difficult anymore to imagine going to sleep in their own country and waking up in an occupied territory." –– Tako Robakidze.

Creeping Borders shows how the Russian occupation affects peoples' daily lives in the villages along the so-called "border" and IDPs who have suffered along the way. 

In the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian-backed separatists in the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region started a war to claim independence from Georgia. Up to 300,000 Georgians were displaced. These figures have only increased since the so-called "Five Day War" between Russia and Georgia in 2008, and up to 20% of Georgian territory is now under Russian occupation. Since 2011 Russian armed forces have pursued the policy of so-called "borderization," the installation of artificial barriers along the occupation line. 

As the topic of Russian occupation and the shifting of de-facto borders moves deeper, more territories gather behind the barbed-wire fences, leaving the local community without land, harvest, and even residents' own houses. It divides families and communities, preventing people-to-people contact; moreover, kidnapping residents for "illegal border crossing" by Russian FSB has become almost a common practice. Since the start of the "borderization," more than 1000 people have been detained. Families across the occupation line have to deal with violations of human rights on a daily basis. 

"Creeping Borders" was produced with the support of the Magnum Foundation as part of the Photography and Social Justice Fellowship. This body of work was exhibited at the 2018 Tbilisi Photo Festival.

Biography: Tako Robakidze is a documentary photographer based in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 2008 she got a Bachelor's degree in Law at Tbilisi State University. In conjunction with her university studies, she was enrolled in the documentary photography 'Sepia' and continued her studies for 5 years. In 2015, she received her master's degree from Caucasus University's Graduate School of Journalism. Since 2010 she has worked as a freelance photographer, cooperating with Georgian and international NGOs, covering diverse social topics. 

Since 2015, she has been a member and co-founder of the documentary photo collective ERROR IMAGES. In 2017 she received the Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellowship. In 2020 she was the recipient of the Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum Multimedia Lab Production Grant. In 2020 for her work about Georgian IDPs, she got a production grant from Goethe Institute. Her work is focused on documenting socio-political and economic conditions in Georgia and aspects of daily life, especially in regions of the country and minority groups of society.

Mouneb Taim

Project: After more than ten years of conflict, the Syrian regime's forces regained more than ninety percent of areas out of their control. The city of Idlib, in northern Syria, was the opposition forces' last remaining outpost, a place now embedded in the conflict and the promise of defeating the rebel forces for the final time. 

Idlib - the last rebel stronghold, illustrates the struggle of civilians to bypass the war in the besieged region in northern Syria. The lives of residents are markedly different from others: there are airstrikes and bombings between government forces and the rebellion every day. There is an unnaturalness to each day, even though the conflict has taken on some semblance of normalcy to those living there: it is common to see bombs fall, watch people die, and hear the destruction of buildings.

While the truth of this war cannot be denied–– there are no winners or losers––some people are trying to resist the bitterness of this terrible war with their determination, hope, and desire to live. With the support of the Russian forces, the people in Idlib were forced to leave the area after months of violent bombing operations that caused the deaths of thousands. 

Today, more than four million Syrians live in a minimal area. They are effectively human shields, threatened with death from both sides by the militant forces that control the site, the so-called Al-Nusra Front, and the Syrian government, who plan to regain that area. 

Biography: Mouneb Taim, born in 2001, is a photojournalist who covers news stories focusing on social issues. Currently working as a freelance photographer for international agencies, he began his career in photojournalism in 2014 following the murder of his brother, a journalist in Syria. While in his native country, he covered life under siege in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Idlib, and the countryside of Aleppo until early 2020 when Islamic organizations arrested him in his city for being gay. Mouneb has received several international awards for his work.

2021 Prize and Fellowship Jury

NOOR acknowledges this year’s Fellowship judges, which included a panel of experts in the visual storytelling field.

• Tanya Lokshina, associate director for Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division.

• Thomas Dworzak, photographer and Magnum Photos Member.

• Marie Sumalla, deputy head of Le Monde photo department.

• Andrei Polikanov, visual director of Takie Dela online media.

• Nestan Nijaradze, co-founder and Artistic Director of Tbilisi Photo Festival.

• Raisa Borshchigova, senior program officer at Urgent Action Fund.

• Frank Zuidweg, Nikon Professional Services at Nikon Europe (Amsterdam).

• Jean-François Camp, president of DUREV Events.

Learn more about the 2021 Fellowship jury.

NOOR additionally extends a special thanks to Nikon. The Stanley Greene Legacy Prize & Fellowship is made possible by Nikon’s sustained support.

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]]>The 2021 Stanley Greene Legacy Prize & Fellowship ShortlistBenedicte KurzenSanne De WildeBookBas SiersThu, 08 Jul 2021 13:41:17 +0000https://www.noorimages.com/newsroom/2021/6/8/the-second-stanley-greene-legacy-prize-amp-fellowship-now-accepting-submissions-92jp558cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:60e5a952c0e1c746cb13ab2c

Discover all about the Land of Ibeji

Sanne De Wilde and Bénédicte Kurzen investigate the mythology of twins in Nigeria where the rate of natural twin births is higher than anywhere else in the world. As sacred beings, twins’ magical and spiritual powers are celebrated with mythical fervour, but also condemned as unnatural.It was a path he never would have taken, because he never could have imagined it. 

‘Land of Ibeji’ is a collaborative photographic project about the mythology of twinhood in Nigeria“Ibeji” meaning 'double birth' and ‘the inseparable two’ in Yoruba stands for the ultimate harmony between two people. The centre of this twin zone is Igbo-Ora, a sleepy southwest town in Nigeria. Through a visual narrative and an aesthetic language that is meant to reflect and empower the Yoruba culture that celebrates twins, the two photographers extend their gaze beyond appearance - with symmetry and resemblance as tools- to open the eyes to the twin as a mythological figure and a powerful metaphor: for the duality within a human being and the duality we experience in the world that surrounds us.

They played with the concept of doubling to create an imaginative photographic story, using double exposures, mirror reflections and colour filters. Through these pictorial processes, the two artists produced inventive double portraits, while also working together as twin-like co-authors. Land of Ibeji is the magical, colourful result.

About the book

Now for sale in the NOOR Shop!

Next to the regular signed book there is also a limited edition that includes a signed print. There are only 44 of them available!

Order now and receive your book in August 2021

Signed book for €59  excl. VAT and shipping costs

Signed book + signed Fine Art Baryta print (only 44 units available) for €248 excl. VAT and shipping costs

Discover all about Botswana’s underground metal culture

Photographer Pep Bonet has been following Overthrust, a heavy metal band from Botswana, Africa, and shows us a growing, exciting and thoroughly organic heavy metal community. Ten years ago, one group existed. Today there are more than ten – and their fans are growing every year.

“Hellbangers is an affirmation that at its core shows the strength and power of the metal community in Africa, and how it connects around the world. The love and devotion to the music that these wonderful maniacs show scream out to us with absolute conviction – we are all united by the essence of the metal heart and spirit of the Hellbangers!”

— Rob Halford (Judas Priest)

The inhabitants of Botswana portrayed in this book are tattood, wear loudly and proudly leather jackets, leather trousers and play heavy death metal music. Imagine the DIY ingenuity of their ‘costume creation’ involving harvested animal skulls and other natural elements.

With names like Demon and Gunsmoke, it would be easy though to think they are thugs, but “We try to be exemples. Rock is a wild thing, but also something for the heart”, says Gunsmoke, the heavy metal head. Here too, the lyrics of the songs are very critical towards societies, just like their western peers. Metal in Botswana is rebellious movement against authorities. This is the story of what looks at first to be an unlikely union, yet one which powerfully illustrates how music, how heavy metal music, has become a positively unifying force in an unlikely part of the world.

About the book

Now for sale in the NOOR Shop!

PRE-SALE OFFER WHEN YOU ORDER BEFORE JULY 31ST 2021:

Signed book + original photograph (numbered, signed and stamped) for €199 + VAT and shipping costs

Only 50 units available

NOOR & the NOOR Foundation are extremely proud to announce the second Stanley Greene Legacy Prize & Fellowship. The Fellowship will support the work and professional aspirations of underrepresented photojournalists who create work that echoes the passion with which Stanley approached photography.

This chapter of the fellowship prize will focus on applicants based in the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Find more information about the Fellowship and Submission deadlines here

Kadir van Lohuizen's and Yuri Kozyrev's work about the arctic is exhibited at Gallery Vriend van Bavink from April 23rd until July 10th. The double expedition project focuses on the consequences of the melting sea ice for the planet, and the medium-term prospect of its total disappearance.

Register to visit here!

The 2021 Nikon-NOOR masterclasses are finished. Participants from around the world worked together with NOOR authors Andrea Bruce, Pep Bonet, Heba Khamis, Jon Lowenstein, Sanne De Wilde, Kadir van Lohuizen, Olga Kravets and Tanya Habjouqa to share experiences, work on portfolios, improve editing skills, and learn how to create visual stories.

Discover the names of the Nikon-NOOR Academy participants!

Andrea Bruce went on assignment for iPondr. She captured Brant Ireland, who broke his leg severely in 2013 while on an operation in Afghanistan. His leg got amputated in 2015 and since then he is using a high-tech prosthetic limb. Ireland saw adaptive sports as a chance to get out of his comfort zone and try new things.

Read the article here!

NOOR Filmmaker Olga Kravets, in collaboration with Pierre-Julien Fieux, Julie de Halleux, Anaïs Chic and Irene Servillo, directed three short animation films to present the three nominees of 2021 Martin Ennals Awards Ceremony that took place on February 11th. The three nominees of this year were Yu Wensheng - Laureate (China), Soltan Achilova (Turkmenistan) and Loujain AlHathloul (Saudi Arabia).

We are also proud to announce that Soltan Achilova's short film will be featured at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH), which will take place in Geneva from 5-14 March, 2021.

Watch all the animations here!

Ayün will take over NOOR this week to announce their print sale for International Women's Day! Ayün Fotógrafas is a collective of eight female photographers united by Latin America, developing projects about human and environmental rights, identity, and territory.

The proceeds from this sale will help fund their next group project focusing on maternal health in Latin America and beyond.

Support Ayün’s print sale!

The first round of the Nikon-NOOR Academy mastercalsses have started on the 18th of February!

Andrea Bruce, Pep Bonet and Heba Khamis will be teaching the first 15 participants of the Nikon-NOOR masterclasses until the 26th of February.

Today, on Stanley’s birthday, the NOOR Documentary Foundation USA, and NOOR are excited to announce that Sasha Phyars-Burgess is the inaugural Stanley Greene Legacy Prize & Fellowship winner.

Additionally, launching today, we’re excited to share that our long-term partner Nikon Europe will sponsor the second edition Stanley Greene Legacy Prize & Fellowship.

This second fellowship will be open to early-career photographers, in the first ten years of their professional career, who show great promise and an unquenchable desire to practice photojournalism with a purpose.

Read all about it in our latest newsletter!

For National Geographic, Nina Berman and Andrea Bruce documented the inauguration of President Biden in Washington D.C.

Read the full article here!

Francesco Zizola will be present in Dubai at Xposure with an exhibition, a movie and a seminar about his work 'As If We We're Tuna'.

Get your tickets here!

The exhibition Rising Tide in the Scheepsvaartmuseum, by Kadir van Lohuizen, is extended until April 5th. Rising Tide serves as a wake-up call that shows that climate change is an unstoppable force that can only be slowed down.

More information & tickets here!

Kadir van Lohuizen will give a book presentation on February 18th at Pakhuis De Zwijger in Amsterdam.

The presentation of the new book ‘After us the deluge’ by Kadir van Lohuizen is followed by a debate about the climate crisis and the rising sea level. In this debate, it will be discussed what the worst-case scenario could be and how we can prepare ourselves for this. What will be the consequences for island states like Kiribati and do we have enough time to fortify our coastal defences, or is adaptation the way to go? How predictable is the melting of the ice sheets and why are we still not able to bring the temperature down as a agreed at the climate summit in Paris?

Make a reservation here!

Kadir van Lohuizen’s work was featured in De Volkskrant. He discusses the rising sea level in relation to his new book: After Us the Deluge.

Read the full article here!

NOOR and the NOOR Documentary Foundation, USA is proud to share that the laureate for the Stanley Greene Legacy Fellowship & Prize will be announced February 14th.

2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the Arab Spring, a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world. Over the year, we'll retrace some of uprising covered by NOOR Authors Andrea Bruce, Yuri Kozyrev, Stanley Greene among others.

See more

Nina Berman's work was featured in The New York Times on February 1st. The article by Matthew Rosenberg and Jim Rutenberg discusses Trump's effort to overturn the election.

Read the full article here!

The tutors of this year’s academy are Andrea Bruce, Heba Khamis, Pep Bonet, Sanne De Wilde, Jon Lowenstein, Francesco Zizola, Olga Kravets, Yuri Kozyrev and Kadir van Lohuizen.

We would sincerely like to thank all the people who sent forward their applications and congratulate the photographers who will participate in the masterclasses.

Masterclass A taking place between February 18th to 26th:

Larkat Issam
Sebastian Steveniers
Mano Svanidze
Cletus Nelson Nwadike
Dina Oganova
Cansu Yildiran
Nadja Ellinger
Emily Garthwaite
Stefanie Kulisch
Oleksandr Rupeta
Felix Adler
Thomas Victor
Zoya Shu
Danil Usmanov
Aino Väänänen
Fedor Oshchepkov

Masterclass B taking place between March 4th to 12th:

Irina Shkoda
Ivan Tomasevic
Chloe Alexandra Davies
Mattia Marzorati
Svetlana Bulatova
Kseniia Apresian
Sofia Melikova
Olga Kuzmenkova
Alexis Pazoumian
Ilyas Hajji
Arun Nangla
Maxime Riche
Mikhail Lebedev
Sina Niemeyer
Mayya Kelova

Masterclass C taking place between March 18th to 26th:

Sinawi Medine
Ira Lupu
Matjaz Tancic
Monika Orpik
Marcin Kruk
Michaela Nagyidaiová
Ludwig Nikulski
Kseniia Ivanova
Davit Nersisyan
Robin Alysha Clemens
Ingmar Björn Nolting
Sofia Gavrilova
Amirtharaj Stephen
Maria Grigorieva
Zanda Puče

To power the Nikon-NOOR Academy Masterclass applications, we teamed up with our partner Picter, an online platform hosting contests, call for applications as well as tools for professional image-makers simply their workflow.

Tanya Habjouqa’s work was featured in the February/March edition of Wordt Vervolgd, a magazine about human rights that is published by Amnesty Netherlands.

Yuri Kozyrev's work was featured in De Volkskrant on the 4th of February. He captured the vaccination campaign in Russia.

Read the full article in Dutch here!

Kadir van Lohuizen appeared on the Dutch TV show Buitenhof on January 31st to talk about the rising sea level in relation to his new book: After Us the Deluge. Order the book here.

Watch the full interview in Dutch here!

Read the full article here!

The transmedia project by Jordanian-born photographer Tanya Habjouqa is about the discrepancy between our image and the reality of today’s Middle East. The image that is regularly shown in the media of the region is that of spectacular confrontations between the Israeli army and Palestinian youth. In A Space Oddity, commissioned by BredaPhoto, the photographer goes in search of a different reality: the tensions and possibilities of life during – and under – occupation. The project combines still and moving images, sound and stereographs that together make the absurdity of the landscape almost tangible.

Andrea Bruce talks about the political divide in the United States. Four years ago, Bruce started her journey to see how the people in the US experience Democracy.

Read the full article here!

Get into inspirational learning, practical advice, and valuable insights to elevate your skills, mindset & projects, and to empower your journey.

Sebastian has been seeking the right life/work balance during his career, producing independent documentary projects and working on large magazine assignments while developing his personal projects. This experience has given him the methods to build a practice that balances his creative work, his clients, and the promotion of his projects, as well as his personal life.

On his new platform, The Collective, Sebastian Liste will get honest and transparent about how you can bring clarity to your projects, grow your creative practice, and build a sustainable career as a visual storyteller. Every week, you will receive new content such:

• Educational tutorials
• Behind The Scenes
• Guest Expert
• Creative Challenges
• Live Q&As with Sebastian Liste

Inside The Collective, you will get into inspirational learning, practical advice, and valuable insights to help you elevate your skills, mindset & projects.

All sessions will be recorded and available on the platform so you can work and learn at your own pace. You can stay for as long as you like, no strings attached.

To keep the experience intimate and to build a strong community, The Collective will be open to join several times a year. The first door will close Sunday, January 24th at 11:59pm CET.

Discover the unique new book by Kadir van Lohuizen about the rising sea level, "After Us The Deluge".⁠⠀
⁠⠀
In his new book, photographer Kadir van Lohuizen shows the impact on communities of rising sea levels. He invited nine prominent authors to write an essay tackling this world issue, among them Jeff Goodell (Rolling Stone), Anote Tong (former president Kiribati), Henk Ovink (international water envoy) and Sharif Jamil (leader and activist, Bangladesh). ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
The book is richly illustrated with maps and info stats. 288 pages, over 200 images, soft cover. Great pre-order offer, signed book or with a signed print! People in the Netherlands can use an additional discount code. ⁠

Click here to pre-order After Us the Deluge.

Sanne De Wilde's work was featured in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. The article covers how Covid-19 affected us and how people handle the virus in Lagos, Nigeria. De Wilde wanted to show the strength and resilience of the Nigerian people.

Read the full article in Dutch here!

Read the full article here!

About

NOOR and Nikon Europe are delighted to announce the first online Nikon-NOOR Academy that will take place in Spring 2021.

Each masterclass will take place over 2 weeks with 4 training session days. Each class with 15 participants will work together with 3 NOOR authors as tutors, to share experiences, work on portfolios, improve editing skills, and learn how to create more impactful visual stories. Additionally, key industry leaders will give inspiring lectures around new approaches in the visual storytelling field.

Nikon and the NOOR Foundation are committed to encouraging young, aspiring photojournalists and documentary photographers. Masterclasses are provided free for all participants, made possible with the continued support of Nikon Europe since 2008. All masterclasses are open for all emerging visual storytellers from the following countries:

Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, The Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan

Call for applications open on December 15th, 2020 & Deadline is January 17th, 2021

Read the full article here!

This workshop will discuss how to produce meaningful work under pressure, whether that's during challenging times or conflict zones. Olga and Sebastian will also talk about their experiences documenting social justice in conflict territories. 

Register here

Read the full article.

This workshop will discuss how to boost one's creativity in pandemic times, and beyond! Heba and Sebastian will talk about how they've engaged with their creative practice in these isolated times — teaching themselves to transform self-doubt into new opportunities. 

Click here to register for the online workshop now.

Note, limited online seats.

In this workshop, they will...

• Share their process for nurturing your creativity even when things get tough.

• Give you insights on how to solve problems and keep motivated when working on long-form visual projects from home.

• Guide you through a collaborative approach with your subjects, one that will elevate your visual stories.

• Demonstrate how they transform self-doubts into new opportunities and in preparation for your upcoming projects.

• Offer you a safe space to be heard, share your personal challenges, and get collective feedback during the Q&A section.

Sanne De Wilde collaborated on a project with Jana Antonissen to find out how life in jail is comparable to life during quarantine. Their work was published in the Belgian newspapers De Standaard and DeMorgen.

Read the Dutch article in De Standaard here!

Read the Dutch article in DeMorgen here!

The masterclass will focus on working on stories in our own backyards, nurturing the bonds with our neighborhoods, communities, and relatives close to oneself. Make sure to register to the online workshop now with the link here: https://bit.ly/37wsVVi

In this masterclass, we will:
- Share our creative and unique approaches at all times, especially during a pandemic.
- Give you all our insights on how to keep producing meaningful work from your own backyard.
- Guide you through the different narratives and styles that we use and that you can put in practice too.
- Show you our own ways to find inspiration near you and how to capture it with your cameras.
- Unique approaches to fundraising
- Offer you a safe space to listen and to be heard in our Q&A Session.

Tanya Habjouqa photographs Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, one of Palestine's most influential philosophers for an interview published in 5 Media.

Read the full article here!

We're pleased to announce a special free online workshop with NOOR Author Andrea Bruce and Sebastian Liste on Friday, November 27th 2020.

Link for registering: https://bit.ly/35XW2RN

Do you have questions about applying for the Stanley Greene Legacy Prize and Fellowship? Are you having trouble applying for grants in general? Do you need funds to support or continue your personal projects?

There is a way. There is a set of skills and techniques you can learn and apply to elevate your grant proposals in order to focus on the stories you want to tell and the change you seek to make.

We believe that any independent photographer, who is willing to develop their own vision and ideas, should know how to reach the organizations that can provide the necessary funding to accomplish their projects.

NOOR´s photographers Andrea Bruce and Sebastian Liste have consistently received generous support from some of the most important organizations in our industry: the Harvard Nieman Foundation fellowship, World Press Photo Foundation, the Magnum Foundation Emergency Found, the Alexia Foundation Grant, the CatchLight Fellowship, National Geographic Explorer grant, Getty Editorial Grant, the Nikon Special project Grant and the Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship.

That support has allowed them to commit to their practice as visual storytellers and develop their personal in-depth projects.

In this workshop, Andrea and Sebastian will share their expertise on successfully applying for grants.

We will take into special consideration the structure of writing a proposal and how to edit a portfolio that properly supports your project idea. We will also give you very practical tips to elevate your bio and CV and how to make a realistic budget—details that are crucial but sometimes underestimated when applying for a grant.

We also want to give you a chance to discuss specific questions and challenges you might have. We´ve set up time for a Q&A session.

Let’s be ready for the next session together.

Let us help you take your career to the next level.

Let’s produce work that matters.

Alixandra Fazzina (@alixandrafazzinanoor) tells us about her series A Million Shillings – Escape from Somalia for a new series on @vice & @vicevideo. In it she recalls the harrowing details of the stories behind her photographs; from meeting the smugglers, witnessing executions, and capturing the many lives lost. She titled her work A Million Shillings because a million Somali shillings, about the equivalent of $50, is the price paid by emigrants, or tahrib, risking their lives to embark with smugglers on a perilous voyage across the Gulf of Aden in the search of a better life.

Watch here.

She shares how her experiences as a war photographer in the Middle East shapes the way she’s chronicling democracy in America in 2020.

Listen here

Andrea Bruce has spent the past four years documenting a divided nation; exploring how American citizens interpret the concept of democracy in their nation. Read the full article here.

We’ve been speaking to one African-American man about the very ordinary, everyday racist attack he faced.

Vauhxx Booker, a young black activist in rural Indiana was assaulted and threatened with a lynching – the age-old means of terrorising black people – when he went for a walk in the woods with his friends.

For the full story, watch here: channel4.com/news/black-activist-threatened-with-lynching-in-rural-indiana

For The Economist, Nina Berman traveled to Pennsylvania to document how this key swing-state might change the face of the US presidential election.

Register here!

Watch the full video here!

I exist is a group exhibition of five NOOR authors. The narratives of I exist seek to perform a challenging task: amplify the voice of those often marginalised in the contemporary discussion of Islam and its role in Europe.

Bringing together the work of Nina Berman, Tanya Habjouqa, Olga Kravets, Bénédicte Kurzen and Sebastián Liste, I exist shares the personal stories of Muslims in Spain, France, Belgium and Italy, hoping to live as citizens but othered in a hyper-visible and critical reality.

The exhibition will take place from the 4th of September to 10th of October, 2020 (Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 21:00) at Melkweg Expo, Marnixstraat 409 1071PJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

To visit the exhibition, a free online reservation by email is required. Claim your reservation by sending an email to rsvp@melkweg.nl with your time of arrival and your name and mobile number. In addition, we kindly ask everyone above the age of 13 to wear a face mask in the exhibition space. 

Support Jon Lowenstein's crowdfunding campaign for his upcoming feature-length documentary film, THE ADVOCATE, examining the journey of Jedidiah Brown and several other African-American community activists searching for ways to create a sustainable life while relentlessly fighting for justice in their community on Chicago's South Side. 

The Advocate follows activist Jedidiah Brown’s struggle over a 4 year period to construct a healthy identity and personal meaning from the ashes of an utterly dispossessed, segregated and neglected post-industrial community on Chicago’s South Side. The film will help people understand the extraordinary levels of hard work, sacrifice and trauma experienced by individual young  advocates in the United States in order to make our country a better place to live for everyone. This is an unmistakably Chicago story, but it echoes a timeless narrative in world literature, native cultures, even religious scriptures: this story is about fighting for one’s home.

At its core, The Advocate is about community, loss, resilience, and the highly personal struggle to construct viable identities and lives in a place offering few functional models for young people. Jedidiah’s story provides a personal account of what it means to fight for something larger than yourself, almost lose everything, survive, and rebuild. Through it all we see these young people challenging and changing the rigid and highly segregated social landscape that is the Second City.

As the Spanish island begins to welcome back tourists after the pandemic, some locals are looking for more sustainable avenues of income. For National Geographic, Pep Bonet documented his hometown impacted by the current reduction in tourists. 

“The beauty of Mallorca is now in front of us,” says Pep Bonet, who used infrared imagery to highlight the ethereal quality of the island in its present state.

Watch

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]]>FotoDemic Panel: Re-Imagining the Future of Visual Journalism with Nina BermanKadir van LohuizenLivecastNewsGuest UserWed, 24 Jun 2020 10:14:51 +0000https://bit.ly/30MKf6I58cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:5ef3279e3dd04e1175abbbe6Today, the last edition of Emerging stories.

Kadir van Lohuizen will focus on the United States with John Yearwood from Politico,the Union of Black Journalists Clarice Gargard journalist and columnist and Andrea Bruce, NOOR photographer talking about her Democracy project.

Read more about the show here: https://bit.ly/30MKf6I

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]]>EventsKadir van LohuizenLivecastGuest UserWed, 17 Jun 2020 11:37:59 +0000https://dezwijger.nl/programma/journalism-in-times-of-isolation-1158cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:5eea009ee3f00614b4ab15e5Kadir van Lohuizen shares a conversation with (inter)national journalists; Ingeborg Beugel, Meron Estefanos and Geesje van Haren.

On our Instagram Live at 4pm CEST

Read more about the show here: https://bit.ly/30MKf6I

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]]>EMERGING STORIES #11: JOURNALISM IN TIMES OF ISOLATIONJon LowensteinNina BermanStanley GreeneGuest UserTue, 16 Jun 2020 13:44:09 +0000https://www.noorimages.com/newsroom/2020/6/16/fundraiser-for-racial-and-social-justice58cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:5ee8ca6c835d5a6e3d1aa0b6Print Sale Supporting local Black run community organisations in Chicago and Oakland, USA.

In an effort to support poor and working class black communities in the United States who have been devastated by generations of disinvestment, social segregation and institutional racism, NOOR will offer a series of 3 images for sale that will benefit the rebuilding and reimagining of our country.

By offering these prints, we encourage our larger global community to become politically active in struggles for racial and gender equality and the rights of indigenous people.

All profits from the sales will go to the following groups: Nina Berman’s print to Assata’s Daughters, an organization of young radical African-American women and girls fighting police violence in Chicago; Jon Lowenstein’s print to the Black women led South Merrill Community Garden on Chicago’s South Side, and Stanley Greene’s print to The People’s Breakfast Oakland.

These are open editioned, unsigned inkjet prints 10x8 inch (25 x 20 cm) print priced at $225 Euros each. If you donate to a local social justice group, send us an email with the screenshot of your donation to shop@noorimages.com and we will send you a 50% discount code. This fundraiser will last until June 30th, all prints will be shipped after the end of the sale.

Listen here: https://bit.ly/2ALAHOI

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]]>EMERGING STORIES #9: JOURNALISM IN TIMES OF ISOLATIONEventsKadir van LohuizenLivecastGuest UserTue, 09 Jun 2020 11:51:00 +0000https://dezwijger.nl/programma/journalism-in-times-of-isolation-1058cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:5eea03bba7b0c0068015ca66

This week in the episode 10, Kadir van Lohuizen shares a conversation with (inter)national journalists: Nighat Dad, Premesh Chandran and Tamara Witschge

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]]>EMERGING STORIES #10: JOURNALISM IN TIMES OF ISOLATIONFilmJon LowensteinGuest UserTue, 09 Jun 2020 11:42:00 +0000https://www.noorimages.com/newsroom/2020/6/9/jedidiah-brown-short-film-on-channel-458cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:5eea01a6db85fe383ae29a77Jon Lowenstein's short film on Chicago activist Jedidiah Brown is shown on Channel 4 with commentary after by Angela Davis. #JedidiahBrown #GeorgeFloyd

The fiction film is a personal exploration on how death threatens us in these difficult times and offers insight into the fears and thoughts of a nine year old boy.

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]]>The Kid, The Fox and the Skull - Short fiction film by Pep BonetNewsExhibitionStanley GreeneGuest UserFri, 29 May 2020 10:33:20 +0000https://www.noorimages.com/newsroom/2020/5/29/empreintes-retrospective-of-stanley-greenes-lifework58cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:5ed0e312deae375165a90261Through more than a hundred of photographs taken over the span of four decades, from the American punk scene to the great conflicts and disasters in the 21st Century, this premiering retrospective of Stanley Greene's lifework allows visitors to rediscover the depth of his commitment and the strength of his testimony.

In Le Centre du Patrimoine Arménien From 6th of June until the 30th of December 2020

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]]>EXTENDED: Rising Tide by Kadir van Lohuizen at the National Maritime MuseumAndrea BruceNewsNewslettersTearsheetsGuest UserFri, 29 May 2020 10:05:06 +0000https://on.natgeo.com/2W3xUYv58cfbd7f20099e8bad829da6:5b7ffe2370a6adbc6a7780e4:5ecfde3e7112f61d1bf0e456Andrea Bruce looked into four countries where women have gained political power, and the obstacles they still face for National Geographic.

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]]>Andrea Bruce | Featured in National Geographic