CO-FOUNDER, ILISO LABANTU PHOTO COLLECTIVE
In 2005, after reporting and photographing in South Africa for various news organizations, fellow photographer Alistair Berg and I co- founded the Iliso Labantu Photo Collective to help train township-based photographers.
Since then, the group has met regularly to share work and to participate in “Flash Photo” weekends. From sun up on Friday to sundown on Saturday the group fans out across a particular neighborhood and, for 48 hours, photographs in homes, shops, and on the streets. Editors on-site help the photographers refine their stories as they work. The following Saturday the group hangs the photos in the community in well- trafficked areas of the community. We have strung up photographs in taxi ranks, on street corners, in community centers, on the sides of houses and shipping containers. We put out a call to the media and our wide network of supporters and we end up with a diverse crowd at these exhibitions - something that doesn't happen often in the townships.
Since our first weekend in 2005, the Iliso Labantu Photo Collective has created an archive of more than 30,000 images, the largest archive of contemporary urban life in South Africa. The group has exhibited work in Germany, Scotland, China, San Francisco, and the UK. Several photographers support themselves through commissions and sales.
Funders:
The Open Society Foundation's Audience Engagement Award.