00:02Nobody sent them here. No school assigned this. No institution funded it.
00:07They came because something was missing. And they came to find it with a camera.
00:12I was looking for a challenge. Something different to do.
00:15As a fine art photographer, I am usually in my own space coming up with different ideas.
00:20Across Africa, most young creatives never encounter photography in school.
00:25No mentors, no equipment, no permission.
00:29The first time they pick up a camera is here, on a street like this, surrounded by strangers who understand.
00:36I was playing with lights and shadows, and I was just using a phone at the time. I didn't have
00:40a camera.
00:41But the results, it was so beautiful, so stark. The contrast was amazing.
00:47And I thought, you know what? I could actually keep doing this seriously and not just as a hobby.
00:53Unpublished Africa has supported visual storytellers across 29 African countries.
00:58For some who have walked streets like these, an image made in the moment has gone on to an exhibition.
01:04A publication. A first recognition. It starts here. It starts like this.
01:10So the first time that I realized that this could be more than a walk was the way people interacted
01:16and became friends even after the photo walk.
01:20So when people still come together when they have another photo walk.
01:24And also when we had our portrait session, when we narrowed down the focus of what we're taking pictures of,
01:30that's when you see people get more enthusiastic and more focused and produce images that have more of a story
01:35to them rather than just going out to just take pictures of just anything.
01:39So when we gave them a subject matter to focus on, their stories were more focused.
01:46When you look up photos of African countries, you don't see many of Zambia.
01:52And if you do, they're mostly of tourist sites and not really of the everyday person.
01:56So what we offer is, what, yeah, what Misaka offers is just like stories that are untold and are yet
02:04to be told.
02:04And that's what we want to tell on this platform.
02:08It feels like freedom.
02:10It feels like a language, like I'm capturing and telling stories in a way that others can't see or would
02:17otherwise just not notice as they're just driving through, going to the next appointment.
02:23And each one of these places has so much history, so many stories untold, unnoticed.
02:29And I love finding, seeing, noticing, and retelling these stories from my perspective as well as a bit of the
02:38voice of where it comes from as well.
02:45In the absence of institutions, community becomes the infrastructure, not a class, not a curriculum, a group of people who
02:53decided what they see matters.
02:56What we're trying to teach photographers on photo walks is how to interact with the subject matter around them, whether
03:02it's people, whether it's objects, whether it's the environment itself.
03:06We also want to teach responsible community based photography, where you take care of the dignity of everybody who they
03:14come across during the photo walks.
03:16And even how to interact with other photographers and teaching community and forming relationships with other people who come on
03:24the walks.
03:29What is the sense of community?
03:29Well, it's the sense of community with like-minded creatives because not many people understand just the beauty and the
03:38excitement that comes with capturing life or lack of life or just any scene for that matter.
03:44Some people will look at it like, oh yeah, it's a picture and that's it.
03:46But like this community that has been provided for us, we can all share the feeling.
03:53It's like you're in a football stadium and you're all sharing that excitement, that vibe and it's just infectious and
04:00it's going from person to person and it's just growing exponentially and I love that about it.
04:05For many young visual storytellers across Africa, this is not a hobby.
04:09It is the beginning of a voice, a community, a way of seeing the world and it begins exactly like
04:17this.
04:18I'll be back to you.
04:20And see you soon.
04:21I'll be back to you soon.
04:22I'll be back to you soon.
04:23Bye-bye.
Comments