Xiang Yu Yeung
Visualising Regenerative Agriculture Practises: ...
Visualising Regenerative Agriculture Practises: Participants announced
Xiang Yu Yeung
Open Call: NOOR Visual Storytelling Educational ...
Open Call: NOOR Visual Storytelling Educational Programme on regenerative agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire
Xiang Yu Yeung
Open Call: Wacken Rock ‘n Roll Photography ...
Open Call: Wacken Rock ‘n Roll Photography Workshop
Xiang Yu Yeung
Open Call: Advanced Visual Storytelling ...
Open Call: Advanced Visual Storytelling Educational Programme
Xiang Yu Yeung
Visualising Climate Crisis Workshop ...
Visualising Climate Crisis Workshop Participants Announced

Visualising Regenerative Agriculture Practises: Participants announced

Announcing the participants of the Visualising Regenerative Agriculture Practises. Eight visual storytellers will take part in the Advanced Mentoring Programme of the NOOR Foundation led by mentors Bénédicte Kurzen and Aïda Muluneh in Côte d’Ivoire in 2023.

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.

PARTICIPANTS

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

Open Call: NOOR Visual Storytelling Educational Programme on regenerative agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire

Submissions 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.

©Aïda Muluneh - The Silence of Within - 2019

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

Header photo: © Benedicte Kurzen / NOOR

Open Call: Wacken Rock ‘n Roll Photography Workshop

Applications are open for the 2023 Wacken Rock'n Roll Photography Workshop

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

Advanced Visual Storytelling Educational Programme Participants Announced

Announcing the NOOR Advanced Visual Storytelling Educational Programme participants. 10 visual storytellers will take part in the intensive workshops led by mentors Benedicte Kurzen and Ishola Akpo in Ivory Coast in 2023.

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.

Photo: © Clara Watt

participants

Photo: © Ayaba Lina Florence Mensah

Header photo: © Ngadi Smart

Meet the jury: NOOR Advanced Visual Storytelling Educational Programme

It's time to introduce our multitalented international jury who will select the participants of the Advanced Visual Storytelling Educational Programme taking place in Ivory Coast this year.

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



NOOR Authors share their favourite images of the year 2022

Looking back at 2022, NOOR Authors share their favourite images of the year.

Tanya Habjouqa

© Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR

"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

© Alixandra Fazzina / NOOR

“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

© Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

“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

After Us The Deluge: Exhibition Kadir van Lohuizen opens in Islamabad, Pakistan

The human consequences of the rising sea level.

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.

© Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

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

Open Call: Advanced Visual Storytelling Educational Programme

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

© Bénédicte Kurzen / NOOR

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

Visualising Climate Crisis Workshop Participants Announced

Announcing the NOOR Visualising Climate Crisis Workshop participants. 12 visual storytellers will take part in the intensive workshops led by Kadir van Lohuizen and Esther Horvath in Bratislava, Slovakia between 21 and 24 of November 2022.

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. 

RIPPLES: NOOR Exhibition at Atelier Néerlandais in Paris during PhotoSaintGermain

Climate crisis, conflict, and social inequality through the great connector; water

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