Story Collaborative:

socially Engaged Media workshops

We have spent most of our careers in magazines, documentary film, and photojournalism and have seen many examples of manipulative, extractive, inequitable, not always intentional but as a result harmful storytelling done on behalf of the people and communities in front of the cameras and at the heart of the stories. And, unfortunately, it is these outside perspectives that dominate and define how most of us learn about people and places that are not our own.

We began developing the Story Collaborative program as a participatory photography process in 2016 to prioritize listening to local Communities and begin to dismantle the “Savior vs. Saved” narratives in international nonprofit work. Our program strives to rebalance issues of authorship and representation, promoting equity and inclusion in purpose-driven nonfiction storytelling through sharing wisdom as we work together toward the healing of all people and the planet. We learn with and from our collaborators—not just about them.

These collaborations are not typical photography or filmmaking workshops. We are not teaching camera work or how to be photographers or filmmakers. We are simply providing the tools, essential technical support, and a framework designed to help develop new layers of visual literacy and facilitate the creation and broader sharing of meaningful stories using the media arts as a means of self-expression and catalyst for community conversations. We’re holding space (and sharing our connections to new spaces when appropriate) to honor the community’s voice in our collective conversations about social, environmental, political, and cultural issues that affect us all.

Behind-the-scenes videos from a workshop in Namibia (left) and a series with USAID in the Philippines, Peru, and Madagascar (right).

We have run workshops with partner organizations including World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Rare, Working Assumptions Foundation, and USAID, in the Philippines, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Madagascar, Peru, Canada, the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations, and the United States. The Story Collaborative process is specifically based on established participatory or socially engaged media methodology but focused on and customized for the dynamics between our partners and the communities they work within.

photograph by Tsao Kxao (Nama Pan, Namibia)

photograph by Darwin Sosa (Dzilam, Mexico)

photograph by Nick Hernandez (Oglala Lakota Nation, in U.S.)

photograph by Tsikapy (Kirindy Village, Madagascar)

photograph by ≠oma /kunta (Nama Pan, Namibia)

photograph by Mercedes Robinson-Neasloss (Kitasoo Xai'xais Nation, in Canada)

photograph by Nida Acar (Coron, Philippines)

photograph by Darwin Sosa (Dzilam, Mexico)

photogrpah by Albertina Torrez Renfijo (Sinchi Roca, Peru)

photograph by Alejandro Gonzalez (Dzilam, Mexico)

photograph by Tsao Kxao (Nama Pan, Namibia)

photograph by Lupita Nadal (Dzilam, Mexico)

photograph by Claudio Garcia Grau (Sinchi Roca, Peru)

photograph by Tsikapy (Kirindy Village, Madagascar)

photograph by Darwin Sosa (Dzilam, Mexico)

photograph by Jose 'Jojo' Mazo (Coron, Philippines)

photograph by Reyner Bolivar Mera (Sinchi Roca, Peru)

photograph by Elias Ruta (Coron, Philippines)

photograph by Tsao Kxao (Nama Pan, Namibia)

photogrpah by Albertina Torrez Renfijo (Sinchi Roca, Peru)

photograph by Krisleen Salas (Dzilam, Mexico)

photograph by Jillian Waln (Oglala Lakota Nation, in U.S.)

photograph by Elias Ruta (Coron, Philippines)

photography by Silvino Antonio (Závora, Mozambique)

photograph by Elias Ruta (Coron, Philippines)

photography by Monica Terkildsen (Oglala Lakota Nation, in U.S.)

Example Story Collaborative photographers’ images from recent projects.

The future of Story Collaborative includes working closer to home and expanding to include filmmaking as well as other visual arts mediums. As an example, we are currently awaiting decisions on a series of grants through several Colorado-based organizations for working in different ways with Native youth and others in our local Indigenous community to explore Indigenous ways of knowing in the context of the impacts that settler colonist values have had on us all.

A Story Collaborative exhibition of local photographers’ work in Kirindy Village, Madagascar.