The non-profit media organization CatchLight will present its 2022 Visual Storytelling Summit April 19-20, 2022 at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco.
Two immersive days of conversation, inspiration, and community will feature some of the leading voices in visual storytelling. CatchLight Global and Local Fellows—including Andrea Bruce, Yesica Prado, Josué Rivas, David Rodriguez Muñoz, Bayeté Ross Smith, Felix Uribe and Daniella Zalcman, among others—will discuss their projects along with artists, founders, technologists and innovative creatives working at the nexus of art, media, journalism, technology and social impact such as Marcel Pardo Ariza, Kwame S. Brathwaite Jr., Sara Wessen Chang, Jonathan Dotan, Jeremy Hay, Mabel Jiménez, Gillian Laub, Tara Pixley and Chanell Stone.
“Images have the unique power of connecting people emotionally to issues, creating understanding—and ultimately building trust and empathy,” describes CatchLight CEO Elodie Mailliet-Storm. “Visual storytelling is a vital part of the information ecosystem—yet one which has been increasingly threatened by the decline of the media, large and small. The CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit seeks to bring together leaders in the visual, media, tech and social impact fields to help define the future and sustainability of the visual journalism field.”
Panels will be held at ICA SF for a limited in-person audience and live-streamed on the CatchLight website. Recordings of each discussion will be recorded and available for viewing after the Summit. Aida Muluneh’s presentation will be streamed from the inaugural Africa Foto Fair Virtual.
Register for the in-person event here.
Register to watch the live stream here.
The 2022 Visual Storytelling Summit is hosted by the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco.
In order to ensure the health and safety of all of our attendees, all in-person guests will be required to show proof of vaccination at check-in and will be asked to wear a mask for the duration of the program.
PROGRAM – PANEL DISCUSSIONS
Tuesday April, 19 – 12-4PM
– State of Photography, Behind the Numbers: Survival in a Shifting Industry with Tara Pixley and Daniella Zalcman
– Photojournalism’s Ethical Question: Who Gets to Tell a Community’s Story? with Mabel Jiménez, Felix Uribe and Yesica Prado x Josué Rivas
– Unveiling Histories + Creating Movements with Kwame Samori Brathwaite and Bayeté Ross Smith
Wednesday April 20, 12-4PM
– Africa’s Emerging Talent: Cultivating the Next Generation of Storytellers with Aida Muluneh
– Visuals and Trust in Web3 with Jonathan Dotan
– Confronting Representation in Visual Media: What Does it Mean to be an Image Gardener? with Daniella Zalcman, Marcel Pardo Ariza, Chanell Stone and Sara Wessen Chang
PROGRAM – EXPERIENCES
On site at the ICA SF, CatchLight Global Fellow Bayeté Ross Smith’s Red Summers: Domestic Terrorism 1917-1921 will be presented. This series of 360 virtual reality videos meshes archival photography and contemporary video to examine how the events of this time period directly impacted the social, political and economic trajectory of America throughout the rest of the 20th century and into this current moment of division and social unrest within the country.
Also on site, CatchLight Global Fellow Sparsh Ahuja’s Sundance-selected Child of Empire—an animated virtual reality (VR) docudrama experience—will immerse viewers in one of the largest forced migrations in human history: the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan. The film takes audiences through a deeply personal perspective of this epic historical event, offering a powerful counter-narrative that lends a fresh perspective on the effects of forced migration on everyday individuals. Child of Empire is part of Ahuja’s immersive, experiential peace-building virtual reality project Lost Migrations, which will premiere in July at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London for the 75th anniversary of India and Pakistan’s partition.
During the Summit, attendees will be able to survey CatchLight’s education initiatives, including the visual media literacy curriculum developed in partnership with Education Partners PhotoWings and Dysturb, entitled A Field Guide for Visual Journalism. This guide offers educators, parents and students resources around fake news and unveiling misinformation, social media best practices, reading photographs, and why local visual journalism matters.
A Pop-Up Bookshop will be presented at the Summit, featuring monographs and zines by CatchLight’s Global and Local Fellows, as well as titles by Cultural Partner Aperture—including Kwame Brathwaite’s Black is Beautiful and Gillian Laub’s Family Matters. A book signing with Gillian Laub will be held at the Summit Closing Reception on Wednesday, April 20 from 4-6pm at ICA SF.
In a partnership with ICA SF and Minnesota Street Project (MSP)—and sponsored by Pamela & David Hornik— imagery from CatchLight’s Global and Local Fellows, as well as Summit Speakers, will be wheat-pasted on their respective sites in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco, bringing the potent imagery into public focus.
ABOUT CATCHLIGHT
CatchLight is a nonprofit media organization which believes in the power of visual storytelling to foster a more nuanced and empathetic understanding of the world. Borrowing from the practices of art, journalism, and social justice, they leverage the power of visuals to inform, connect, and transform communities. CatchLight brings resources and organizations together to discover, develop, and amplify visual storytellers at all levels. The organization invests in the future of visual storytelling through two fellowship programs. The CatchLight Global Fellowship annually provides four visionaries in the field grants to develop long-form storytelling projects, engage audiences, and continue their work as innovators and leaders defining the future of the field. The CatchLight Local Fellowship seeks to establish the long-term sustainability of visual journalism by pairing partner newsrooms—with little or no visual storytelling capacity—with community-based visual journalists, Local Fellows, to provide inclusive, in-depth, accurate, and locally contextualized information to the public. In 2021, CatchLight expanded its Local program and launched the CatchLight Local Visual Desk in California, a $2 million investment to address the decline of visual journalism in the Golden State.
Register here : https://www.catchlight.io/2022-visual-storytelling-summit
Information
CatchLight at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco
901 Minnesota St, San Francisco, CA 94107, United States of America
April 19, 2022 to April 20, 2022
