VIDEOS from this event ARE now available!
Seeing Truths
The world is facing a crisis of truth. Partisanship and distrust are at historic highs. The rise of synthetic images is undermining our ability to trust what we see. If we have, in fact, entered a post-truth era, what is the role of visual storytellers and journalists to help usher a return to critical thinking and cooperation?
At the 2024 CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit, we heard from visual leaders who are using photography, art, film, and technology to tackle this information crisis. See how visual works can reveal deeper truths to viewers at the individual, community, and societal levels.
Summit Program | April 27, 2024
AI: Friend or Foe?
What makes us human? How has AI altered our image-making experience? How does it liberate creativity? And what ethical implications does it raise?
Seeing What Matters: Visual Journalism Today
Explore different ways to leverage the power of images through collaborative storytelling, social media activations, and community engagement that brings high-quality visual journalism to broad audiences.
Encroaching Borders and Occupied Land
Since 2008, Russian-occupied regions of Georgia have been defined by makeshift markers of a border that is both impermeable and constantly changing as Russian militants expand the land they occupy. Discover the stories of Georgian residents who are navigating daily life in the shadow of occupation.
The Scholarship of Lived Experience
In one of the nation’s largest housing crises, more than 35,000 people in the Bay Area are homeless, and 70% of them are surviving without shelter at all. These statistics and images of encampments fill our newsfeeds, but what is far less prominent are stories detailing the challenges and solutions to the housing crisis.
Unveiling E-Waste Traffic
Over the last decade, the amount of e-waste produced worldwide has increased by more than 80%, according to the UN’s latest global e-waste monitor–yet only a fraction of it gets properly recycled. Discover how a transnational journalism team worked to uncover the stakes of legal and illegal e-waste flows towards, in and from Ghana, the epicenter of the world’s e-waste.
Exit The Echo Chamber
In an era characterized by division and uncertainty, does art retain its ability to unite us? Can it spark genuine debate? View works by contemporary artists that inspire hope and reiterate how art speaks to our shared humanity.
The Power of Uncertainty
Using photographic tools from the 19th century to the present and a creative process that is both additive and destructive, Tabitha Soren’s projects, Surface Tension and Relief, offer a uniquely layered process to image-making that draws on her interests in psychology, culture, politics, and the body.
Water Holds All Memory
Artists and memory workers, Ashara Ekundayo and Adama Delphine Fawundu (CatchLight Global Fellow, 2022), sit with each other’s truths in discussing how we understand our past, how we witness where we are, and how we shape where we go.
Slightly Bent Reality
Convincing visual proof of wide-ranging conspiracy theories. Historical events that never happened. And, most recently, an entire era of U.S. history that never took place. For the past 20 years, Phillip Toledano’s curiosity and imagination have fueled conceptual art projects that twist, tempt, and tease our understanding of reality.
Night of Photojournalism
We will close the Summit with another edition of Night of Photojournalism, an immersive showcase of photography from around the world projected in the KQED atrium with a live mix by DJ Lucero.
Featuring visual works by:
Gabriella Angotti-Jones, Carolina Arantes, Anoush Babajanyan, Philémon Barbier, Andrea Bruce, Michael Bunel, Koral Carballo, Cebos, Muntaka Chasant, Laurel Chor, Mathias Depardon, Aïda Dhamani, Agnès Dherbeys, Hiram Durán, Lisa Elmaleh, Samantha Cabrera Friend, Preston Gannaway, Alessia Glaviano, Julien Goldstein, Valentin Goppel, Samuel Gratacap, Najib Joe Hakim, M’hammed Kilito, Bénédicte Kurzen, Dimitri Lanctuit, Paloma Laudet, Ulrich Lebeuf, Harika Maddala, Mohamed Mahdy, Cyril Marcilhacy, Ximena Natera, Aryana Noroozi, Sarah Pabst, Juliette Pavy, David Rodriguez Muñoz, Nicole Sobecki, Sree Sripathy, Daro Sulakauri, Larry Valenzuela, Rafael Vilela, and Salgu Wissmath.
Night of Photojournalism is a traveling visual media experience produced by CatchLight, Dysturb, and Fondation Carmignac.
Speaker Bios
Paul Henderson (Emcee)
Paul Henderson is a San Francisco-based social justice attorney and art advocate. As the leader of San Francisco’s Department of Police Accountability, he oversees civilian oversight, contributing to justice system reform. Henderson also serves as a trusted advisor, facilitating connections within the art community. Photo: Ramon Pintado
Ernesto Aguilar
Born in East Houston, Ernesto Aguilar’s life was transformed by public media. His career has traversed daily newspapers and alternative weeklies to public radio news and program director roles. At KQED, he oversees radio broadcast content and DEI initiatives in the organization’s Content division. He is co-chair of the KQED DEI Council.
Anas Aremeyaw
Anas
Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas fearlessly exposes corruption and human rights abuses in Africa through groundbreaking undercover work, sparking public outrage and government action. Despite threats, he persists, earning numerous awards and cementing his status as one of Africa’s most impactful journalists.
Pancho Bernasconi
Pancho Bernasconi, award-winning Director of Photography at Getty Images, drives excellence in visual reporting with a focus on journalistic standards. As the Vice President for News, he leads a world-class staff through the digital evolution of visual journalism.
Ashara Ekundayo
Ashara Ekundayo is a queer, Black feminist interdisciplinary independent curator and artist whose creative practice is rooted in joy-informed pedagogies and the study and creation of space, archives, and site-responsive ceremony. She is the founder of the brain trust and creative arts platform Artist As First Responder.
Adama Delphine Fawundu
Adama Delphine Fawundu, 2023 CatchLight Global Fellow, is a visual storyteller with a background in education. Driven by research, she uncovers, shares, and amplifies complex stories across multiple mediums. Photo: Amal Buford
Erica Garber
Erica Garber is CatchLight’s VP of Development and Public Programs. She has worked for over a decade in the arts, from San Francisco to New York, with organizations such as the Museum of the African Diaspora, International Arts & Artists, and Art Resource. Before her career in the arts, Erica was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana and taught art in secondary schools overseas and in the US. Photo: Christopher Michel
Alessia Glaviano
Alessia Glaviano, Head of Global PhotoVogue and Director of the Photo Vogue Festival, is a prominent figure in global photographic criticism. She initiated PhotoVogue in 2011, creating a platform for users to share photos under professional editorial guidance. Photo: Marco Glaviano
Keith W. Jenkins
Keith W. Jenkins, Vice President of Visuals and Music Strategy at NPR, specializes in digital storytelling. With a career spanning both traditional and digital organizations, he helps understand audiences, refine content, and produce high-impact journalism. Photo: Allison Shelley/NPR
Mina Kim
Mina Kim is host of the 10 a.m. statewide hour of Forum, a live daily talk show for curious Californians on issues that matter to the state and nation, with a particular emphasis on race and equity. Before joining the Forum team, Mina was KQED’s evening news anchor and health reporter for The California Report. Her award-winning work has included natural disasters in Napa and gun violence in Oakland.
Bénédicte Kurzen
Based in Nigeria, Bénédicte Kurzen generates work that concerns cross cultural narratives and social redefinitions. Her practice is a combination of a documentary approach, metaphoric visual elements and collaborative processes. A former Pulitzer Center and European Journalism Center grantee, and the Carmignac Photojournalism Award. She is a member of the National Geographic Photo Society. Photo: Robin Maddock
Elodie Mailliet Storm
Elodie Mailliet Storm has been CEO of CatchLight since 2019. Before joining CatchLight, she was a JSK fellow in media innovation at Stanford University, following11 years at Getty Images, where she helped build the company’s content offering and led its strategic development.
Azu Nwagbogu
Azu Nwagbogu, a renowned curator, is reshaping museums to address decolonization, restitution, and repatriation. In 2007, he founded the African Artists’ Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria, fostering African art, talent, societal awareness, and creative expression. Photo: Ana Flores
Yesica Prado
Yesica Prado, former CatchLight Local Fellow, multimedia journalist, and first-generation Mexican immigrant from Nezahualcoyotl, excels in photography, video, audio, and long-form writing. Prado focuses on issues limiting people’s access to land such as poverty, immigration, homelessness, climate change, and indigenous communities.
Tabitha Soren
Tabitha Soren explores the power of photography by pushing its material limits and embracing its unreliable nature. She probes the surface of the photograph to unlock the rich history of the medium and experiments with sculptural and painterly interventions.
Daro Sulakauri
Daro Sulakauri, 2023 CatchLight Global Fellow, is a Georgian photojournalist and visual artist. Using mixed media with a documentary and contemporary approach, her work chronicles social and political issues in the Caucasus. Photo: Guram Muradov
Phillip Toledano
Toledano considers himself a conceptual artist: Everything starts with an idea, and the idea determines the execution. Consequently, his work varies in medium, ranging from photography to installation, sculpture, painting and video.
Special Announcement
Presented with support from MPB
During the Summit, we announced the 2024 CatchLight Global Fellows, each awarded a $30,000 grant to develop long-form storytelling projects, engage audiences, and continue their leadership as pioneers shaping the future of visual storytelling.
CatchLight and FotoFest invited photographers to apply for the West Coast Review Sessions, organized as part of the CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit.
Taking place on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at KQED Headquarters in San Francisco, CatchLight x FotoFest: West Coast Review Sessions is a unique opportunity for photographers to meet with photo editors at leading media and tech organizations, curators, publishers, and gallery owners for one-on-one portfolio reviews.
Participation is free of charge for all selected applicants.
- Applications were juried by CatchLight and FotoFest, and participation is limited to 30 photographers.
- Interested photographers must have completed the application form by Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. PST. There was no fee to submit an application.
- Application is open to all living photographers over the age of 18 who have not participated in a prior CatchLight x FotoFest: West Coast Review Sessions program.
- Priority is given to photographers living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area and on the West Coast.
- All types of photography will be considered, with special consideration given to projects that overlap with photojournalism, community engagement, and the intersection between documentary and fine art.
- Applicants should have at least one complete, cohesive and thematic body of work to present.
- Selected applicants will be notified the last week of February 2024, and are expected to be physically present for the program. The West Coast Review Sessions take place at KQED Headquarters in San Francisco, California, on Saturday, April 27, from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm.
- Each selected photographer receives three (3) one-on-one review appointments, lasting 20 minutes each, and will have the opportunity to influence who they meet with ahead of the reviews. Portfolio Reviews will be conducted in-person — remote portfolio reviews cannot be accommodated.
- Photographers may show physical prints or digital images on a laptop or tablet during the portfolio reviews. Please be mindful that all devices are fully charged ahead of time as we cannot guarantee direct outlet access within the review room.
- A late cancellation or no-show may result in disqualification from future eligibility. More details on this policy will be provided to successful applicants upon notification of acceptance.
- Photographers selected for the West Coast Review Sessions are encouraged to also attend the Visual Storytelling Summit, which also takes place at KQED Headquarters, in the afternoon of Saturday, April 27.
Steven Evans
Executive Director
FotoFest
Nicole Fruge
Director of Visuals
San Francisco Chronicle
Elena V. Gross
Co-Executive Director
Berkeley Art Center
Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
Lead Visuals Editor
CalMatters
Ann Jastrab
Executive Director
Center for Photographic Art
Keith Jenkins
VP, Music and Visuals
NPR
Mabel Jiménez
Visuals Editor
CatchLight
Elizabeth Krist
Visuals Editor
Visual Thinking Collective
Nick Larsen
Managing Editor
Radius Books
Olivier C. Laurent
Senior Photo Assignment Editor
The Washington Post
Michelle Le
Creative Lead for Brand Photography
Airbnb
Martin do Nascimento
Photo Editor
KQED
Laura Roumanos
Co-founder and Executive Director
Photoville
Jenny Stratton
Executive Editor, CatchLight Local
CatchLight
Rachael Strecher
Vice President of Storytelling
National Geographic
Questions? Email Sarah Ansell, FotoFest Meeting Place Portfolio Review Director.
The CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit is presented with generous support from our education partner:
Additional support for this event provided by:
In-kind support provided by:
Funding for West Coast Review Sessions is generously provided by Camera Obscura and The Minami Legacy Fund for the Arts.
SPONSORS help us KEEP THE SUMMIT FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!
Contact us at summit@catchlight.io for sponsorship opportunities and benefits.