The new cohort of fellows announced at CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit
At the 2026 CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit in May, CatchLight announced its newest cohort of Global Fellows: Gulshan Khan, Katie Baldwin Basile and Michael Lees. The three storytellers join a global community of fellows whose work demonstrates the power of visual storytelling to inform, connect and transform communities.
Through the CatchLight Global Fellowship, CatchLight supports visual storytellers who are cultivating meaningful audience engagement through inventive distribution methods that increase the impact of their work and create lasting connections with the communities they serve.
“This year’s Global Fellowship recipients are exceptional visual storytellers who are centering community participation and empowerment in their creative practices,” said CatchLight CEO Elodie Mailliet Storm. “We look forward to supporting them in the next stages of their creative journeys through amplification and innovative engagement strategies.”
Since 2017, the CatchLight Global Fellowship has invested in 29 visual storytellers from around the globe, providing support for projects that inform, connect and transform communities. Through the fellowship, CatchLight empowers individuals who seek to cultivate meaningful audience engagement through inventive distribution methods that extend the impact of their work beyond traditional publishing platforms.
“At the global level, where traditional ways to both produce in-depth visual storytelling and distribute it have been broken, CatchLight Global Fellows embody long-term commitment to shine light on the critical issues of our time and unique ways to engage audiences,” said Mailliet Storm. “CatchLight looks to build sustainability and resiliency for the field by investing in key leaders committed to impact.”
South African visual storyteller Gulshan Khan explores memory, belonging, justice, dignity and our interconnectedness with the natural world. Her long-term project, The Things We Carry With Us, examines Muslim communities in Southern Africa through the legacies of slavery, exile, segregation, resilience and love. Through intimate portraits, cultural traditions, sacred spaces and community histories, Khan documents how heritage is preserved and reimagined across generations.
Based in Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Katie Baldwin Basile is a photojournalist, documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work centers rural Alaskan communities. Building on more than a decade of collaboration with rural youth, her storytelling examines the impacts of climate change on Indigenous communities facing erosion, flooding and relocation while highlighting the resilience, knowledge and leadership of local residents.
Dominican filmmaker, photographer and storyteller Michael Lees explores the intersections of climate, memory, land and identity across the Caribbean. His current project, Behind God’s Back, is a cinematic portrait of the abandoned village of Petite Savanne in Dominica and the people who continue to return to its forbidden landscape. Blending observational filmmaking with environmental portraiture, Lees creates deeply human narratives about displacement, belonging and survival.
A CatchLight Global Fellowship is awarded for life, reflecting the organization’s commitment to fostering long-term leadership within the visual storytelling field. Fellows are encouraged to share expertise, mentorship and insights with both the CatchLight community and the broader industry, contributing to a more sustainable, resilient future for visual storytelling.
Together, Khan, Basile and Lees embody CatchLight’s mission to harness the power of visual storytelling to inform, connect and transform communities around the world.