Started by the Italian photographer Stefano Corso with the endorsement of the Association Baobab Experience in January 2017, Phototandem is more than a photographic project.
It is an experiment combining narrative, art and social inclusion.
Phototandem is photo shooting sessions where one photographer, pro or amateur, is associated to one migrant. The former shares his/her digital or film camera with the latter teaching the basics of photography and composition while respecting the freedom of choice for the subject to shoot.
The project aims to recount our familiar everyday life through the eyes of newly arrived migrants with all their difficulties of being accepted, with their cultural differences and life styles. Two worlds that only apparently diverge.
By showing our everyday routine through their eyes, Phototandem helps us to better understand our own world, their issues and our apparent normality. In doing so, it builds mutual trust and a common feeling of belonging between photographers and migrants.
Through eye contact and using photography as a mean of communication, each tandem always managed to overcome the hurdles of not speaking the same language.
During the shooting sessions, migrants can stop being migrants. They are just youngsters exploring the city with a camera. They can finally see themselves in the eyes of passers-by.
It is liberating to observe them experience normality knowing what they have gone through, all the suffering of leaving their homelands, their loved ones and, in some cases, even their social conditions. See them holding a camera and try to leave all this behind, even if for few hours. Watch the awe when they first see a professional camera.
Most of them were visiting Rome city center for the first time and part of their curiosity filters in the pictures they took. We also enjoyed the trust and confidence with which each participating photographer shared his/her camera.
Phototandem is open to all photographers, pros and amateurs alike, interested in participating and sharing their knowledge. We are planning other shooting sessions but we also would like to export this format to other cities.
Please contact us for more information.
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