As technology becomes cheaper and people around the globe have increased access to the internet, the ability to spread a social activist message to millions of people grows on a daily basis. Here are just three groups that are taking advantage of this new visual culture to give a voice to the voiceless:
WITNESS:: On WITNESS’ main page, a slogan immediately informs visitors of their goal. “See it. Film it. Change it.” It’s a simple message that provides the basis for a unique social activism project. WITNESS’ members travel around the world and film human rights abuses in action. WITNESS was created in 1992 by activist and internationally famous musician Peter Gabriel in collaboration with the Reebok Human Rights Foundation. Founded on the idea of visual media as a tool for change, WITNESS sports a simple but ambitious mission statement:
WITNESS uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. We empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change.
WITNESS is for filmmakers and artists, activists and world travelers. However, it is not an exclusive group. Instead, the project supports a sense of inclusive participation, welcoming all human rights groups to join in what is now a global initiative for social change. WITNESS provides equipment and training for filmmaking in hopes of empowering victims of human rights violations. WITNESS understands the importance of telling a compelling, well-made story, one that will tug at the heartstrings of people around the world, making sure that its YouTube videos garner millions of hits. At the moment, WITNESS has had major successes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.S., Senegal, Mexico and Sierra Leone, exposing the stories of torture, landmine victims and a corrupt juvenile prison system to name a few. As a tool for social change, WITNESS has learned how to maximize the viral nature of videos, bringing real attention to global problems.
Camfed:: Unlike WITNESS, Camfed does not mainly focus on filmmaking as its modus operantis. Camfed’s mission is to “eradicate poverty in Africa through the education of girls and empowerment of young women.” Camfed subscribes to the belief that only through education will a group of people be able to truly enhance their quality of life. However, Camfed realizes that video has the ability to educate large groups of people in a shorter time span. So, efforts have been initiated to teach these girls video editing software and basic filming techniques.
As one of the members said, “Advocacy video is not about filmmaking. It’s about change.” Camfed has already created one award winning documentary entitled Where the Water Meets the Sky. The documentary follows a group of Zambian women as they learn how to make film and to speak about their lives through visual arts. It’s a sort of meta-documentary – a documentary on the importance of advocacy documentaries. Camfed is the perfect example of a nonprofit that is starting to use filmmaking as a tool to support their cause in the 21st century.
The Skid Row Photography Club:: Taking a step away from filmmaking, The Skid Row Photography Club gives still cameras to people living on "Skid Row," an underprivileged part of downtown L.A., and teaches them how to compose an image. Through workshops, the participants learn about lighting, angles, color, framing and more. Then, these people are then allowed to roam the streets, documenting the things they identify with and witness. The images they create are quite often astounding, featuring subjects that most people ignore while walking down city streets.
Last November, the Skid Row Photography Club displayed the work of these artists in an upscale art gallery in L.A. Through this exhibit, the uncensored images of L.A. street life met the world of high end art, exposing the upper class to the struggles of the lower class. This photography might only reach a local L.A. audience, but it was still a huge hit. During the opening evening, it was estimated that 500 people saw the exhibit. Considering the success of Camfed and WITNESS, it seems likely that the Skid Row Photography Club could make a large impact within the Los Angeles community.
In all of these examples, regular people outside the realm of high end art and Hollywood production companies are using visual arts to expose a world often unseen by the upper class. A perfect example of participatory culture, visual advocacy can impact so many lives. The amazing thing about this art is that anyone with a camera and a message can go out and begin documenting their story; it’s a genuinely democratic form of art and communication. As we become more and more dependent on sites like YouTube, we can expect to see more visual advocacy promoting dialogue around the world. From a human rights standpoint, that’s a truly progressive thing.
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