27 January - 14 February 2009 Exhibition open Monday - Friday 10am-6pm and Saturday 12-4pm Carol allen Storey is a social documentary photographer specialising in women, children, gender equality, human rights and the environment.
A much-travelled native NewYorker, living in London and with a particular passion for Africa, Carol is nothing if not a woman of the world and one who has seen enough to know there’s much to be put right.
Her work, published in books, magazines and brochures, has included a two year commission for the World Wildlife Fund to alleviate poverty in rural Africa and her current longer term project, Angels at the edge of darkness, involves working with local contacts in Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda to help combat the effects of AIDS. “My work helps give a voice to the voiceless,” Carol affirms, “and I want to convey stories of hope where there is apparent hopelessness.”
That desire has also led her to work with the international charity Spirituality for Kids (SFK) and the exhibition at the AOP displays the results of her work taken during a year working with the children the SFK supports in the UK. (It is also active in the US, Mexico, Israel, Palestine, Malawi and South Africa.) Carol has captured the daily challenges the children face and shows how, through the techniques learned from the SFK programme, change has transformed aspects of their lives.
“SFK was founded in 2002 to address the hopelessness and despair felt by so many children, whatever their faith, background or nationality and it helps them to become resilient, to overcome their challenges,” explains Carol. “Children of six or older participate in the SFK programme and attend events such as workshops, fun days and summer camps where they mix with children from different cultures and backgrounds.”
For her project Carol attended a summer camp in 2007 after which eight children were selected to participate in a photographic essay over the following months. A second camp in Wales this year gave further opportunity to work with the children. “My work is reportage,” says Carol, “and I don’t set shots up, which means that while not all of the images are wonderful they are all authentic. I regard myself as a photojournalist with all the scratches and bruises to prove it.” All Images © Carol allen Storey For more information visit: www.castorey.com www.sfk.org A related book, Anything is Possible, will be available at the exhibition or from Spirtuality for Kids |
