Amanda Koster – In Steve Biko’s Backyard: The Intrinsic Value of Show and Tell
Show + tell = action. If content just sits there, on your computer or in your camera, it doesn’t exist. Professionalism is not important: the message is– take the earth-shaking amateur footage of the Rodney King beating, for example.
Amanda Koster is a photographer, author and the founder of SalaamGarage, an organization that connects citizen journalists with non-profits around the world. Her projects combine media and anthropology to raise awareness of human rights issues..
Amanda starts with her background. She traveled to Ethiopia after she graduated from college, and took many pictures. One image, a boy with bananas, stood out most. Her friends and family were shocked by what they saw: the boy was well-fed, and he was wearing a winter jacket– “isn’t everyone starving in Africa? Isn’t it hot there?” Amanda decided she needed to become a photojournalist to show people the realities of the world. She asked herself– “what kind of stories do I want to tell?”
So Amanda flew to India, but was repulsed by people asking for money to take their picture; the thought of her subjects wanting something other than the chance to tell their story left her questioning her chosen career path.
She then apprehensively visited to Brazil, but before leaving asked herself how she could make this trip different. Rather than going on her own, she partnered with Doctors without Borders to take pictures of women a pre- and post-natal clinic. It was an extraordinary experience because her content added value to a health campaign; she had a trusted relationship with her subjects and intimate access.
Amanda next mentions the example of Cackston, an African boy who lost his entire family to HIV/AIDS. He goes through life with only his own internal mechanisms to guide him because he has no one else. He confided in Amanda that no one knows he exists; she told him she would share his story.
And Amanda did share his story; Cackston made the cover of her book Can I Come With You?, named after the question people often ask when she tells them what she does for a living. She responds, “no:” it’s not a spectator sport.
With this idea, however, Amanda started SalaamGarage, which sends teams of interested citizen journalists to NGOs to collaborate, create content, and plug it in to their own communities, both online and offline. She mentions the power of social media as an incredible organizing device, an effective way to get people together.
Her current project partners her with the International YWCA and Bundy Biko, sister of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, to create a multi-media project, “African Women of Empowerment.” The audience is wowed and moved by the images and footage she shows from this undertaking.
Amanda concludes her talk by saying, “it’s amazing what happens when you say, ‘we’re doing this project and this is why we’re doing it and this is our plan.’” We ll have the power to create content that can engage and empower.
She challenges us: “what will you show and tell?”
–Helen Pitlick
