Curiosity, Culture and The Power of Perspective
For artists around the world, portfolio and peer reviews take on very different meanings and hold many different connotations ranging from the gold professional standard for feedbac, to barriers to access. The same goes for the often insidious and disheartening world of photo contests and residencies — a space where exceptional and mediocre are separated by an expensive and discouraging wall of silence.
In the African context, all of the latter is more common since the former is often reserved as a perk of prestigious academic and industry access — a tool for professional development that emergent, transitioning and under-resourced artists very rarely benefit from.
The stark reality is that if you are not already immersed in a career in the arts, that your chances of accessing portfolio reviews for a body of work or a collection of eponymous works are few and far between — and depending on whose gaze meets the product of yours, you may be worse off than you started if you are not in session with someone whose values, work and expertise match with your intention and point of view.
The industry, while changing in leaps and bounds - depending on where you are and the stories you tell - has the dark side of biased, deeply embedded culture of criticism and authoritative correction veiled as experience and mentorship.
Who is committed to seeking and being RECEPTIVE to context?
Whose gaze can meet yours, with both people leaving seen, heard and expanded?
To decolonise, the gaze that guides your hand must also be prepared to meet your heart — it is here that contrasts in values easily show themselves. It is here that artists and true mentors are made or broken… where growth, technical support and knowledge exchange leap or fall.
Enter Claudi Carerras and his passionate team of collaborators and industry talents; Andrés Cardona from Colombia (Visual Artist, National Geographic Explorer), Jorge Panchoaga from Colombia (Photographer, Filmmaker and Content Director) and Marta Nin i Camps from Spain (Cultural Director and Curator).
An independent curator, editor, cultural producer and photography researcher, Claudi brought his wealth of knowledge to the community and presented a masterclass Listening Images: The Power of Building Contemporary Narratives at #NEWF2025.
The full day session blinked the classroom of thirteen creatives (all fellows) through his research and field work that provided cultural and ethical context for Africamericanos - a case study on an expansive, community-inclusive and impact-driven project supported by Vist Projects.
Each artist took a turn to creatively interrogate and sequence the images of a different artist with no context or research provided to challenge the beginning, middle and end of stories - and the endless ways images connect to tell different stories using the same body of work.
Travelling to eKhaya to host an impactful multi-day iteration of this, The Power of Perspectives Photography Lab went deeper than 8 hours in session can.
“This was my second time working with African storytellers; after [#NEWF2025 Fellows Summit] we were able to collaborate much more deeply at eKhaya. It was an incredible experience for the entire VIST team, and of course for me too.
One of the things that caught my attention the most was seeing how colonial processes have marked the models of representation in very similar ways in the global south and how there is currently a great capacity and need to question these models from all creative practices.
I believe it is essential to support strategies that question these imposed models and analyze, from local practices, new narrative formulas that can subvert the stereotypes generated over all these years.
Undoubtedly, the Power of Perspective lab allowed us to highlight that there
are many storytellers from across the African continent who are seeking to
build their own models of representation, unlearn concepts imported from outside, and analyze the meaning of their creative practices today.
For us, it was a true privilege to learn about the work of all the participants
and to try together to delve deeper into the feelings that the projects evoke.”
Andrès discussing his work with the cohort.
Leaning on the experience, decoloniality and curiosity of fellow mentors, they guided the hands and hearts of the cohort alongside Claudi not only through each of their projects, but through each other's projects.
Adopting a similar approach to Listening Images, the artists were invited to take the role of observer and visual translator for their peers projects which invites a rare opportunity to gain honest perspective of how your work can live, breathe and be received in different ways from an intimate and contextualised audience and broader industry perspective.
“I have been working in Latin America for over 30 years, and I can assure
you that it was very exciting to see
the connections between some of
the processes unfolding on both continents.
I believe we have much work to do building new bridges that inspire artists to create from perspectives that inspire us and allow us to appreciate, without prejudice, the diversity of the world we share.
I believe we can create many new synergies to build together and
rethink the ways in which stories
have been told.”
Supported by Vist Projects and Africa Refocused, the NEWF cohort represented a refreshing and intimate residency designed from the inspirations of diversity versus niche pools of sameness where set frameworks guide what is ‘good’, ‘bad’ or ‘ugly’. Here feedback moves from submission through digital portals and glitchy zooms to a conversation; criticism becoming curiosity, and style and context reimagined as a cultural exchange that challenges technical perfection to root community and holistically contextualise the relationship between art, artist and audience in place of traditional residencies.
