6 photographers, 4 weekends in different cities in presence, 3 months of orientation and workshops with 6 mentors and professors in presence and online, a super team, a curator, 6 artistic projects and 1 exhibition. The “Pressura” is carried out within the framework of Smart Balkans and is an innovation of the Fokus Award 2023.
The violation of press freedom, the lack of media oriented towards social journalism, the reduced editorial budgets for reporting and the massive use of stock photos – even more widely the decline of trust in the press, its control by the authorities and clientelism in the sector on the one hand as and the increased risk of photojournalists becoming targets in conflicts due to the growing need for the consumption of “spot” images, the decline in interest in news (public apathy) and the increase in interest in so-called “gossip”, social networks and the growth exponential of the images in them, on the other hand, are just some of the factors that have minimized the impact of work today, jeopardizing the future of photojournalism tomorrow, especially in our lands where there is a complete lack of social-cultural shock absorbers against these shocks, as well as experience in dealing with them.
All of these further directly and indirectly affect concrete daily problems that affect society today, the preservation of memory and the integration of Albanian society into the Euro-Atlantic one in the future. But the power of photography (as a medium) does not change and is undone by these factors, and on the other hand, today’s digital technology offers photographers a creative freedom that they have never had before. Society, at all its levels, continues to desire visual storytelling, which continues to become more and more important in photojournalism and art. Those who can tell a story through images, survive in this market, are it’s necessarily not only to the sector, but mainly to our society.
PRESSURA is a nomadic artistic residency with photographers from Albania and the region. “Pressura Residence” will create an environment not only with a formative character, but also favor cultural and professional exchange between photographers, strengthen the critical spirit, help this class of professionals to be oriented towards social photography – as an artistic sensibility and an attitude towards the contemporary social historical reality.
The essential objective of the project is that in addition to the investigative nature of their work towards the so-called objective/authorial truth, the photographers develop a deeply oriented sense towards narration (storytelling) as a tool both ancient and modern to show the often complex reality of our region, as well as fight public disinformation by authenticating reality according to their ethics and conscience. The methodology used for teaching mixes confrontation between photographers, field workshops, master classes (also online), work presentations (portfolios) and the realization of a personal project for each participant, monitored by a tutor or curator. At the end of the residency, the projects developed during it by the photographers will be shown to the public in a collective and nomadic exhibition, in several cities of the country or region.
It’s not much, but it’s an opportunity for a few photographers who can change their vision and why not their career and then contribute to change our society. This is necessary.
Apply to: info@ejalbum.com / info@fokusaward.com with an idea on a social reportage.
See also: