Volume 44 was a participatory photography project produced with migrant men, women and transgender sex workers in Johannesburg and Musina.
The project involved a collaboration between the Market Photo Workshop (MPW), the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS), and Sisonke. This project fell into the Public Programmes and Development (PDD) of the MPW. The mandate of the PPD was to enhance cultural, social, and political discourse through projects related to visual culture and photography. Funded by Open Society, Volume 44 was a strategic alliance between the MPW, the ACMS and Sisonke engaged two facilitators, two researchers, four assistants, and nineteen participants.
The MPW had a short, but challenging question to have answered: What does visual research mean for the PPD? My services were hired to help the MPW figure out the answer to that question. I documented, analysed, and reported on the methodology and methods employed in this year-long research project. I helped identify challenges within the project structure and flow, delivered input on project progress in daily and weekly meetings, and made recommendations for improvements. During this period I helped conceptualise project output along the lines of multimodal visual-narrative mapping, narrative writing, image-making, and discussions.
Volume 44 Publication