PROJECT LIVES 2010-2015
For a generation, public housing in New York City had been portrayed by the media as a cesspool of crime and broken buildings. The imagery had convinced New York City and State that the projects were a losing game and backed away from the funding table. The inevitable result? More crime and disrepair, leading to even worse media treatment. The vicious cycle went on and on.
To break this dynamic, Seeing for Ourselves embedded itself in the agency operating the housing projects of New York City from 2010 to 2014, equipping and training hundreds of residents to document their lives photographically. The best images were combined with a backstory about public housing that amplified their power and the resultant manuscript was published by powerHouse in 2015. The work achieved global acclaim, multiple awards, and the support of prominent fans including former president Jimmy Carter and sitting Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. All this catapulted Seeing for Ourselves to the front ranks of participatory photography practitioners worldwide.
More to the point, the new imagery placed before tens of millions of eyeballs by media replication of the photos encouraged New York City and State to resume funding of the housing projects.
For more information, visit the Project Lives website.
IN A WHOLE NEW WAY 2018-2023
Encouraged by the success of Project Lives, New York City asked SFO to deliver its programming to New Yorkers on probation, another marginalized population. Ever since the 1972-92 crime wave, the media had portrayed America's dominant criminal justice sanction as a slap on the wrist if not a joke—even as the wave turned the originally rehabilitative practice punitive. The combined effect was to turn probation into a staging ground for incarceration rather than an alternative.
Many jurisdictions around the country have since walked back the practice to its original purpose, arguably nowhere more than New York City. But the continuing mocking media treatment continues to undermine progress elsewhere, preventing probation from being offered more widely in place of locking people up.
To break this dynamic, Seeing for Ourselves embedded itself in the agency operating the probation function of New York City from 2018 to 2021, equipping and training hundreds of those serving a term and their neighbors to document their lives photographically. The best images were combined with a backstory about probation that amplified their power and the resultant manuscript was published by Prospecta Press in 2023. The work has to date received glowing reviews.
But with the pandemic shutting down the publishing industry in 2020, SFO had decided to produce a documentary film in the meantime. Released in 2021, In a Whole New Way went on to win over sixty awards around the world over the next two years, was aired by in PBS in 2023, and was screened that same year for ACLU-Delaware and the Council of State Governments Justice Center. In an unprecedented event in the annals of American criminal justice, the documentary was showcased at a plenary session of the annual meeting of the American Probation and Parole Association in 2023.
While promoting the artistry of the program participants, the new imagery of probation resulting from the book and film will hopefully lead to a nationally reformed practice more widely viewed as an effective alternative to mass incarceration.
For more information, visit the In a Whole New Way website.
NOT FROM THESE PARTS 2025
The Maine nonprofits Seeing for Ourselves and Generational Noor have observed that public perceptions of Maine’s immigrant communities are outdated and unduly negative, which Generational Noor feels has impacted the health and wellness of the individuals in these communities. We two nonprofits decided to partner to address this situation, leveraging our practice of participatory photography and the latter’s long service on behalf of these communities.
This project aims to rewrite outdated perceptions and reveal the stories of resilience, creativity, and hard work that define the immigrant experience in Maine. Members of the immigrant communities are the participants, while the primary audience is the state’s general public.
By changing the public narrative about Maine’s immigrant communities, this project will promote the health and wellness of these individuals, who will no longer be burdened by negative stereotypes that hold them back. By training participants to take on the task themselves through their new imagery and by having them assist in its promotion, the project will provide an invaluable learning experience in effecting social change and bettering one’s circumstances.
Finally, by in this way promoting the health and wellness of Maine’s immigrant communities, which constitute a vibrant and unique population, this project will promote overall health and wellness in the state generally.