As the Mayom family from South Sudan arrived in Newcastle, Australia, they moved in across the road from a 16 year old Conor Ashleigh who had just returned from a life changing trip to Cambodia.
Now, 10 years later, Conor and the young men from the Mayom family are still good friends and it's these early friendships that have helped drive Conor's eagerness to capture both intimate and vibrant moments that celebrate Australia’s South Sudanese community.
This project titled 'Stories of the South' will be exhibited and shown publicly for the first as part of the Seeing Summer project.
Conor approached the Community Migrant Resource Centre in Parramatta with an idea. With a background in community development Conor was keen to teach photography skills to South Sudanese and Afghan youth. This eagerness to empower the young people to document
their own lives and have their work exhibited professionaly alongside his own is at the heart of how Seeing Summer was born.
Conor Ashleigh a documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Sydney, Australia. Conor works on assignments and personal projects throughout Australia and around the world. Conor works on assignment for clients including The New York Times, Al Jazeera,
Le Monde and Sydney Morning Herald and also for iNGO's including The World Bank, AusAID, Red Cross and many more. Conor is regularly engaged as a public speaker and workshop facilitator by schools, universities and institutions. To see Conor's work pleae visit
his websitewww.conorashleigh.com
To learn more about
Conor Ashleigh's philosophy behind his long term photography projects you can
watch his 2011 TedX talk here.
For the backers of the Seeing Summer project, Conor will printing a photo of choice from his
gallery of pictures on his website here. These pictures have been taken during Conor's extensive work in countries including Central African Republic, Bhutan and Timor-Leste amongst other countries.
Seeing Summer is an exciting community based creative storytelling project that will be held during the summer month of January in 2015. The project will be facilitated by photographer and filmmaker Conor Ashleigh in partnership with Community Mirant Resource
Centre. To learn more about CMRC and their crucial work resettling communities from refugee backgrounds
visit their website here.
Conor will spend a week each working with groups of young people from South Sudanese and Afghan communities in Sydney.
The workshops offer participants a chance to spend a week as visual authors of their own lives and the stories that they wish to tell. Throughout the workshops, Conor will work with the participants to help edit pictures which will be published online daily
to establish a digital community and online conversation around the project. The week will culminate in an exhibition and panel discussion featuring young members of the respective communities.
These events are open to the public and seek to stimulate discussion and an exchange of ideas. The projects' commitment to bettering our society through inclusion is highlighted through the central role of the participants. Willing individuals will be invited
to participate in the panel discussion held before the exhibition openings.
We have just one month to reach our goal of $20,000. It is with your support that Seeing Summer can become a reality for these young photographers during January in 2015. We would love for you to share our campaign with your networks and also via social
media (use the buttons below) and remember to also use our hashtag for the project #seeingsummer .
