NOOR at ImageSingulières | Jon Lowenstein | Exhibition

South Side | Jon Lowenstein

Chicago's South Side neighbourhood is home to one of the largest and oldest African-American communities in the United States. It is also one of the poorest areas of the country. Over the past decade, the largest housing developments in the United States have been demolished, disrupting the housing of approximately 100,000 of the poorest residents.

In this documentary project, Jon Lowenstein explores the struggle that ensues to maintain a semblance of order as these neighbourhoods crumble before our eyes.

© Jon Lowenstein / NOOR

South Side - a project consisting of large-format photographs, ephemeral, poetic and personal stories - is part of a shared history in the middle of a given space, a post-industrial fusion of a city in full gentrification.

NOOR at ImageSingulières | Nina Berman | Exhibition

An Autobiography of Miss Wish | Nina Berman

An Autobiography of Miss Wish is a story of two closely related lives, the photographer and her "subject", working closely together to create a unique enigmatic book that pushes the boundaries of documentary narration.

The project brings together heart-rending archive footage depicting crime scenes and flashbacks, psychiatric hospital reports, diary pieces / snippets / personal notes, personal effects, letters and messages between the photographer and the protagonist: Miss Wish.

© Nina Berman / NOOR

NOOR at ImageSingulières | Projection Night

On June 1st, NOOR Authors will be screening unique stories from around the world, put together in a single film.

The screening will take place at the Théâtre de la Mer at 8pm, Promenade Maréchal Leclerc, 34200 Sète, France.

© Benedicte Kurzen / NOOR

NOOR at World Press Photo | Bénédicte Kurzen & Sanne De Wilde Win the Portrait Category

We're extremly proud to share that our Bénédicte Kurzen and Sanne De Wilde were awarded 1st prize of the World Press Photo Contest, Portrait series with their collaborative photographic project Land of Ibeji discovering the mythology of twinhood in Nigeria.

Through a visual narrative and an aesthetic language that is meant to reflect and empower the Yoruba culture that celebrates twins, Bénédicte Kurzen and Sanne De Wilde extend their gaze beyond appearance - with symmetry and resemblance as tools - to open the eyes to the twin as a mythological figure and a powerful metaphor: for the duality within a human being and the duality we experience in the world that surrounds us.

Communities have developed cultural practices in response to this high twin birth rate that vary from veneration to demonisation. In some areas, shrines are built to worship the spirit of the twin and celebrations are held in their honour. In others, twins are vilified and persecuted for their perceived role in bringing bad luck in particular to rural communities.

In Yoruba beliefs, each human has a spiritual counterpart, an unborn spirit double. In the case of twins the spiritual double has been born on earth. The friction, between communities celebrating twins and rejecting them, lies in perception of the twin as an extremely powerful spirit. Some see it as threat and as something that cannot remain on earth and has to be sent back to the heavens where it normally resides.

On receiving their award, Bénédicte Kurzen and Sanne De Wilde shared:

"The project is an invitation to look beyond identity as appearance and beyond the exoticism of the identical by calling upon a universal mythological figure: The Twin. It is an invitation for the viewer to travel back into the past and through that rediscover the present and move into the future.

We hope the ‘Ibeji’ project will inspire other creators. We would love for Nigerian artists to contribute from their perspective and expand on the project. We are very grateful for the participation and patience of the people we photographed and the time they spent with us."

Sanne De Wilde continues: "It's so special to share this together, for us this project really symbolises doing something that you often feel that you are doing alone, but we are all doing together. We want to convey a universal experience through storytelling. We also want to thank the NOOR Family and Nikon Europe in believing and supporting this challenging project and allowing us to develop this project fully."

"We would like to have a special thought tonight for a man who was very close to us, his name is Stanley Greene, and we think he would be super proud. We're very happy that a story that is conveying depth and diversity, that is shaping Nigeria, which is a beautiful country that we owe so much to - it has been my home for a very long time - is being recognised for its beauty and values. Finally, I have a special thought for all my brothers and sister from Nigeria, photographers that don't have the same opportunities and we will keep talking about them and pushing them in the world," concludes Bénédicte Kurzen. 

This project was graciously supported
by the Nikon Europe Ambassador program.

Nina Berman | An Autobiography of Miss Wish Exhibited in New York City

From April 6th to April 21st 2019, Nina Berman will have work from "An Autobiography of Miss Wish" in the group exhibition "Beyond Addiction: Reframing Recovery", at the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. This show is curated by Graham MacIndoe and Susan Stellin.

Workshop in Amsterdam with Kadir van Lohuizen

NOOR & iMPACT DOC are pleased to announce a two day workshop in Amsterdam with Kadir van Lohuizen, on May 11th & 12th 2019.

Participants will discuss, share & learn about the development of a long-term photographic project. Together with the participants, Kadir van Lohuizen will work on the (re)conceptualizing, sequencing, and narrowing down the series and projects. Activities will include presentations on related projects by Kadir, group reviews and editing sessions, and receiving critical and constructive feedback from Kadir.

Application Deadline: Sunday April 14th, 23.59 CET.

Andrea Bruce | Our Democracy in New Hampshire

Andrea Bruce's Our Democracy just returned from New Hampshire, USA, where we covered examples of direct democracy and their Town Meeting season.

Make sure to follow the project on the Our Democracy's instagram account.

Kadir van Lohuizen & Yuri Kozyrev | Arctic: New Frontier at the De Donkere Kamer, in Antwerp, Belgium

We are pleased to invite you to the De Donkere Kamer for “Arctic: New Frontier,” on April 4th, in Antwerp, Belgium, where Kadir van Lohuizen will present this pioneering double polar expedition . Photojournalists Yuri Kozyrev and Kadir van Lohuizen documented the irreversible impact climate change has had on the entire Arctic territory.

This project has been awarded the 9th Prix Carmignac for Photojournalism, supported by the Carmignac Foundation.

NOOR at ImageSingulières

We're pleased to share that NOOR will be present at the ImageSingulières Photo Festival in Sète, France. Nina Berman & Jon Lowenstein will open their respective exhibitions premiering for the first time in France "An Autobiography of Miss Wish" and "Shadow Lives".

Our March Monthly Newsletter is out!

Our March Monthly Newsletter is out now, so make sure to check out the latest activities and opportunities to engage with us here!

Link to the newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/noorimages/march-2019-monthly-newsletter-v2