A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY…

Ingrid Guyon, photographer with a passion for self-representation and ethics, believed in using visual arts as tools for social change and had the idea to found Fotosynthesis in 2009. Her studies in Visual Anthropology have shifted her career: she did not want to become a photojournalist or travel photographer but wanted to work directly with communities to ensure a fair and participatory representation.

Since she graduated three years before, she had never been back to a darkroom due to the lack of resources and the pressure of stepping into the digital world and wanted to make photography and self-expression accessible to anyone. During her internship at Photovoice, she was trained in participatory photography. The success of a pilot Fotosynthesis project funded by Unltd Millennium social Entrepreneur pushed Ingrid and her friends photographers Jyoti, Federico, and Adilson to create a community organization. At the same time, Ingrid accidentally came across an abandoned darkroom in InsightShare’s office when meeting Gareth, and realised she had found a treasure. The team spent days and nights to bring it back to life: Fotosynthesis was born.

The support of Refugeeyouth, Photovoice, InsightShare, and many friends and fellow photographers and the local community and local council was crucial. We all became a community. Thank you Valentina Schivardi  and David Kendall for being part of the process in becoming a Community Interest Company and for being directors with expertise and dedication.

After many years focusing on projects in London with a local base, Fotosynthesis has decided not to have a base anymore but to go and deliver workshops and projects anywhere to reach out to more communities and has developed partnerships with national and international INGOs, NGOs, museums, and the education sector.

We keep evolving and growing in Spain (Zaragoza) and are now also doing filmmaking, community cinema, professional photography as well as participatory photography, online training and will hopefully reach our goal which is to train people globally in participatory audiovisual methods and ethical storytelling.