Photography for Prosperity

Photography for Prosperity is a special event in the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity's weekly public seminar series. It is part of the Countdown 2030 conference series, leading up to a major dual-location conference in Bloomsbury and East London in November.

The panel has been prompted by the installation of a public photography exhibition - Whole Earth? - in Gordon Square. Whole Earth? is a photograph series taken by Mark Edwards on the subject of (un)sustainability, and is being exhibited in universities around the world. In the Photography for Prosperity panel, we will be exploring the potential of photography as a transformative tool. We will be asking our panel discussants and audience whether the act of taking a photograph be a catalyst for change in the present day, and whether photography can contribute towards a community's social and economic prosperity.

We have asked a diverse group of speakers - from academia, international development and journalism - to present their position on the usefulness of photography as a transformative tool.

Confirmed speakers include:

Max Colson - Max is a former artist-in-residence at UCL Urban Laboratory. Max's photography-based practice playfully manipulates the techniques used to advertise controlled urban environments, whilst also speculating on how paranoia can be caused by the reality of contemporary security design.

Bonnie Chiu - Bonnie is a co-founder and Director of Lensational, a social enterprise that uses photography as a tool for empowering women. She has helped Lensational win awards in social venture competitions globally, including Amsterdam, Seoul and Melbourne.

Professor Peter Jones - Professor of Transport and Sustainable Development at UCL - will be chairing the discussion.

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