Participatory Photography | Projectlivesbook

Published by: powerHouse Books

Distributed by: Random House

Price: $25.00

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Winner, Montaigne Medal,

Most Thought-Provoking Book of 2015

The Eric Hoffer Foundation

Winner, Best Photography Book,

New York Book Festival, 2015

Finalist, Best Social Change Book,

NextGeneration Indie Book Awards, 2016

Four Photographers Tell Their Story

Finalist, Best Multicultural NonFiction Book,

NextGeneration Indie Book Awards, 2016

What is participatory photography?

Using single-use

film cameras as a window into the

heart of the projects

"A joy."-- John T. Hill, author, Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye

1/8

NEW YORK PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS

PHOTOGRAPH THEIR WORLD

"Inspiring."-- Noam Chomsky

PAST EVENTS

ART LEAGUE OF LONG ISLAND EXHIBIT

June 21-August 22, 2016

ARTSPACE PATCHOGUE RECEPTION

May 30, 2015

NEWS

The global success of Project Lives led NYC to ask Seeing for Ourselves to conduct a similar program for New Yorkers on probation.

And so we embedded ourselves at the New York City Department of Probation in January 2018.

At first, only one or two brave souls would turn up for a class.

But word of mouth spread.

By 2021, courses became over-subscribed the first day they were announced. The waiting list for entry totaled two hundred. The program was so successful it became institutionalized as a permanent offering of the agency.

The film arising from the program, In a Whole New Way, toured the festival circuit during 2021 and 2022. Honored at 150 festivals around the world, it amassed 50 awards.

The companion book will be published in 2023.

REVIEWS

"Most New Yorkers know what public housing looks like from the outside, but a bracingly simple compilation of pictures takes us into the interiors of the buildings and thus into the residents' startingly ordinary lives."

-- The New York Times

"Beautiful...an unprecedented and intimate look into the lives of New York City public housing residents."

-- BuzzFeed

"The program started by George Carrano, Chelsea Davis and Jonathan Fisher gave photography training and equipment to NYCHA residents and encourged them to take photos of their homes -- their families and neighbors, their decorations and furnishings, and the social events at the core of their community....Whether or not NYCHA can make a comeback will have a crucial bearing on what the future of America's safety net looks like."

-- Politico Magazine

PROJECT LIVES BOOK LAUNCH

April 8, 2015