Redesigning Community Engagement
Client: National Geographic Magazine (2012)
Role: Creative Director + Photographer
Some stories are so big they can’t fit into a magazine, even a 42 page National Geographic Magazine cover story. In this case I had to design new ways for National Geographic to engage with the community that was represented in the pages of my feature photo story. As a photojournalist I have long known that many of the best stories end up on the cutting room floor because they are deemed not “relevant.” The communities we report on know this, and when we leave they are left wondering not if, but how they will be misrepresented. This is the nature of the editorial container, and stories can occasionally (often) end up shallow or lopsided. In complex communities the standard editorial lens won’t work because journalists and publication can’t fit enough voices or perspectives. This is especially true when telling the story of a community that has suffered forced migration, land loss, and the ongoing cascading effects of treaty violations. Stories from places like the Pine Ridge Reservation can easily miss the mark. “How could you write about us and not include the buffalo?” “How could you not tell them about all of our scholars and athletes?” They are right to ask. Quite often the answer is that there just isn't space.
To address these challenges, I collaborated closely with Jonathan Harris, founder of Cowbird, and with the support of a Knight Foundation grant to develop the Pine Ridge Community Storytelling Project. By creating a new storytelling container we were able to address the gaps and limitations of traditional editorial work, allowing a way for the Oglala to tell their own stories, in their own words, with their own photos. This project aimed to supplement traditional outsider journalism with deeply personal family tales, spoken Lakota language, oral histories, prayers, songs, and even jokes. Involving the community directly was the only way to provide an authentic and nuanced representation of their experiences.
Columbia Journalism Review — National Geographic launches a ‘ballsy’ online project
The New York Times — Photographing, and Listening to, the Lakota
AdWeek — National Geographic’s Aaron Huey on Digital Collaboration and Community Storytelling
Like many web-based projects of the past this one lost its hosting but you can see scren shots of a few of the hundreds of written, audio, and photo stories uploaded by the community below.
“Cover Potential,” an additional community voice project from the 2012 NGM Issue, that appeared online and on the cover of the iPad version of the magazine.
“Photographer Aaron Huey was hanging out with young Wanahca Rowland and her cousin near Wounded Knee, South Dakota, when he had an idea. He asked the kids if they’d like to be on the cover of National Geographic and held up the mock yellow border he’d printed on a piece of acetate. For these girls—as well as other members of the tribe whose photos don’t appear in the story—the frame generated smiles and, Huey hopes, a sense of inclusion. “It was a way that I could say, This is about you too.” —Catherine Zuckerman”
