Youness ait Abbou & Azaddine Hanafi
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Green Lens care deeply about the environment, especially places like oases as special green areas, found in deserts, are home to plants, animals, and people. They provide water, food, and jobs. Sadly, many oases are now in danger. They are drying up because of climate change, overuse of water, and pollution. Despite their importance, most people don’t know much about them. We wanted to change that to increase awareness about the importance of Oaseses in our region. Our idea was to use photography and stories to show the beauty of oases and the problems they face. We believe that pictures can help people understand, care, and take action. Our goal was to raise awareness, inspire others, and support local communities through art.
In the preparation phase; we have discussed within our team about the steps by weighing in:
- Which places need help the most?
- Who lives there?
- What stories can we share?
- Where are the oases that are important but often forgotten?
After identifying the areas; we published a call to reach out the young people to act as photographers. Before starting; We have implemented photography workshops with the local community members to increase their skills to make photos. Together; we have travelled to different oases to take photos and learn from local people. We worked with local guides and made sure to respect the communities we visited.
With the areas that we have identified, the participants; took pictures of the landscape, nature, and daily life in the oasis. We also spoke with people who live there, like farmers, children, and elders. They told us their stories of how the oasis has changed, what problems they face, and what they hope for the future. We have asked for consent to share their photos and words. We have ensured to implement the activities in a respectful and honest way that the people are informed about the overall process. In the end of this stage; we had many beautiful images and touching stories that showed both the beauty and the struggle of oasis life.
After we collected all the photos and stories, we chose the best ones for our exhibition as team. We wanted to make sure the message was clear: Oases are important and need protection. We printed the photos and added short texts to explain each one. We also designed posters and flyers to promote the event. We have made one exhibition with the local community members and we plan to implement new exhibitions in local cultural centres and later in larger galleries and schools. We have developed a digital gallery in ShutterStock so that the people can see the work we did, as well as buy the pictures to promote awareness in overall world concerning climate change. Moreover; during the exhibition that we held; some people bought prints of the photos, and the money went to support environmental projects in the oases. We shared our project on social media and got a lot of attention. People said the photos helped them see oases in a new way. This phase helped us reach a wide audience and start conversations about nature, climate, and culture.
In the final phase, we looked back at everything we had done. We asked for feedback from people who visited our exhibitions and worked with us. Many people said they learned a lot and felt inspired. Some teachers asked for the photos to use in their classrooms to promote environmental awareness. We also met as a team to talk about what went well and what we could do better. We have learnt that we could to multilingual work to create awareness in a wider community as well as reach out more people. Moreover, we have realised we need more funding to support the local communities which we plan to gather through the selling of the photos.
