Aryan Musleh: Storytelling on social media
In this episode, we talk with Aryan Musleh on storytelling on social media. He discusses the challenges of representing communities that are misrepresented or forgotten in the media, focusing on the political barriers that can hinder the efforts of photographers. As a curator, he explores the ethical complexity of ensuring that photographs he posts are used responsibly and represented accurately through captions.
What does photography ethics mean to Aryan?
“It means a lot to me. For example, it means representing people as they want to be represented, which is very important. And I would say it’s all about ethics, and it’s the cornerstone of having a community represented through visuals. It’s very basic, but it’s a steppingstone and a cornerstone of starting to tell a great story. And it has to be there. When a story lacks any ethical constraints, it’s not complete; it’s misrepresented; it’s biased; it’s all based on assumptions and cliches.” (36:22)
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Aryan Musleh is a seasoned curator, photographer, communication specialist, and social media content developer, from Afghanistan with nine years of work in photography and photojournalism. He founded and serves as the managing director of Everyday Afghanistan, a nationwide online photography platform affiliated with The Everyday Projects global community. This platform, comprised of 200 contributors from across Afghanistan, promotes storytelling among local photographers and photojournalists.
Aryan's photographic work primarily focuses on capturing the everyday lives of Afghan people with an emphasis on the themes of visual representation and storytelling. His efforts have significantly advanced visual storytelling in the country by fostering a community of local photographers. Additionally, Aryan is currently pursuing further studies in the field of global communications at the American University of Paris.
You can see Everyday Afghanistan on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/everydayafg