Sebah Chaudhry: On diversity and inclusion
In this episode, we talk with Sebah Chaudhry about diversity and inclusion. Sebah emphasises the need for diversity across organisations and educational institutions, and the impact this can have. She explains the importance of mentorship in order to help photographers understand their worth, and the problematic ways in which organisations can take advantage of photographers of colour. Discussing her own experience, Sebah recounts her process for deciding whether to work with an organisation or individual. Sebah stresses the need for organisations to be held accountable.
What you’ll find inside:
‘I’ve worked with really great organisations and they all do have great values but, of course, we have to always question those and we have to make sure that they are being held accountable.’ (5.50)
‘For her not to get paid, even if it’s a nominal fee, I think that’s just really terrible. I feel like if they were photographers who were white, and male, and middle-aged, they would have been paid.’ (8.50)
‘I have worked on projects before where there have been all white photographers and I have challenged this, or tried to work out why that is. If there’s an application, for example, why are only white photographers applying for this? And what can we do to make it different?’ (16.18)
‘I feel like it’s really important for every single person, organisation to have a statement of ethics and why has this not been done before? We should have these statements and make ourselves accountable.’ (19.35)
‘If we don’t represent those artists, then how will we achieve equality? How will there be more inclusion? We have to include these photographers, we have to show their work, we have to give them commissions, and we have to support them.’ (23.42)
‘You need to have people of colour on boards of organisations, but you also need to have them in leadership roles.’ (25.37)
‘We need allies. We need support, and it can’t just be something that black people do or brown people do. It needs to be everybody.’ (27.25)
‘Why aren’t lecturers, why aren’t heads of universities making these changes? Maybe if they don’t have as many students of colour, why is that? Is it because it’s not reflected in the teaching staff?’ (35.04)
What does photo ethics mean to Sebah?
‘To me, it’s about being fair and holding myself accountable for the decisions that I make, which includes who I work with and why I work with them. And also holding others accountable.’ (35.20)
Links:
Sebah Chaudhry is a freelance creative, producer, and curator. She’s experienced at working at international festivals, projects, and events. She’s co-founder and co-director of Reframed, a photographic visual arts network based in the midlands, supporting the community and artists who are black, Asian and from other ethnic minorities. She’s currently project coordinator of Picturing England’s High Streets, a Historic England funded project managed by PhotoWorks and creative producer on Peer to Peer: UK/HK, a digital exchange programme managed by the OpenEye gallery and the University of Salford. Sebah is also curator for AIS Open 2022, editor for the photo exhibition archive.com, and board member at the Redeye photography network.
You can see her work at https://www.instagram.com/sebahchaudhry.