Stories of change

The "Arab Spring" is among the most thoroughly photographedevents in recent history. People in the streets using their mobilephones to register incidents they were eyewitness to, local journalistsas well as camera crews and freelance photographers dispatched byinternational media recording the developments from day to day. Ourperception of the "Arab Spring" is marked by dramatic images of keymoments during the uprisings. Demonstrators taking over TahrirSquare in Cairo and engaging in violent clashes with the securityforces and supporters of President Mubarak; the storming of ColonelGaddafi's compound in Tripoli, Libya, by rebels and the capture of theleader himself weeks later. Major changes in the power relations havetaken place since then: in Egypt and Tunisia, the resignation of thecountry's president, and in Libya, the fall of the leader and the firstfree elections in 60 years. In other countries, protests have not led toa revolution, but they are facing challenges from local issues and fromthe effects of the global economic crisis. How well do we know theregion beyond the headlines though? What has been the impact of theevents on people's everyday lives? Many of the issues that fuelled theuprisings remain unresolved: a high level of youth unemployment, therising cost of living, women's rights etc. What is really going on in thehomes and in the streets of the cities in the region? What do peopleworry or dream about? Stories of Change challenges our perceptionsof the region and brings to the foreground a local perspective inreporting. Through stories produced exclusively for this book, andshown here for the first time, we are offered an insider view into thelives of people in a region that rarely has left news headlines, but thatonly few of us know beyond the one-dimensional headline newsimages flashed on our screens.Stories of Change celebrates authenticity in visual storytelling,showing us North Africa through the eyes of a group ofphotojournalists from the region. They are all top alumni of a seriesof workshops conducted in 2012 and 2013 by World Press Photo forphotographers from five participating countries: Morocco, Algeria,Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.Stories of Change contains a visualchronology of the most memorablemoments of the Arab Spring, compiledfrom the visual reporting in theinternational media of the unfoldingevents at the time. The main focus liesin the visual storytelling by the youngtalent in photographic reporting,bringing into perspective and addingdepth and nuance to the reportingabout North Africa. The book containsover 200 images on 312 pages, and iscomplemented by articles by prominentwriters in the region about the NorthAfrican societies and cultures, and witha foreword by Arabist and formerdiplomat Petra Stienen discussingthe mythology of the Arab Spring andhow accurate our perceptions about theregion are or aren't. AccompanyingStories of Change, a collection ofmultimedia stories will be launchedonline.