Alina and Victor (left), and Victoria and Yuri, give their partners a last goodbye on March 9, 2022, as they prepare to leave Lviv by train to fight against the Russians on the frontlines in Sumy. © John Stanmeyer / VII.
Gulbahar Bicer, 35, holds her son Deniz, 5, while her other son Ali, 10, tends watches fire outside their tent shelter in Iskenderun, Turkey, on Thursday, February 16, 2023. The single mother of the children, Gulbahar, lost her home in the major earthquakes which hit Turkey and Syria on February 6. Ms. Bicer says that her application for a tent from a Turkish organization is still being processed. In the mean time, she is caring for her three children and mother-in-law by herself, living in a tent on the side of a main road in Iskenderun. Ms. Bicer says her son Deniz is experiencing panic attacks after the earthquake, and keeping her children clean without running water or electricity is the biggest challenge. © Nicole Tung.
Displaced women ride from the Kutum market to the Fata Borno Camp for the displaced under escort by South African soldiers of the African Union in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, Jan. 19, 2007. The trek will take the women 15 kilometers (9 miles) through open territory. © Gary Knight / VII.
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CAMPAIGN

We are committed to freedom of the press, advocate for journalists’ safety, and support individuals in vulnerable situations. We organize public conversations that promote independent reporting as a tool for civic engagement and social impact. In partnership with PhotoWings, our regular online events and in-person presentations–as well as Dispatches, our Substack publication–probe the production and power of images and campaign for a diverse, secure, and viable profession, especially for freelancers worldwide. We do not endorse political parties or take partisan positions.

upcoming event
"Homeland" © Maria Gutu.
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Dec
12
2024

Photo Stories Exploring the Meaning of Home

© Joachim Ladefoged / VII.
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Nov
28
2024

Photo Editors Series – Fiona Shields

Exhibition “Photo Archives are Sleeping Beauties. The Black Sea Coast in the Photographs of Tengiz Purtskhvanidze,” which was on view at Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum. © Tbel Abuseridze.
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Nov
21
2024

Curator Series – Nestan Nijaradze

People displaced from Darfur by the Sudan war gather for a monthly food distribution, in Adre, eastern Chad, August 9, 2024. © Finbarr O'Reilly / VII.
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Nov
07
2024

Covering Sudan’s Refugee Camps: How Nicolò Filippo Rosso and Finbarr O’Reilly documented an overlooked humanitarian crisis

Lisa Barnard, The Canary and the Hammer, exhibition in Kunsthalle Mannheim as part of the Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, 2022. © Miriam Stanke.
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Oct
31
2024

Curator Series – Iris Sikking

Young teenagers play in a park close to the protection house. As part of the psychological support activities, enjoying green outdoor areas allows them to experience normality away from the violence of which they have been victims. Quito, Ecuador July 27, 2023. © David Diaz Arcos.
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Sep
19
2024

Photo Stories Documenting Abuse

Dispatches blog

Dispatches features the best writing on the role of images in our world, along with new and diverse visual stories from around the world. Dispatches is made possible by our partnership with PhotoWings.

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Shila (nickname), 32, poses for a portrait at the Daughters of Charity training center in the town of Mekele, Tigray region, northern Ethiopia, November 2, 2023. Shila was a mother of three who ran a hairdressing salon before Eritrean soldiers invaded their border town. She was kept captive and repeatedly raped for three months. © Arlette Bashizi for The Washington Post.
Exhibition “Photo Archives are Sleeping Beauties. The Black Sea Coast in the Photographs of Tengiz Purtskhvanidze,” which was on view at Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum. © Tbel Abuseridze.
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Nov
21
2024

Curator Series – Nestan Nijaradze

Heleen Peeters and Ilvy Njiokiktjien speak with Nestan Nijaradze, co-founder and Artistic Director of the Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum and the Tbilisi Photo Festival in Georgia.
View out over a refugee camp in Adre, a border town in the Ouaddaï province in Chad. Overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in Adre have led to a severe health crisis, with over 1,200 cases of Hepatitis E reported, including three fatalities, by July 2024. © Nicolò Filippo Rosso.
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Nov
07
2024

Covering Sudan’s Refugee Camps

Heleen Peeters and Ilvy Njiokiktjien speak with Nestan Nijaradze, co-founder and Artistic Director of the Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum and the Tbilisi Photo Festival in Georgia.
Young teenagers play in a park close to the protection house. As part of the psychological support activities, enjoying green outdoor areas allows them to experience normality away from the violence of which they have been victims. Quito, Ecuador July 27, 2023. © David Diaz Arcos.
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Sep
19
2024

Photo Stories Documenting Abuse

Nicolò Filippo Rosso and Finbarr O’Reilly present their work documenting the refugee camps in Chad for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO). 
Wilmarie Deetlefs, 24, together with her boyfriend, Zakithi Buthelezi, 27, on a night out in Johannesburg, South Africa on Nov. 1, 2018. They are both part of South Africa’s ‘born free generation,’ youngsters who were born around the ending of the racial segregation system, apartheid. Wilmarie Deetlefs, 24, together with her boyfriend, Zakithi Buthelezi, 27, on a night out in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Nov. 1, 2018. They are both part of South Africa’s ‘born free generation,’ youngsters who were born around the ending of the racial segregation system, apartheid. © Ilvy Njiokiktjien / VII.
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Sep
14
2024

Born Free: Generation of Hope

On Saturday, September 14, 2024, the Apartheid Museum opened Ilvy Njiokiktjien’s exhibition, "Born Free: Generation of Hope." We held a panel discussion with Ilvy and the curators of the show.
Journalism at Risk: Threats and Responses panel event during the Les Rencontres d'Arles Photo Festival 2024 opening week at The VII Foundation campus in Arles, France. © Amelie Blanc for The VII Foundation.
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Jul
04
2024

Journalism at Risk: Threats and Responses

On Thursday, 4 July 2024, The VII Foundation organized a hybrid (in-person and online) event at the Alexandra Boulat Campus in Arles, France.

curated collection: ethics →


Tatianna Lesnikova has fled from the USSR to the US. She was convinced that local officials were preparing to commit her to a mental hospital for anti-government views. They had already done so with her son Danil. Lesnikova traveled on a USSR passport and hoped to one day return to her son, but during her travels, her home country dissolved. Now, she is stuck. The US doesn’t want her to stay and is trying to deport her. Lesnikova is left in limbo, with no rights, protections, or a path to resolution. © Shaminder Dulai.
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Oct
17
2023

Lecture Series on Ethical Literacy, Part 3: Photography Ethics: Putting Ethics into Practice

In October 2023, VII Insider hosted a three-week public lecture series on ethical literacy. In the third and final session, we hear from Shaminder Dulai on putting ethics into practice.
Fresh graves of servicemen who died defending Ukraine from Russian invaders are seen at the cemetery of Bucha, Kyiv Region. © Franco Pagetti / VII.
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Oct
03
2023

Lecture Series on Ethical Literacy, Part 1: Photography Ethics–What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

In October 2023, VII Insider hosted a three-week public lecture series on ethical literacy. In the first session, Savannah Dodd introduced a principles-based approach to photography ethics.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko attends the military wedding of Lesya and Valeriy near the frontline in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 6, 2022. © Ron Haviv / VII.
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Mar
22
2022

Ethics in a Time of War

What ethical issues arise in the visual coverage of war? In this event, building on the topics discussed in an earlier event (Towards an agenda for ethics in documentary photography), and looking at recent visual examples, Savannah Dodd, the founder of the Photography Ethics Centre, is in conversation with David Campbell.