OUR HISTORY
1983
AFGHANISTAN
Photo training program for Afghan refugees in Pakistan during the Russian invasion.
1985
SOUTH AFRICA, CAPETOWN
During the first riots and strikes for the liberation of Nelson Mandela, photo training program for the youth of the Townships.
1986
PHILIPPINES
During the elections that marked the fall of Ferdinand Marcos, photo training program for local journalists.
1989
SUDAN
With UNICEF, Benevolent launch of a campaign for the vaccination of children.
1990-1991
AFGHANISTAN
Consultant for the United Nations for the reconstruction of the Northern provinces.
1993
FRANCE, STAINS
Photo training program for the association «Femmes dans la Cité», in support to women’s empowerment.
1994
FRANCE, AVIGNON
«Mouvements d’Images», training youth who had great difficulties to integrate the professional world.
1995
RWANDA
Photo training program for the association «Femmes dans la Cité», in support to women’s empowerment. «Lost Children’s Portraits», with UNICEF and the Red Cross. During the exodus following the genocide, the refugees were trained to photograph 12,000 children who had lost their parents. Nearly 3, 500 were reunited.
1996
FRANCE, PIERREFITTE
«Objectifs Métiers». Photo competition for the youth of a deprived neighborhood to help them integrate the professional world.
1997
AZERBAIJAN
Training program for photographers. With UNICEF, launch of a book on the children. Creation of a school for the refugee children.
1999-2000
BANGLADESH
Photo training program at the Patshala Institute of Journalism with World Press Photo.
2001-2003
CHINA
Three-year-long masterclass program at Beijing University of Journalism.
2001-2010
AFGHANISTAN
Creation of Aina, a non-governmental organization, the first of its kind. In the last decade it has:Trained thousands of Afghan women and men in visual media. Published a magazine for children distributed for free throughout the country. Launched a radio for women by women.Created independent photography and video units.
2006
SRI LANKA
Following the actions of Aina, the launch of a magazine for children with Solidarité Laïque.
2006
UGANDA
National Geographic Photo Camp with the International Medical Corps, a photo training program for 60 adolescent refugees of Rwanda.
2007
MOROCCO
With «Agrisud», an agriculture NGO, training the sheperdesses of remote communities in photography and storytelling.
2009
JORDAN
National Geographic Photo Camp with the International Medical Corps, a photo training program for Palestinian and Iraqi adolescent refugees.
2010
ETHIOPIA
Teaching local visual media professionals. Workshop with 24 Ethiopian teenagers from 12- 17 years old and 6 selected young photographers from different parts of the world, winners of the the photo contest organized by Unicef with the partnership of the World Photography Organisation and sponsored by Sony.
2009-2012
SICILY, ITALY
In early 2009, a pilot project was launched to train in visual arts hundreds of teenagers from Librino, one of the poorest suburbs of Sicily.
2012-2013
TOULOUSE, FRANCE
Along with his exhibition, Reza offered local photographers and 38 children from Reynerie (a disfavored neighborhood) a workshop on visual language.
2012-2013
FRANCE
Reza is committed to conducting long-term workshops in 9 French cities as part of the Booster project in partnership with the Unis-cités association. The project aims to train in visual media and communication young people who have dropped out of school and participate in community volunteer work.
2014
Creation of the Reza Visual Academy Association.
2014
AIT BOUGMEZ VALLEY, MOROCCO
Reza Visual Academy was part of the Rencontres Photographiques Berbères program, working with students from the Tabant boarding school. Once given cameras, Reza taught them the basics of a new language: the language of image.
2014
REUNION ISLAND, FRANCE
Transmitting and witnessing are at the core of Reza Visual Academy’s projects. On the Reunion Island, Reza conducted a workshop during which the youths discovered the tools of photography that enabled them to become tellers of their own stories.
2013 - TODAY
KAWERGOSK REFUGEE CAMP, IRAQI KURDISTAN
In December 2013, on an assignment for the Franco-German channel Arte working on a reportage on the word “Refugee”, Reza decided to launch a long-term training for the Syrian refugee children. These children have now become the camp’s reporters.
2015 - 2017
KABARTO CAMP, IRAQI KURDISTAN
Being an ethnic and religious group practicing Yazidism, the Yazidis are persecuted by the Islamic State. Reza met a Yazidi community living in a refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan and decided to give them the tools to become the witness of their own stories, through photography.
2016 - TODAY
BARIKA REFUGEE CAMP, IRAQI KURDISTAN
Reza Visual Academy launched a third photography-training workshop in a refugee camp near Arbat. Addressing refugee children and IDP children, it aims at giving them the tools to express themselves and share their stories with the world.
2016 - TODAY
BAMAKO, MALI
In Mali, a great number of orphans and IDP children live in deep poverty. Through the training workshop, some of them, who had lost their childish insouciance, developed a sense of resiliency while photographing their daily life.
2017
SANTA FE, UNITED STATES
The Native Americans were the first people to settle in America before the European colonization. They are still living in Northern America, especially in reservations where the level of education and cultural transmission is weak. This is a stumbling block to the harmonious development of the communities.
2017 - TODAY
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINE
In Argentina, the « villas » are sensitive urban areas characterized by high vulnerability and low access to education. Both the neighborhoods of Ejercito de los Andes, also known as « Fuerte Apache » and Villa 21-24 are seen as dangerous zones. Many fears and prejudices towards the inhabitants of those neighborhoods prevail today, especially towards the youths. Reza Visual Academy has trained 46 of them to the use of photography as a tool of storytelling and emancipation.
2018
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
Program Barrio 31, a cooperation between France and Argentina, and a socio-cultural integration program through the implementation of workshops, offered by Reza Visual Academy. The association proposes a training in photography for 30 young people residing in Barrio 31, Buenos Aires, between 2018 and 2019. Theses courses will be materialized by an exhibition organized in a cultural center of the city.