This is the first time that the IVSA have made an award to a collective, rather than an individual. The awards committee felt that Unmute Gaza’s grassroots yet international campaign was worthy of recognition as a best practice example of how to achieve an international impact with a collectively realised and participatory form of visual activism.
Unmute Gaza has made a global impact in more than 80 cities and 30 countries. The aim of Unmute Gaza is to support and amplify the images captured at great risk by photojournalists working in Palestine. To date, over 83 journalists and media workers have lost their lives.
Through an open submission process, Unmute Gaza encouraged artists to respond creatively to the original photographs of the Palestinian photographers. Working with over 30 self-nominated artists, internationally, Unmute Gaza produced a series of prints. These artworks were made available to the public in high resolution, allowing people to download, print and paste up the prints in their own cities.
This creative visual strategy has been effective in making an international impression on city walls in the form of physical artworks. Images of these artworks in situ have also circulated widely on social media (with over 30,000 followers for Unmute Gaza on Instagram) and have also featured the mainstream press. An oversized Unmute Gaza print unfurled in the Guggenheim in NYC received international media coverage.
This innovative campaign is a powerful example of participatory visual activism that has made a significant impact on a range of audiences.
