The Locals Reseach and Storytelling Center
The Locals is a community-rooted research, storytelling initiative that centers local knowledge, lived experience, and community voices—through photography, storytelling, writing and advocacy.
Our goal is to build a sustainable foundation for visual anthropology and community evidence based storytelling. We are seeking $40,000 to establish a creative storytelling space, host local exhibitions, and co-create a growing archive of community stories rooted in dignity, everyday life, and cultural memory.
What we do.
Where We Find Inspiration
We explore new and meaningful ways of documenting life, grounded in lived experiences, co-creation and visual anthropology. Our work blend photography, writing and storytelling to challenge stereotypes and reimagine how communities are seen and unseen at the same time. We are for everything worth remebering.
Visual Anthropology
Too often, the stories of places like Kibera are told from the outside, filtered through distant perspectives that miss the depth, nuance and humanity of daily life.The Locals exists to reclaim narrative power, document lived experiences and produce community-rooted knowledge through photography, writing, research and dialogue.
Aging, Dignity and Community
Using documentary photography as social research, We examines visibility, ageism, and community care among older residents of Kibera by documenting how older persons navigate physical, emotional, and cognitive challenges—such as chronic illness, musculoskeletal strain, and dementia—and how social bonds, caregiving practices, and spiritual and cultural rituals support dignity, wellbeing, and resilience in a context of limited formal care. The work is grounded in long-term engagement in Kibera through sustained documentary practice, collaborative community-based inquiry, and close relationships with older residents and community-based care organizations, allowing the project to be shaped by trust, shared time, and ongoing dialogue rather than short-term observation.
Fashion, Art, Identity, History
Rooted in the personal history of Kibera—one of the largest informal settlements in Africa, shaped over decades by migration, resilience, and community life—this Visual Narrative reshapes how the world sees Kibera by documenting fashion as a tool for dignity, self-expression, strength and cultural pride. Using photography, interviews, and community-based inquiry, the work presents Kibera not as a place of lack, but as a vibrant hub of creativity, style and innovation. By engaging in immersive fieldwork, these work documents how fashion connects to identity, agency, sustainability and pride. Extensive portraits, behind-the-scenes moments and environmental scenes paints the picture of how grassroots fashion becomes a powerful space for protest, resilience and belonging. A long shadow of Kibera’s history of adaptability and enduring cultural richness.
Teenage Motherhood, Community, Identity and Re-invention
Through visual and narrative portraits, this works explores the intersections of motherhood, education, stigma and hope. It focuses on stories of strength, vulnerability and transformation. The project documents the lives of teenage mothers supported by Soraya, a community-based organization in Kibera that provides care, mentorship and opportunities for education and empowerment. Rooted in empathy and social inquiry, the work challenges stereotypes surrounding early motherhood and celebrates the resilience of young women who continue to dream, rebuild and redefine their futures on their own terms.All this, In the belief that dignity and human development depend on access to economic, social and cultural rights .
Our Vision
We aim to establish a modest physical space that serves as a hub for exhibitions, editing, workshops and archiving. From the same space, launch participatory photo walks and storytelling labs that invite community members to explore everyday life through visual and narrative expression. Host public exhibitions in shared community spaces, produce and distribute zines amplifying local voices and begin building a living community archive that preserves oral histories, photographs and reference materials.
Our community
We are happy to be part of a growing community.
Collaborations
Grounded in collaboration, we focus on stories from communities with our a focus no co-creation, exhibitiona, Talks and digital features
Publication
Happy to be working on the The Art of Being Seen and Unseen,
Partnerships
Happy to Partner with organizations/institutions/Brands / individuals to amplify local voices and support knowledge co-creation
Exhibitions and Digitization
We are working on "We are Speaking, are you Listening Photo Exhibition as part of our series of exhibitions.
Photo walks
We use photo walks as a participatory tool for exploring everyday life and visual storytelling. The goal is to create accessible, hands-on learning experiences that strengthen the photography practice and creative skills.
Our Approach to Storytelling & Inquiry
We engage communities through a collaborative process that values access, curiosity, shared knowledge, and long-term memory.
1. Accessing
Opening doors to knowledge, spaces, and voices that often go unnoticed or overlooked.
2. Investigating
Doing deep, ethical, community-centered research.
3. Co-Creating
Shifting the center of storytelling from the outsider’s lens to the lived realities, language and wisdom of those at the heart of the story.
4. Learning
Working together with community, Hand in Hand
5. Archiving
Preserving memory for dignity, history, and future generations and advocacy
