About
I have spent many years documenting the plight of refugees producing work for the Refugee Council, Channel 4 News, Ai Weiwei, the BBC and UNHCR.
I have been working as a freelance documentary film maker and photographer for the last twenty years using visual story telling as a way to try make sense of the world we live in and exploring different ways in which to do this effectively.
My drive and motivation comes from a desire to bare witness and bring attention to current issues using whichever format I feel is most effective and depending on the outlet or commission.
I am interested in documentary as activism and outreach. How effectively can we reach audiences and can documentary effect social change?
I would like to think that the work I do, does in some way effect change on some level however big or small but I am acutely aware that it cannot be measured and that that is OK. That it is important to keep telling the stories, in whatever way.
Sometimes working collaboratively, I am constantly questioning the ethics of documentary and its role as a medium. How useful or effective is it as an art form or tool? How useful is it to tell someone else's story - is it better to 'enable' people to tell their own?
Social media has changed the way we engage with media and I have tried to adapt accordingly.
My pictures are a documentation, a testimony and reflection on what I have witnessed.
To learn more about my work visit: www.katiebarlowfilms.wordpress.com/about-2/