Egyptian prominent photojournalist Roger Anis launched the photography project #EverydayNile to inspire photographers in Nile Basin countries to come forward and share photos telling stories of people and their relation with water.
“The initiative was launched in 2019 to let photographers feature photos of the Nile from different Nile Basin countries and allow people to exchange stories of Nile,” Anis told Daily News Egypt
The initiative will give everyone visual and written information about the Nile by journalists or researchers. It adds to similar steps created on social media such as Everyday Africa which is a photoblog and book of a collective of 30 photographers capturing daily life in Africa.
“I believe that a big part of solution for Nile issues is boosting humanitarian communication among people of every Nile Basin country,” said the Egyptian photographer, adding that these platforms can help limit conflicts in the region. If we spoke about the challenges and sufferings in each country, this might help a lot and make the image clearer for everyone.
Anis noted that the project aimed at telling stories of people living near the Nile; how their life looks like and what kind of problems they face? It will help people outside the Nile Basin to know about river and its problems, and how we can get use of every experience in the region.
“I believe that photos make an impact and the initiative will help to do so,” said Anis
Anis said, “In 2019, I started the initiative when I was in a workshop in Netherlands. I met with a number of journalists and researchers from different Nile Basin countries. We talked a lot about the Nile and its problems at the time. I had an idea to create a project called ‘Exchanging the Nile’ which allows everyone to see the Nile in other countries.”
He continued, “Initially, we started the project in Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, and agreed that every photographer can visit the other’s country to see the Nile from his own eyes, from a totally different respect.”
Anis also said he already visited both Ethiopia and Sudan and wanted to visit more countries but he suspended the tour due to coronavirus pandemic
For his future plans, Anis said he aims to issue books and hold several exhibitions to allow more photographers to join the initiative.
“Any photographer from Nile Basin countries can join if he or she has good photos portraying the Nile,” he said
“I am currently working on activating the social media platforms of the initiative and invite more photographers to work with me,” he concluded.
