Learning to See Through Photo Walks

A familiar street can suddenly look different. A building we pass every day becomes a subject. A stranger becomes a story. Light, colour, movement and small everyday interactions begin to reveal a city that we may have thought we already knew.Unpublished Africa Photo walks are designed to challenge us to tell stories through our eyes.

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Unpublished Africa
September 07, 2026

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Welcome to African Visual Storyteller! Your weekly guide to African photographers, exhibitions, and creative opportunities.

This space exists to support visibility, connection, and real pathways for African creatives. Thank you for being part of our growing ecosystem.

African Visual Storytellers of the Week #71

This week’s African visual storyteller is Adedolapo Salako 🇳🇬

Adedolapo Salako 🇳🇬  - Adire cloth, Nigeria. Exhibited by Unpublished Africa in the group photography exhibition titled "Visibly Vibrant", 2024

We invite you to lead an Unpublished Africa Photo Walk in your city

Harare Photo Walk 🇿🇼, 2025 coordinated by Creative Business Studio Cohort 4 Alumni Tinashe Jakarasi

We have recently received numerous requests for programming in new locations, and we are officially opening this up to our wider network. You can apply as a city representative, host, and if there already is a host, you can also volunteer as a co-host.

Photo walks have proven to have an impact of photography communities growth and serve as a portfolio building tool for new and experienced photographers.

Sign up here:

For those who have already applied, please look out for an email from us this week.

Upcoming Events and Photo Walks

Register for our Kampala Photo Walk 🇺🇬

 🇺🇬 Register for Kampala Photo Walk:

Register for our Nairobi Photo Walk 🇰🇪

Group Photo of Nairobi Photo Walk, August 2026, hosted by Jorge Dachala

🇰🇪 Register for the Nairobi Photo Walk:

Register for the Akisi Photography Residency 2026 (in collaboration with Dar Photo Festival) 🇹🇿

The AKISI Photography Residency 2026 is supported by the Embassy of Spain in Tanzania and developed in partnership with Unpublished Africa and Tanzania Artists Rights Organisation TARO.

The fully funded, one-week residency will bring together four photographers and lens-based practitioners for an immersive programme focused on the relationship between light, photography, humans, and the natural world.

Register for the Fifth Cohort of the Creative Business Studio

Creative Business Studio is Unpublished Africa’s flagship six-week virtual program, designed to empower creatives by shifting their mindset toward entrepreneurship. Participants engage in mentorship, practical exercises, and peer learning experiences that bridge the gap between creative practice and sustainable business.

Cohort 4 Creative Business Studio, 2024

This impactful program has supported creatives in monetizing their craft and transforming their passion into sustainable careers. Each cohort culminates in a volume of Africa Published, guided by a specific theme, showcasing participants’ growth and contributions. Beyond the program, Creative Business Studio fosters collaboration and mentorship, building a network of alumni who continue to contribute to Africa’s creative economy.

Sign up for our upcoming Creative Business Studio Cohort 5 here: https://airtable.com/apppRNM0ijTxxXaGG/pagJSQY8Mr0fkEypo/form

In the Press

Learning to See: What Lusaka’s Photo Walks Are Teaching Us

Unpublished Africa Photo Walks were recently featured by Deutsche Welle (DW) in Lusaka’s Photographers Learn by Walking, which highlighted how photographers are using the streets of Lusaka not only as a place to make photographs, but as a space for learning, experimentation, connection and storytelling.

For many emerging photographers, Photo Walks offer an accessible alternative where formal photography education, mentorship and professional networks may be limited. Participants learn by doing: walking, observing, photographing, discussing their work and receiving feedback from fellow photographers while experimenting with composition, light, colour and subject matter.

Unpublished Africa Photo Walks also encourage photographers to learn how to see. Photography asks us to pay closer attention to the things we may otherwise overlook. Through a camera, an ordinary street can become more than a route from one place to another; it can become a space where stories, relationships, movement and everyday life are documented.

A participant at the Unpublished Africa Photo Walk, May 2026

Images play an important role in shaping how people, places and communities are understood. When we think about the wider visual storytelling landscape, it is also important to consider who has access to tell those stories, whose perspectives are amplified, and who may be left out of the process altogether.

Lusaka Photo Walk Group Photo, May 2026


Creating stronger pathways for local visual storytellers allows communities to participate more directly in how they are represented and how their stories travel.

Our Photo Walks show that sustainable creative communities can be built through local mentorship, shared learning and opportunities for people to tell stories from within the places they know. In doing so, photography becomes more than a creative practice; it becomes part of how Africa documents itself, understands itself and is understood by others.

Watch the video here: 

Unpublished Africa White Papers

Our white paper, Distributed Cultural Infrastructure in Africa: Lessons from Unpublished Africa Photo Week, examines how Unpublished Africa expanded its Photo Walk network from three cities to 17 cities within 12 months, using a locally led model to grow participation across multiple African countries.

As we prepare for Unpublished Africa Photo Week 2026, we invite you to explore the paper and learn more about the systems, community leadership and partnerships that made this growth possible.

We are currently looking for partners interested in supporting this year’s Unpublished Africa Photo Week and strengthening access, participation and creative community infrastructure across the continent.

Read the white paper:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/403346704_Distributed_Cultural_Infrastructure_in_Africa_Lessons_from_Unpublished_Africa_Photo_Week

Photo Walk Archive

Were you part of an Unpublished Africa Photo Walk? We’d love to see what you captured! Upload your photos to the Photo Walk Archive and help us document the journey.

Other Opportunities:

Help Us Improve What We’re Building

If you’ve joined an Unpublished Africa photo walk, exhibition, programme, or conversation, we’d really appreciate a quick Google rating and review.

It takes a few minutes, and it goes a long way in helping us build better infrastructure for African creatives.

👉 Leave a review here: https://g.page/r/CYo40kkDN_4UEBM/review

Thank you for being part of the journey and for helping shape what comes next.

➡️ Share this newsletter with a friend or colleague interested in the African creative economy!

Thank you for continuing to build with us.

More conversations, walks, and opportunities ahead.

— Unpublished Africa