FIA - Global Voices
- Thom Pierce
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
In late 2025 I was asked to curate an exhibition of activists that would accompany a large "alternative G20" event in Johannesburg. Here is a look inside the campaign.
The Framework
In August 2025, I met with Jenny Ricks, the head of Fight Inequality Alliance (FIA). She was putting together a massive event to take place at the same time as the G20 in Johannesburg, offering an alternative view of the global economy.
I have a long history of photographing activists around the world, and Jenny wanted me to create an exhibition that profiled activists from 20 countries in the global south.
We briefly discussed me travelling to each country to create the project but quickly decided that it was not economically viable, and that using in-country photographers would create a project with a greater impact.
I like a very clean framework for each campaign. I want the structure to be solid and to use the project's restrictions to form the foundation of the work.
We knew that we wanted to profile 20 activists as an alternative G20 so I insisted that each person needed to be from a different country and that we should try as hard as possible to locate them evenly around the global south.
The issues that each activist were dealing with were particular to their country but they often overlapped. We decided that we needed to try and cover a different issue with each activist and that we wanted as diverse and inclusive a selection of people that we could find.
FIA provided names and locations for a large number of activists and once we had this long list we started to divide them up by region, country, race, gender and type of activism. This allowed us to put conceive a project that was effective whilst staying true to the values of the organisation.
My job was to photograph one of the activists here in South Africa, and then to find photographers in each location, brief them, virtually work with them through the shoot, pay them and edit the RAW photographs.
The Content
I suggested that we shoot large headshots in a uniform style that could pass as a cohesive body of work. I wanted to be able to provide very clear instructions so that each photographer could contribute an image that worked as part of the collection.
The brief was simple. A white backdrop, one light and a 120mm lens at f2.8 (for the photography nerds). The portrait should be at head height with the eyes perfectly in focus and the ears slightly out of focus. The expression should be serious but approachable.
Each photographer was also asked to take a selection of environmental portraits of the activist as well as a short video interview. We also asked them to provide a self portrait and biography so that we could profile each photographer alongside the activist.
Finding photographers that were capable of shooting in the way I wanted them to was surprisingly hard. I used news agencies to locate options in each location and I was mostly given the names of press photographers who were not all used to using studio lighting. However, each one was willing to try and, working together over video calls, we managed to pull together portraits for each activist that fit the brief.
The Advocacy
The framework that we developed allowed us to create a powerful series of portraits of activists from all around the world. And we created the content in such a way that we had lots of different options when it came to putting the work out into the world.
Our main output was a physical exhibition. I needed it to be different, to grab people's attention and to engage the audience with each individual activist in a contemplative and intimate way.
To do so I decided to print the portraits as large as the space would allow. The initial exhibition was at the Women's Gaol at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. I went to visit the venue and realised that we could hang large portraits from the balcony and between the columns.
This was a piece of activism and the intention was to tour the exhibition around the world so I suggested that we print on a rugged PVC substrate. Not only did this allow us to go big, it was also waterproof and fit for purpose; the images were hard-wearing and could be rolled up and shipped to different locations.
Each portrait was printed 2 metres high by 1.5 metres in wide and hung with red rope from the balcony of the venue, at approximately eye level for an average adult. This allowed the viewers to wander around, studying the faces of each activist, reading their stories through their phones using QR codes next to each image.
To accompany the exhibition, and to facilitate the QR codes, I also built a dedicated database on my website which presented all of the stories together with the environmental portraits, quotes and more. Take a look at the whole collection here.
We also produced an A4 magazine as a exhibition takeaway and gift for the funders; and postcard flyers for promotional use around the event.
The images, quotes and stories lend themselves perfectly to social sharing which, together with the exhibition, magazines and postcards, all leads back to the website which forefronts the mailing list that FIA want their supporters to join.
Many of the activists were able to make it to Johannesburg for the event so we were able to give them a beautiful print of their portrait as a small symbol of our gratitude for their involvement.
The Work Lives On
The great thing about making a campaign like this is that the work lives on for years after it is made. Because of the simplicity of the content, we can repackage it to keep the activists and their messages in people's minds.
The challenge of making this project was to create something that was coherent with a variety of different photographers, all in different countries. Through a solid framework, simple but effective content creation and a long term approach to advocacy; we were able to create a truly global project that will be used for years to come.
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