Experts in visual art and documentary photography have urged visual storytellers to prioritise truth, substance and meaningful storytelling over social media popularity and viral trends.
They made the call on Tuesday in Benin at the ninth TellThatStory (TTS) Conference, tagged “EXPOSED! The Visual Storytelling Conference 2026”.
The three-day conference, which began with an art exhibition on Monday, has the theme, “Renewal”, explored through Light, Hope and Life.
In his welcome address, TTS Co-founder, Babawale Obayanju, urged storytellers to create images that preserve important stories rather than merely attract attention.
“Are we making images that merely attract attention, or are we making images that deserve attention?” he asked.
He also challenged practitioners to document issues that deserved to be remembered rather than chase trends.
“Are we documenting what is trending, or are we paying attention to what must not be forgotten?,” he queried.
Obayanju said TTS sought to build a movement of visual storytellers documenting African people’s lives, cultures, strengths and challenges.
He said the organisation empowered creatives to amplify local voices and address social and environmental challenges through initiatives.
The initiatives, he said, included creative female convergence, documentary screenings, street photography workshops, the TTS-FUJIFILM Visual Storytelling Grant, and portfolio reviews such as TheCONVERSATION and its library.
Describing storytellers as custodians of memory, identity, culture and history, he urged them to read, research, observe, question and listen.
In his keynote address, Dr Akintunde Akinleye explored how photography shaped collective memory and contributed to societal renewal, in spite its limitations.
Speaking on “Ọjọọ-Iwájú: Renewal, Imaginary Future, and the Limitations of the Image-Machine”, Akinleye drew on Yoruba cosmology to explain forward-looking renewal as the process of confronting a troubled past and imagining a better future.
Using Nigeria’s annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election as an example, he said the event remained a reference point in contemporary demands for political renewal.
Akinleye, who recalled voting for the first time in the election, described its annulment as one of the darkest moments in Nigeria’s political history.
He said renewal did not mean starting afresh but reinterpreting past experiences to create new meanings and possibilities.
“While renewal does not imply starting afresh, it positions references of the past as resourceful values with materials that can be excavated for reinterpretations,” he said.
He identified urban transformation, ecological regeneration and spiritual rebirth as three areas through which photography could document renewal.
Citing his work in Lagos, he examined how urban renewal could lead to demolitions and displacement, particularly in informal settlements such as Makoko.
He also cited his Niger Delta photographs as tools for exposing environmental degradation and challenging dominant narratives about oil exploration.
On spiritual renewal, he recalled his research among Pentecostal street preachers in Lagos, whose messages of conversion raised questions about the limits of human understanding and visual representation of the unseen.
Akinleye identified photography’s limitations as its inability to capture internal thoughts and the unknown, selective framing that could exclude perspectives, and ethical risks arising from photographing communities without building relationships.
In spite these limitations, he said photography remained vital for preserving memories, challenging dominant narratives and providing evidence for future understanding.
He described still photographs as a counterweight to the constant flow of digital content, saying they encouraged deeper reflection.
“While still image in its silence allows you people to look deeper than the surface, the video forces people to follow its timeline and messages,” he said.
Another guest speaker, Richard Lackey, urged photographers to embrace experimentation, curiosity and failure to develop their creative practice.
Speaking on “Renewing the Way We See”, Lackey cautioned against repeating successful techniques until they became restrictive formulas.
He distinguished visual language, which allowed creative expression from visual formula, which encouraged repetition.
“A photograph is not just a statement, it’s also a question,” he said.
He urged photographers to explore unfamiliar subjects, take creative risks and accept failure as part of artistic development.
The conference also featured the launch of Expand the Frame – The EXPOSED! 2025 Conference Proceedings, documenting discussions and contributions from the previous edition. (NAN)
