Casitas

May 18, 2023

The project exposes the living conditions that Puerto Ricans have to endure such as natural catastrophes, limited government support and unstable electric service. Although the series began in 2013, it wasn’t until 2017 when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico that Saldaña realised the series is something more than just a personal project — it is a testament of the residence of the local population.

Recent Stories

After The Fall
After the Fall is a body of work by Stewart Weir documenting the fall of the Taliban when the city of Herat was taken over by the Northern Alliance. The images were taken almost 20 years ago, in 2002, shortly after the Twin Towers in the US fell on September
Stewart Weir
Last day of school
Marko Risovic has turned his lens to his home country of Serbia to illustrate this trend. The images are strikingly different from what one would expect from a typical school photograph — it’s a decrepit environment and there are hardly any smiles. Far from the ideal happy atmosphere to foster happy childhoods and promote learning.
Marko Risovic
Submerged Landscapes
According to the Climate Central app, Thanet, the UK is likely to become an island again within the next decade. In this ongoing project, King documented the affected areas before they are submerged, using the materiality of the sea within the production of the work.
Melanie King
Coastal Mammoth
The 2011 tsunami caused an unprecedented amount of damage, chaos and grief. Everyone in Japan was affected in one way or another. The Japanese government soon began to erect a gigantic wall at the cost of billions in the northeast region of the country after the earthquake that caused the tsunami.
Pengkuei Ben Huang
Soul Calling
Soul Calling is a collection of photographs taken between 2016 and 2019 along the coast of Northeast Japan.
Pengkuei Ben Huang
Black Eyed Dog
The author opens up about his own struggles with Black Eyed Dog — A Photographic Healing Process. It was born out of a breakdown, a complete shutdown of his nervous system which made him find himself in a dark, gloomy place, one which he has never visited before.
Benedict Stenning
The place inside the head of False Creek
Amy Romer uses photography to gain understanding of the place that she decided to make her home by choice rather than birth. 5 years ago she moved to Canada and for her project The Place Inside the Head of False Creek she gives us the story of Sen̓áḵw.
Amy Romer
Hope, Despair and Miracles
Roxana Allison is a Mexican-British photographer whose work has a predominantly socially-driven focus and explores the themes of belonging, identity and place. She has extensive experience working with young people and underrepresented communities spanning over 15 years and strives to achieve social justice through her photography. Longsight is an inner-city
Roxana Alison
Birdman
The project attempts to record the slow death of a culture — Pigeon racing as a typically British sport — that has changed beyond recognition since its inception. The photographs are extraordinarily rich and full of detail — the birds bind them together, they are the common denominator, but there is so much more in the images than just the pigeons. I
Zak Waters
Casitas
The project exposes the living conditions that Puerto Ricans have to endure such as natural catastrophes, limited government support and unstable electric service. Although the series began in 2013, it wasn’t until 2017 when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico that Saldaña realised the series is something more than just a personal project — it is a testament of the residence of the local population.
Annie Y Saldana

mnngful Originals

mnngful Members

Joanne Coats
UK
,
Dales

Documentary photographer based in the North of England. She is interested in modes of production, rurality, and class inequality. Her practice is as much about process, participation and working with communities as photography. Coates’ key themes are Northern culture in rural places and working-class life. In 2020 she was commissioned as Artist in Residence at Berwick Visual Arts. In 2021 she was commissioned as an artist working on the Tees-Swale project looking at social justice and the rural, she was also a winner of the Jerwood /Photoworks award. Joanne’s work has been exhibited both in the UK and internationally in venues including The Royal Albert Hall, Reveal-T Photography Festival, Cork Photo Festival and Somerset House. In 2012 during her Foundation year she was awarded a Metro Imaging Portfolio Prize, a Magnum Portfolio Review and The Ideastap innovators award. Upon graduation, she was awarded Magenta Flash Forward Top 30 emerging talent in the UK, 2016. Joanne was one of the artists working in Hull, for the UK City of Culture in 2017. She was one of the 209 female photographers to photograph MPs for the centenary of the vote. She is a member of Women Photograph. A co-founder of Form Collective.

Brian O'Neil
US
,

Sociologist, currently a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the School of Ocean Futures in the College of Global Futures at Arizona State University. In addition, I am affiliated with the Ocean Nexus Center at the University of Washington’s College of the Environment’s Ocean Nexus Fellows Program.

Ashima Yadava
US
,
San Franscisco

Photographer based in San Franscisco, California Born in New Delhi, India, Ashima now lives in San Francisco, California. She works in digital and analog methods including medium, and 4x5 large format. With the camera as her conduit, Ashima believes in art as a means to social activism and reform. Her work is rooted in documentary practice with a keen focus on issues of gender equality, race, and social justice. Like If Hands Could Speak, which deals with domestic violence in the South Asian community in the Bay Area.

Elena Kalyuzhnaya
RU
,
St. Petersburg

Documentary photographer based in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Student of Academy of documentary photography “Fotografika” in Saint-Petersburg. Originally from a small town in the south of Russia, Elena appreciates the authenticity of the rural area and its traditions. The human place in society, PTSD emotions, and life in post-war and problematic regions are the main topics of her work. Elena’s work was published in Dodho Magazine, Takie Dela, Republic, and Regnum publishing. Elena is a silver prizer of Budapest international Contest 2020 in the student category. Also, her work was a part of the Ariano Film festival.

Nathalie Bertrams
GR
,
Athens

I am a freelance photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer reporting on environmental conflicts, human rights and social justice. My work is published in The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Al Jazeera, BBC, De Groene Amsterdammer and NRC. I also make TV documentaries for Arte.

Isaac Kirby
UK
,
London

London based-photographer and copywriter originally from the Australian town of Snake Valley.

Benedict Stenning
FR
,

Documentary photographer whose work is primarily concerned with investigating peoples experiences with their proximal surroundings. Benedict is interested in the relationships we as human beings form with our environs and each other while seeking to subvert perspectives; identifying and capturing liminal spaces to form narratives and provoke an emotional response. Benedict was brought up with the arts from a young age and has an innate appreciation for the powers of story telling. His grandfather, Moran Caplat CBE, was General Manager at Glyndebourne opera house in the Sussex countryside for over 30 years and his father was a stage manager at the BBC and later an associate producer in film.

Paco Poyato
ES
,

Visual artist with interest in issues related to the current consumer society and globalization. His aim being reflecting how these two concepts alter his closest reality, understanding globalization as the loss of the individual’s identity, in favor of a model that responds to criteria closely linked to the control of power and banality. To date, his work specializes in delving into the reality of different human groups that are created around a common cause that identifies them as such. A vision characterized by photographing human collectives that have shared common experiences that, in some way, serve to build, mark and also define the individual identity of its members.

James Rudoni
UK
,
London

Photography allows me to express myself using the world around me. Things that I would have otherwise ignored take on a new weight and potential. With my curious eye, I am motivated to capture the chaos, weirdness and beauty of our lives.

nick linnett
UK
,
Leicester

Photographer based in Leicester UK

Sushavan Nandy
IN
,
Kolkata

Documentary photographer based in Kolkata, working primarily with Barcroft Media. His work focuses on issues of climate change, human crisis, society, and culture. His works have been published in various international publications which include The Guardian, Daily Mail, CNN among many. Sushavan lives in Naihati town in West Bengal, India and is currently working on long-term photographic works.

Philip Butler
UK
,
Worcestershire

Documentary photographer focusing primarily on capturing the remains of Great Britain’s inter-war architecture. Philip has published two books focusing on this work; ‘Odeon Relics’ (2019 on ADM) and London Tube Stations 1924-1961 (2023 on FUEL).

Yassen Grigorov
UK
,
London

Documentary photographer steadily establishing himself as an artist to follow and invest in, both in his home country of Bulgaria and in the United Kingdom, where he's based, having graduated with First Class Honours from the BA Photography course at the University of Westminster. His artwork is consistently featured in a variety of print and online publications and exhibitions, and his most recent project, "Exemplary Home" has won a second-place prize in its category at the prestigious 2020 International Photography Awards, third in the BECA Photography Awards, and has featured in the artist’s first solo show at KO-OP, Sofia.

Marko Risovic
RS
,
Belgrade

Documentary photographer based in Belgrade. After working for years in traditional photojournalism outlets, he became a freelancer in 2010. Since then he has concentrated on long-term projects about youth, social (in)justice and distribution of power in the Balkans. Marko is interested in intimate narratives about vulnerable social groups and individuals that reflect a wider social discourse. He believes that the language of photography storytelling still can shape the perception of the wider population and decision-makers, thus contributing to the continuous search for a better, more equal and sustainable world. Marko was chosen as one of the participants in the World Press Photo Masterclass for young photographers from Southeastern Europe in 2010. He has been a regular contributor to National Geographic Serbia magazine since 2007, and a contributing photographer to The New York Times and Le Monde for years. Marko is founder of the Serbian photo collective Kamerades and a member of The Association of Serbian Applied Artists and Designers (ULUPUDS). He holds an MA degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the University of the Arts in London. Marko is currently in the Mentor Program of VII photo agency.

Melanie King
UK
,
Ramsgate

Multi-Disciplinary Artist. Co-Director of super/collider, Lumen Studios and founder of the London Alternative Photography Collective. Melanie is Lecturer In Photography at Canterbury Christ Church University, and a practice-based PhD Candidate at the Royal College of Art. She is represented by the Land Art Agency. To purchase original prints, you can visit the Land Art Agency and Argentea Gallery websites. Books are available via the website store, and monthly limited edition postcards are available on Patreon.

Stories worth seeing

mnngful is a platform supporting independent documentary photography & photojournalism.

Thanks to passionate storytellers, we learn about matters that otherwise stay neglected. Stories that matter, but have not been covered enough are captured and told by passion-driven photographers and journalists.

They create because they care about the world they live in and tell us about matters beyond our eyesight.Their work is often driven by pure enthusiasm, fuelled by own beliefs and dreams for a better world. That's why such independent work is worth special attention.

mnngful is here to support the meaningful stories they tell.

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