Connecting People Through Platforms

Originally published in Street Photography Magazine
https://streetphotographymagazine.com on February 12, 2021.

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Casey Meshbesher is a street photographer, video, and multimedia artist. She is also a researcher, curator, and the founder of @womeninstreet (WiS), a platform we love just for female street photographers. She is also the editor Her Side of the Street, a street photography blogzine for female street photographers.

Casey was kind enough to take some time to chat with us about many subjects, including her own photography, the value of making connections through platforms, and the research that goes into that process.

For example, WiS started on Facebook in 2016, and is now on Instagram, Medium, and an IG/YouTube channel. Women in Street is a global network built on research, a community forum, a publication that showcases emerging and seasoned talent, and a movement to strengthen visibility of women. It functions as a collective of sorts where collaborators come and go. Contributors may be long or short term, handle special projects, curate, or contribute to the blog. Galleries are a popular feature with a new guest curator and theme each month, and have public submissions from hundreds of regular participants in Facebook. Nowadays, WiS Instagram has over 25,000 followers, 2,000 members in its Facebook group and a strong blogzine following as well. It’s become a community where opportunities abound for female street photographers — something that didn’t exist just a few years ago.

What kind of opportunities, you ask? Here’s a good example: One big part of the project has been the world map of female street photographers, a researched database linking the global network. It has been used in consultation with publications, festivals, organizations. Featured speakers have been identified via the map and consulting with WiS. When traveling, women use this feature to look one another up, and friendships and collaborations have been formed. Many have said that they knew very few female street photographers before encountering them through Women in Street’s platforms.

Find out more about the birth and growth of WiS, the photography of Casey Meshbesher, and the growing community of female street photographers she has helped to bring together in this audio interview.