Poverty photography has become Africa’s most profitable export. Not gold, not diamonds, not oil. Images of suffering.

I’ve spent years behind the lens documenting stories across the continent. What I’ve witnessed troubles me deeply. We’ve created a system where African poverty is exploited for profit by Western photographers.

Dutch filmmaker Renzo Martens exposed this uncomfortable truth in his 2008 documentary Episode III: Enjoy Poverty. His work revealed how photographers earn substantial sums capturing African suffering. The subjects? They see nothing.

Photos of poverty generate millions in fundraising revenue. Yet they perpetuate the same colonial narratives that have shaped Western perceptions for centuries. I’ve seen how these images reduce complex societies to simple symbols of despair.

Consider this: A Unicef campaign in Slovenia successfully raised funds for children in Rwanda. It worked brilliantly. But critics rightfully questioned why it presented Africa as helpless and one-dimensional. The campaign’s effectiveness raises an uncomfortable question: Why do certain images of suffering resonate so powerfully with donors?

The answer lies deeper than fundraising tactics. These images tap into colonial visual frameworks that still influence how we see Africa today.

But change is happening. African photographers like Gideon Mendel and Zanele Muholi create work that empowers rather than exploits. Their images celebrate agency instead of reinforcing victimhood.

This creates a fundamental question: Who truly benefits from poverty photography? The answer will challenge everything you think you know about development imagery and visual storytelling.

I want to examine the complex ethics behind these images. More importantly, I want to explore how responsible visual storytelling can actually help reduce poverty across Africa rather than simply profit from it.

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Author: Trevor Davies

I’m Trevor Davies, a senior consultant, creating my own media training deliverables. Forty years of experience with scores of NGOs and hundreds of trainees mentored to successful careers in visual storytelling are amongst the many reasons we should work together. htttps://trevordavies.org