Tag: H&F

INTERVIEW: Cinzia D’Ambrosi of the Photojournalism Hub

Blog, Press

New exhibition set to explore the hidden inequalities exposed by the Covid pandemic. You can help make it happen!

The borough’s local Photojournalism Hub is inviting you to support its new exhibition and workshops, entitled: Covid-19 and Beyond. It is due to open in Fulham once the hub has raised enough funding – details below on how you can support.

The new exhibition and workshop series aims to give a voice to those most affected by Covid, said Cinzia D’Ambrosi, the hub’s founder and a multi-award-winning photojournalist.

Raised in Italy, Cinzia has dedicated her career to using photography for social change. Her work has earned international recognition, including the Spiga d’Argento from FIDAPA (Italy), awarded for promoting peace through photojournalism and documentary photography.

The hub is one of many community-led groups that receive financial support from Hammersmith & Fulham Council as part of our commitment to building a stronger, safer and kinder borough.

Inequalities

“The pandemic exposed deep inequalities that many people still live with every day,” said Cinzia. “Through this exhibition, we want to give those affected a platform – and start a conversation that leads to real change.”

It features striking images and personal testimonies gathered during the pandemic, shining a light on issues such as housing, race, immigration status, women’s rights and mental health.
It also hopes to address the deepened and long-standing divides, widening inequalities, and the curbing of freedoms such as freedom of speech that have arisen from the pandemic.
The free community workshops will invite residents to share their own stories, said Cinzia, while schools will take part in guided tours. Meanwhile, panel discussions will bring together experts and local voices to keep the conversation alive.
She said: “This project is about helping people in ways that count. And empowering under-represented voices in our communities and encouraging a shared understanding. By creating a platform for dialogue, we hope to strengthen community ties and inspire change.”

Founder of Photojournalism Hub, Cinzia D’Ambrosi

Founder of Photojournalism Hub, Cinzia D’Ambrosi

Impact

The Photojournalism Hub has a proven track record of telling powerful stories in H&F. It’s done this through two free documentary photography courses for residents. These were initially funded by the NHS and delivered in partnership with H&F Council which saw more than 60 young people learn photography, how to build portfolios, and publish their work in print and online.
Some of these young people have gone on to study photography at university, while others have secured paid roles, including photographing major events like The Great Exhibition Road Festival.
Cinzia says the hub empowers people to tell their own stories: “Through workshops, mentoring, and our community photography magazines, we give space to local voices. It’s about democratic storytelling – where residents shape the narrative.”
Beyond its local work, the Photojournalism Hub also collaborates globally, sharing powerful stories through events like the In Focus series at Riverside Studios.
She added that the hub also acts as historical archive, with many photographs and testimonies submitted during the pandemic – forming a unique record of lived experience.
“Above all, I want the Hub to be a space where stories take shape and inspire positive action. Photojournalism can build real bridges between communities, perspectives, and lived experiences,” says Cinzia. “It gives people the tools to document real stories, challenge mainstream narratives, and spark meaningful dialogue.”

Students taking their photography course

Students taking their photography course

The journey begins with selecting the final photographs and stories from an open call.
This campaign is part of H&F Council’s wider support for community-led projects that make our borough a better place for everyone. Please support the campaign on Spacehive.
Support ‘Covid-19 and beyond’


Article published by Hammersmith and Fulham Council on the 10 October 2025
https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/news/2025/10/interview-cinzia-dambrosi-photojournalism-hub

Photojournalism Hub x Riverside Studios (Dec 2023)

Photojournalism Nights

11th December 2023 7 pm
Riverside Studios
101 Queen Caroline Street
London W6 9BN

To Join us: HERE

We’re delighted to welcome Maria Tomas Rodriguez and Ollie G. Monk to the 38th edition of the Photojournalism Nights.

Photojournalism Nights invites contemporary photojournalists and documentary photographers to share their powerful, committed photography and engage audiences to social justice and human rights. It invites interactive Q&A’s , and an opportunity for people to connect and network with photojournalists and likeminded audiences. Our guest speakers of this last edition of the year 2023 use traditional journalistic methodologies in their work documenting migration and the human stories of hope and death as well as delving on the impact corporates and their increasing power shadowing accountability.

Maria Tomas- Rodriguez is a Senior Lecturer of Control Systems Engineering and Mechatronics at The City University of London, United Kingdom. Since 2016 I have combined her academic profession with documentary photography projects mostly within the field of social inequalities and human rights. She has received photography training through courses and seminars at the Westminster College, The Photographer’s Gallery and Royal Photographic Society, United Kingdom.
She won the British Photography Award in documentary category in 2019, she also has won the second prize at the International Photography Awards in Editorial/sports category and she has also been finalist at the Travel photography of the year in 2020. Her work has been published both in UK and Spanish media.
@photomtr

Ollie G. Monk is a photojournalist using local stories to paint a bigger picture of the contemporary issues facing Britain. Using traditional journalistic methods such as investigation, interviews and (arguably obsessive) research, he builds narratives that encourage the viewer to look for nuance and significance in the smallest of stories, putting an emphasis on the local in an increasingly global media landscape. We do not need to stray far to find stories worth telling.
Based in south-west London, he is in the final stages of a postgraduate degree at the London College of Communication while also working towards teaching documentary practice, mentoring both at King’s College London and the London College of Communication. For the last year, he has been working on two major projects. Comms Failure is an investigation into the difficulty of keeping companies like Thames Water accountable to the public they serve, and was exhibited in Copeland Gallery, Peckham this year. 
Meanwhile Protest Pen, an ongoing project, is the story of a photographer’s journey into the Truth Seeker or Truther movement told over the course of five zines. Known as conspiracy theorists to some, the beliefs they share are often based on the most tenuous or tangential of evidence, relying on one’s own internal logic and anecdote — you must only cast doubt on the status quo for a theory to become worthy of discussion. Excerpts of informal interviews with Truthers build an overall narrative; however, when paired with portraits and documentary images of the group in their own space, the viewer is forced to confront them not as stereotypes and slogans, but as people, no longer hidden behind brash, choreographed online personas. Social isolation, family tragedies, and mental illness: the community is not simply a fringe political group, but a refuge for those who, like so many of us, have felt lost and scared in a broken world that seems just too complicated to fix.
@olliegmonk

To Book a place: HERE

About Me, and my Community – issue 2

Older People Projects

In the second edition of ‘About Me, and my Community’, we present stories and photography on ‘The impact of regeneration on local communities’. The published stories look at the positive and negative aspects of regeneration, the changes of local spaces such as local markets and shops as well as explore what community means in a personal level.