Hellen Songa

Hellen is a non-binary photographer, journalist, and photojournalist. They started practicing photography when they were 17 years old, when fashion was their passion, as the cliché goes. Later, at the beginning of their twenties, while pursuing a business degree, Hellen became more interested in landscapes and buildings before they took a huge interest in photographing their friends. After completing their degree, they realised that they didn’t want to work in an office or conform to a predictable working pattern and style, but instead wanted to be outside, to talk to strangers, and integrate creativity and open mindedness into their work, so they took a short journalism programme. It was then that Hellen was temporarily gifted a Magnum Photography book by a friend, and consequently realised that they would be a photojournalist.  

Hellen’s first completed project, Humans of People Power, featured in Rooted Zine’s 10th issue, documents various displays of peaceful activism in the North West throughout 2019. You can see on their Instagram (@hellensonga) just some of Hellen’s great work, which now includes daily posts of street photography shots captured throughout Liverpool. As an Open Eye Gallery volunteer, they have also contributed to the photography gallery’s latest PLATFORM issue (3) named HOPE. 

With our support fund, we are helping Hellen to create a new website, to help grow their opportunities as a photojournalist as well as showcasing their project work. We’ve loved talking to Hellen about their work and passion for the community around them.

With the help of the Convenience Gallery, Hellen is in the midst of composing proposals for two new projects: Original Sin: Speciesism; and Neighbours. 

Inspired by the work of animal photojournalist JoAnne McArthur of We Animals Media, Original Sin prioritises inquiries concerning morality, animal ethics and our role in the anthropocene as individual and collective consumers. With the aim to utilise imagery to tell thought-provoking stories of and for beings who don’t have the capacity to tell their own, Hellen aims to provoke questions such as: Where do we learn our moral beliefs? Are they consistent in every choice that we make? Are they even our own? If our beliefs aren’t our own, who’s are they? And, finally, how does this affect our self-assigned position on this planet and in the Universe?

Describing it as ‘community and self-serving’, simply, Hellen just wants to get to know their neighbours on a more intimate level. Having been born in Kigali, Rwanda, raised in Rochdale, finished high school in Ohio, USA, undertook their Bachelor’s in Chester, and currently residing and content in Liverpool, yet without any long-term commitment to a particular city or country, making the acquaintance of their neighbours beyond smalltalk, until now, had not been an active priority. Hellen is interested in understanding what it even means to be ‘neighbourly’ beyond greeting one another in the streets and ensuring that one’s music isn’t too loud during anti-social hours. Ultimately, this project seeks to build, get to know and share the stories of their vicinal community.

Website coming soon!