On October the 3rd 2019, after the panel discussion featuring Professor Elena Gaura on ‘Refugees and Technology’, Chatham House hosted a drinks reception and photo exhibition on energy in the displaced setting. The exhibition curated by HEED showcased the work of Edoardo Santangelo, a humanitarian photographer, who has spent the last 18 months working alongside HEED in Nepal and Rwanda recording the lived experiences with energy initiatives in the displaced context.
Drawing on his extensive knowledge of energy and international development, Edoardo uses photoreportage as a way to record the impact of development programmes in the lives of the displaced. His photos have been published in various editions of the Poor People Energy Outlook and used in numerous humanitarian publications, workshops and conferences worldwide.
After opening the exhibition with a reflection on the photos by Edoardo, attendees had an opportunity to talk with HEED team members about the project aims and objectives. HEED, in commissioning Edoardo to produce a visual storytelling of the project, hopes to encourage other research studies to think creatively about how to capture the ways refugees and displaced communities encounter energy and respond to energy initiatives.