Shown for the first time in France, Shootback's unique perspective of daily life in a country better known for its wildlife safaris takes the viewer on an unexpected journey to places where tourists rarely go. In this new show, a selection of hardhitting images from the recent unrest in Kenya adds fresh insight into what it's like to live in one of Africa's toughest urban environments.

American photographer Lana Wong started the Shootback Project in August 1997 with MYSA youth leader and reknown footballer Francis Kimanzi to help give young people in Nairobi's Mathare slum a voice to tell their own stories. Equipped with 20€e plastic cameras, a group of 31 boys and girls, aged 12 to 17, photographed their lives and wrote about them every week for almost two years.

The results, from kids who had never held cameras before, were honest, raw, amusing and beautiful- these visceral images became the basis of a book called Shootback : Photos by Kids from the Nairobi Slums (Booth-Clibborn Editions, London 1999).

The book was launched at the Barbican Centre, London with an exhibition that traveled to the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC ; Staff USA Gallery, New York ; Festival Mundial, Tilburg, the Netherlands ; Bildungszentrum der Handwerkskammer, Berlin ; and Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine de Bamako, Mali.

The pictures and words of this talented group attest to the power of photography to transform the lives of disadvantaged youth. More than a decade after it started, the Shootback project continues to train young photographers in Mathare and their photos are displayed both in the slum and in international shows.

This exhibition resonates with the engagement of agnès b. in the promotion of culture in the broadest sense and the support of independent artists from all disciplines and horizons, whether via her boutiques, la galerie du jour, Love Streams agnès b. Productions, le Point d'Ironie… agnès b. is also very involved in Africa, in particular through her collaboration with Handicap Without Borders in Cote d'Ivoire for more than 15 years (construction of school facilities, road maintenance, cultural projects…).
agnès b. also supports numerous social and humanitarian organisations such as the Abbé Pierre Foundation.

From the original Shootback group, there are inspiring stories which demonstrate that the intervention of a grassroots development project can indeed change individual lives.

The exhibition at agnès b. activités !! pays hommage to these extraordinary young photojournalists.

Ten years after taking his first photos with the Shootback Project, 22 year-old Julius Mwelu now has an impressive list of group and solo photo exhibitions to his name, a book of his own photographs published, experience as a cameraman and a stint as 'artist in residence' at the Vrije Academy in The Hague. He now works as a photographer for the United Nations in Nairobi.

Julius recently created the Mwelu Foundation (www.mwelu.org) to continue the legacy of youth empowerment through photography that Shootback started. Every Saturday, Julius teaches kids in Mathare how to express themselves through photography. Julius is living proof that this creative process can have a remarkable and sustainable impact.

Born in Mogadishu, Mohammed Dahir, 24, moved to Nairobi as a refugee in 1989. He is now the first member of his family and the first student from Shootback to attend university. He currently lives in London where he obtained a diploma in Digital Imaging and is completing a BA in Media Practice. He also shoots paparazzi pictures for a London agency and is the Photography Director for an African fashion magazine called SHEEKO.

James Njuguna, 24, is a staff photographer for Kenya's largest daily newspaper, the Daily Nation. He won the 'Journalist of the Year' award from the Nation Media Group in 2007.

Collins Omondi, 26, won a scholarship to study photography in Norway and returned to Nairobi to manage the Shootback Project.
He started his own youth development organisation in the neighboring slum Dandora which he continues to direct today.

Peter Ndolo, 22, is the current program manager of the Shootback Project and a freelance photographer and videomaker.

Ali Barisa, 23, Fred Otieno, 25, Moses Ouma, 22, Nicholas Mathenge, 25, Pauline Awour, 23, Serah Odeke, 23, Vinick Muhanji, 20, and 10 other original Shootback members are now trained in videomaking and actively documenting daily life in the Nairobi slums through an offshoot project of Shootback called Slum- TV (www.slum-tv.org). The most recent youth-produced Slum-TV 'newsreel' is featured in the exhibition.

Founder of the Shootback Project and curator of the exhibition at agnès b. activités !!, Lana Wong was born in New York and studied fine art/photography at Harvard University and the Royal College of Art, London. She moved to Kenya in 1996 and worked in East Africa as a photographer for various United Nations agencies. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally and she has worked as a television presenter (BBC), photographic curator and teacher.
She is currently based in Paris.

The Shootback Project was set up under the auspices of the Mathare Youth Sports Association (www.mysakenya.org) with support from the Ford Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Live Link-up with Nairobi As part of the launch, the Paris-based non-profit organisation, Internews Europe (www.internews.eu) is organising a live link-up from the exhibition opening with the Shootback photographers in Nairobi.
Using all forms of media to empower marginalised communities to speak out and achieve positive social change lies at the heart of the Internews mission. Internews is dedicated to developing independent media and has worked in over 70 countries during the past 25 years.