A Small Voice: Conversations with photographers and filmmakers (exclusive member content)

Ilvy Njiokiktjien is a Dutch photojournalist, filmmaker, podcast host and educator who has been creating and sharing stories for almost two decades. She is based in Utrecht, the Netherlands and is a contributing photographer to VII Foundation. Ilvy is committed to documenting the social and political issues that shape our world. Her work is characterized by a sensitive eye and a compassionate and personal relationship with her subjects. 

For nearly 2 decades, she chronicled South Africa’s first post-apartheid generation. Ilvy became intrigued by these young adults and portrayed them in her own, personal and intimate style. “Equality is there on paper, but a majority of young people believes white South Africans still have better chances, as the legacy of centuries of inequality is still there.” The result is the project Born Free – Mandela’s Generation of Hope, which sparked a documentary, an interactive website, a book, feature articles, and a traveling exhibition.

Her work with Ukraine’s LGBTQ community in March 2022 tells the tale of people’s loves and fears – and their resolve in the face of Russian aggression. Ilvy’s latest project on co-housing follows people who opt to live in non-traditional groups or who welcome extended family members into a shared home. 

Ilvy was the first woman to win the Dutch Silver Camera Award for photographer of the year and was named the first ever Photographer Laureate of the Netherlands in 2013. In addition to numerous awards from international organizations such as World Press Photo and POYi, Ilvy’s images have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Guardian, Stern, Der Spiegel, TIME, and other major outlets. She has exhibited at Visa pour l’Image in France, New York’s Photoville, and museums and festivals around the world. 

On episode 281, Ilvy discusses, among other things:

• Her foray into podcasting for Canon
• The pattern of her work life
• How things have changed since she started
• Collaboration and the importance of writing and interviews
• Approach to personal long-term projects
• Her current project about ‘receiving states’
• Her approach to research
• Why it’s good to reinvent yourself
• Using a simple Google search to generate ideas
• Her project in South Africa, Born Free
• Why she got kicked out of her internship on The Star newspaper
• Her interest in ‘interactive long reads’ and the book she made with one of her subjects
• The perils and advantages of social media
• Her family history project and the joint exhibition that came of it
• The tendency for younger documentary photographers to be introspective and why that might be
• Her foray into podcasting - asking her fellow VII photographers four questions
• The importance of failure
• Her 'dream story'

Referenced:

• Carl De Keyser
• Matt Black
• Sara Terry

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