Elisa Iannacone, a renowned cinematographer, photographer, author, and advocate for equality and human rights, presented the first of many engaging seminars at this year’s Xposure International Photography Festival running at Expo Centre Sharjah for a week until February 15. During her talk titled “Conflict Reporting to Magical Realism”, she revealed how she imbued magical realism into her career of conflict reporting to turn her works into a vehicle of healing.

Iannacone has traversed over 50 countries across six continents, and during her extensive career, she has shifted from traditional photojournalism to take a more creative approach to the art form.

She noted: “I have been a witness to great pain and suffering and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated”.

During her coverage of the 2013 conflict in Cairo, she had to constantly ensure her safety in the midst of intense protests. Through her experiences, she gained an understanding of the raw emotion and pain that people experience when they undergo deep trauma.

Iannacone asked herself why these experiences were not more widely represented in mass media, and was inspired by Susan Sontag's quote regarding the pain of others. She didn't want to re-victimise the victims and instead used her camera to give back power to those who had it taken away from them. Her photographs "Spiral of Containment" and "The Kingdom" (depicting a yellow torn dress) are examples of how she used art as a means for healing.

In her later work, Iannacone explored the theme of trauma and healing through various projects, including "Humans of the Forgotten War" about prisoners of war in Cameroon, and "Dreams of Childhood" about children in the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital. She also discussed her background in cinematography and how she returned to Ukraine after living there in 2019 to work on a collaboration between her NPO called Reframe House and Knit Up, a Hong-Kong based sustainable knitwear company, which aimed to raise funds for psychotherapy through a sweater they produced.

Iannacone's discussion of her belief in finding new ways of telling stories and incorporating magic in her work, along with her numerous projects that explore the themes of trauma and healing, were particularly thought-provoking.

Iannacone reaffirmed her belief in finding new ways of telling stories and incorporating elements of magic. She noted that in telling a "big lie" through “the use of her imagination and creativity”, she can tell a "big truth".