"The result will be an unparalleled collection of visual and textual narratives accessible through an innovative online platform."
Debbie Fleming Caffery's 1999 photo of burning cane fields in Iberia Parish, from the Facing Change website
Acclaimed Breaux Bridge photographer and photo-journalist Debbie Fleming Caffery is among a select group of photographers and writers nationwide participating in Facing Change: Documenting America, a non-profit collective that, according to its website, "will cover and publish under-reported aspects of America's most urgent issues and distribute the work through a innovative online platform while highlighting the efforts of individuals and organizations working to affect positive change."
Conceived as a four-year project, FCDA embeds photo-journalists and writers in communities across America. Caffery is covering Louisiana with three other photographers. The FCDA site currently contains a collection of Caffery's captivating black-and-white photographer from Acadiana, post-Katrina New Orleans and images documenting African-American spirituality dating back a quarter century.
FCDA is an outgrowth of changes in American news media's willingness and ability via economic pressure to offer in-depth coverage of social issues:
At a time when America faces enormous challenges, FCDA will embed photographer/writer teams in communities across America to vividly illustrate the nation's most pressing concerns-from health care to immigration to the cost of the war on terror. The result will be an unparalleled collection of visual and textual narratives accessible through an innovative online platform-called the Public Sphereenabling a direct dialogue with America on the stories and issues. FCDA work will also be distributed via an active and searchable archive to major newspapers, and magazines worldwide.
Visit the site here.