Vital Impacts: Clea T. Rekhou: Beyond the Steppe

©Cléa T. Rekhou, Aïcha sitting at her house, she has now settled in a farm however remembers the time of transhumance by way of the steppe. January 1, 2025. Near Beni Yagoub within the Djelfa province, Algeria.

Now in its third 12 months, Vital Impacts has awarded seven environmental pictures fellowships totaling $50,000 and eleven year-long mentorships to visionary photographers illuminating the profound and sometimes fragile connection between folks and the planet. As help for indepth environmental storytelling declines and the urgency of those tales continues to develop, Vital Impacts champions the artists whose pictures spark empathy, encourage motion, and remind us of our collective accountability to guard the Earth we name house.

Vital Impacts is thrilled to announce the 2026 recipients of $50,000 in Environmental Photography Fellowships, honoring the legacy of visionary leaders together with Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chico Mendes, Madonna Thunder Hawk, E.O. Wilson and Ian Lemaiyan. Fellows had been chosen for his or her regionally rooted storytelling that highlights options and group resilience. In addition, 11 rising photographers will take part in year-long intensive mentorships, creating their craft and imaginative and prescient.

This 12 months’s judging panel included Alessia Glaviano, Head of Global PhotoVogue, Azu Nwagbogu, Founder and Director of African Artists’ Foundation and Lagos Photo Festival Evgenia Arbugaeva, National Geographic Storytelling Fellow and Academy Award Nominee, Okathy Moran, Deputy Director of Photography at National Geographic and Pat Kane, Vital Impacts Environmental Jane Goodall Fellowship Winner.

Cléa T. Rekhou (Algiers, Algeria) has not too long ago obtained the Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim Environmental Photograph Fellowship for her undertaking, Beyond the Steppe. The award is named in honor of environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim. Cléa T. Rekhou’s story illuminates how desert communities are revitalizing arid landscapes by way of ancestral data and collective innovation.

©Cléa T. Rekhou, Sparse vegetation and drifting sand within the steppe. Shrubs and timber are naturally spaced aside, and the bottom exhibits indicators of latest wind exercise known as right here “El Ghbar”. May 1, 2024. Near Tadjmout, Laghouat Province, Algeria.

Cléa Rekhou (b. 1988) is an Algerian-French visible storyteller based mostly in Algiers. She started self-learning pictures in 2016 and has constantly reassessed and redefined her observe. Her work explores social points from neglected angles and investigates questions of id by way of her personal Algerian heritage.

Cléa seeks to create works which might be statements and expressions of her subjective interpretation of the world. Using various inventive strategies alongside pictures, she highlights folks, their paths, and their tales. Her latest undertaking Beyond The Steppe, supported by the National Geographic Society, paperwork environmental challenges of desertification within the Algerian Steppe whereas showcasing native resilience.

Cléa was a finalist for the Emerging Talent Award (2019) for Monsieur, a primary chapter on home violence in France, and a finalist at Encontros da Imagem (2022) for On The Edge, a second chapter immersively depicting a household’s journey after the return of a sentenced father. She is a member of Women Photograph, a NEWF fellow, and a contributor to L’Obs, EverydayAfrica, and The Washington Post. Her work has been exhibited at Vantage Point Sharjah (UAE) and most not too long ago on the 2024 Canex (Algeria).

Instagram: @cleaphotography

©Cléa T. Rekhou, Close-up of sheep marked with purple dye for identification through the weekly market of Ain Roumia, one of many foremost sheep markets of the area. June 1, 2024. Ain Roumia, Djelfa Province, Algeria.

Beyond the Steppe

Since January 2023, I’ve been touring to the oases of the Gourara and Touat in midwestern Algeria. These journeys have revealed a little-known facet of my heritage. While the Mediterranean is usually celebrated as a cradle of civilizations, the Sahara has lengthy been a big area of cultural change and data. Over centuries, communities in these areas have remodeled arid landscapes into fertile oases by way of ingenuity and collective effort. An oasis shouldn’t be merely a pure characteristic however a rigorously maintained human-made ecosystem.

Layers of vegetation—date palms, citrus timber, pomegranates, cereals, greens, and even roses—are planted strategically to chill the soil, cut back water loss, stop erosion, and maximize productiveness, demonstrating a classy type of agroecology lengthy earlier than the time period existed. At the guts of those oases lies the foggara, a marvel of each engineering and social group. A foggara is an underground water catchment and supply system. A gently sloping gallery captures water from a shallow aquifer and channels it over lengthy distances by gravity alone. Vertical shafts, dug each few meters, present entry for upkeep and air flow. Water emerges at a division construction known as the kasria, the place it’s cut up into exactly measured shares and flows by way of open canals (seguia) to irrigate gardens.

©Cléa T. Rekhou, Breeders from the identical tribal fraction gathering to shear principally Ouled Djellal sheep (a neighborhood Algerian breed) underneath a big canvas tent in the midst of the steppe. This seasonal shearing is a crucial a part of the pastoral calendar, supporting each wool manufacturing and animal well being. More than a sensible activity, this seasonal occasion is rooted in nomadic custom and carries a ceremonial dimension, a second of collective labor, transmission, and social bonding that reinforces group ties on this agropastoral area. May 1, 2024. Near Tadjrouna, Laghouat Province, Algeria.

The foggara is greater than a hydraulic system; it’s a residing establishment. Water distribution follows a strict timetable measured in time reasonably than quantity, making certain equity. Maintenance duties are shared amongst rights-holders, and a neighborhood council (djemâa) oversees selections, battle decision, and adaptation to altering circumstances. These techniques embody rules of moderation, fairness, and long-term sustainability.

This undertaking goals to doc the foggara system and the agricultural practices throughout the oases, presenting a holistic portrait of this socio-ecological mannequin. It will discover how water sharing, soil care, crop choice, and layered planting work together to maintain life in one of many harshest climates on Earth. Through pictures, sound recordings, drawings, movies, and textual content, I’ll co-create a guide of information and practices with the folks of the Gourara and Touat. This mixed-media guide will embody audio testimonies, pictures, group drawings, explanatory texts, and brief movies, leading to each a bodily publication and a web-based useful resource.

©Cléa T. Rekhou, Aïcha’s hand, lined with henna, as she holds a strand of wool. She is demonstrating the normal talent of spinning or getting ready wool, an integral observe within the sheep breeder communities of the steppe. May 1, 2024. Near Beni Yagoub within the Djelfa province, Algeria.

Each step can be collaborative: documenting the foggara’s underground development, upkeep, and water-sharing rituals, and illustrating the agricultural strategies that maintain the oases. Elders, water guardians, and farmers can be credited as co-creators, making certain their voices are central and their experience acknowledged. The guide will serve each as a celebration and as a software for transmission—a visible and narrative archive preserving group data for future generations, highlighting native experience, and contributing to international conversations on local weather resilience.

Ethical collaboration is central to this course of. Participation can be voluntary, with steady consent sought at each stage to make sure people stay snug with how their data and picture are shared. Oral testimonies, drawings, and concepts can be included verbatim every time attainable. Copies of the ultimate guide can be distributed regionally, permitting the group to learn straight and use it as a software for intergenerational transmission.

©Cléa T. Rekhou, A goat and its lamb within the midst of a creating sandstorm, “El Ghbar,” because it sweeps over a household tent settlement in the midst of the steppe. May 1, 2024. Near Tadjrouna, Laghouat Province, Algeria.

Having lived in Algeria for a number of years, I’ve developed deep connections with native communities, associations, and establishments, permitting me to construct belief and cultural sensitivity. In my travels to the Gourara and Touat, I’ve cultivated sturdy relationships with data keepers, storytellers, and group members. These encounters have sharpened my consciousness of the fragility of desert ecosystems and the pressing want for conservation, particularly relating to water entry and agricultural practices as the inspiration for sustaining livelihoods and cultural continuity.

The undertaking will unfold over twelve months: two months of analysis and preparation, eight months of fieldwork co-creating the guide’s content material, and two months for post-production, enhancing, and getting ready each digital and printed variations for publication and distribution. The grant will fund fieldwork, shut collaboration with the group, and the hiring of a graphic designer based mostly in Algeria to create an immersive, interactive web site replicating the expertise of leafing by way of a guide. It can even cowl the design, printing, and native distribution of the bodily guide to group members, native associations, and regional establishments so the data returns to its origin.

©Cléa T. Rekhou, View of Oued M’zi from the Tadjmout Dam and its surrounding irrigation system. Once recurrently replenished by seasonal rains, the riverbed now stays dry for a lot of the 12 months, reflecting shifting rainfall patterns and rising drought within the area. March 1, 2024. Tadjmout, Laghouat Province, Algeria.

Preserving this information is essential: safeguarding the strategies, oral traditions, and social agreements which have allowed these oases to flourish. These practices are more and more threatened by local weather change, trendy drilling, and rural exodus. Recording them now could be very important for the communities wishing to transmit this heritage to youthful generations and for the broader world in search of fashions of resilience and sustainability. Little is publicly identified or valued about Algeria’s ecological data, but ancestral practices are a residing archive of ingenuity and resilience. This undertaking seeks to make such data seen and accessible, totally acknowledging the individuals who maintain it. By celebrating these practices and exhibiting their modern relevance, the work hopes to encourage extra sustainable methods of residing and encourage a renewed socio-environmental stability, contributing to collective resilience within the face of local weather change.

©Cléa T. Rekhou, In the center of an oued, a gabion wall—constructed from stone and wire—helps decelerate runoff and cut back erosion. November 1, 2024. Near Aïn Chouhada, Laghouat Province, Algeria.

©Cléa T. Rekhou, View of the bustling weekly livestock market of Ain Roumia few days earlier than the celebration of the “Aid El Kbir”. Breeders are negotiating costs and loading their sheep into vehicles. These gatherings are very important financial and social hubs within the pastoral calendar. June 1, 2024. Ain Roumia, Djelfa Province, Algeria.

©Cléa T. Rekhou, A brick home stands alone underneath an ochre sky throughout a sandstorm. As desertification spreads, many pastoral households have constructed everlasting properties on what was shared grazing land, now privately owned. They are adjusting to harder climates and new livelihoods. June 1, 2024. Near Gueltat Sidi Saad, Laghouat Province, Algeria.

©Cléa T. Rekhou, Spring shearing within the Algerian steppe. Herders put together the Ouled Djellal sheep for summer time, a standard breed tailored to arid climates. The course of helps the animals deal with the summer time warmth whereas preserving a centuries-old observe. May 1, 2024. Near Tadjrouna, Laghouat Province, Algeria.

About the Fellowships

Vital Impacts is devoted to supporting visible storytellers who seize compelling, solutions-focused environmental tales on the native degree. We are grateful to have the ability to supply one $20,000 fellowship and 6 $5,000 fellowships to assist carry these very important tales to life. Fellows have twelve months to develop their tasks, with help from Vital Impacts to publish and showcase their work.

“Our aim is to support and nurture the next generation of environmental storytellers through grants and mentoring programs,” stated founder Ami Vitale “We aspire to create opportunities for these emerging voices to explore complex environmental issues with originality and nuance at this critical moment.” 

The 2026 Mentorship Recipients

In addition to the grants, ten rising photographers from various areas will take part in an intensive mentorship program designed to reinforce their storytelling expertise and inventive imaginative and prescient.

Over the span of twelve months, these people could have the chance to have interaction in one-on-one classes with business specialists, famend photographers, and influential photograph editors. Through these classes, contributors will refine their storytelling expertise, obtain steerage on navigating the business, and set up very important connections.

About Vital Impacts

Over the previous fifty years, Earth’s wildlife populations have declined by practically three-quarters, a profound shift that challenges us to rethink how we look after the pure world. Yet even within the face of those losses, there’s extraordinary cause for hope. Around the planet, communities, scientists, and storytellers are working collectively to reimagine options, restore ecosystems, and shield the locations all of us depend upon.

Vital Impacts is a women-led 501c3 non-profit based in 2021 by Ami Vitale and Eileen Mignoni to advance conservation by way of visible storytelling, group partnership, and strategic funding in native options. We harness the facility of artwork, visible journalism, and group partnerships to help conservation and illuminate pathways towards a extra resilient future. Central to our work is investing in storytellers. More than 1,000 journalists throughout 87 nations have obtained mentorship by way of our applications, gaining the instruments and help to report on environmental points with depth, sensitivity, and solutions-driven focus. Their tales carry international visibility to native challenges and to the folks working creatively to unravel them.

This storytelling community is paired with deep group engagement. Through partnerships, Vital Impacts has raised $3.5 million for native conservation initiatives. These assets assist safeguard essential ecosystems, help community-led conservation, and be sure that these working closest to the land have the help they should succeed.

We are additionally cultivating the subsequent technology of environmental stewards. Our in-person pupil applications have reached 30,000 younger folks, inviting them to see themselves as energetic contributors in shaping a more healthy, extra compassionate world. By connecting college students with highly effective tales and the folks behind them, we spark curiosity, company, and a lifelong dedication to caring for the planet.

At the guts of Vital Impacts is the idea that tales rework understanding and that understanding drives motion. By elevating native voices, bridging science and narrative, and directing assets the place they create lasting change, we’re constructing a world group of people that acknowledge that restoring the planet shouldn’t be solely attainable however already underway.

Instagram: @very important.impacts

Executive Director: Ami Vitale

Ami Vitale is a National Geographic Explorer at Large, award-winning photographer, author, documentary filmmaker, and the founding father of Vital Impacts. Her work explores the very important connections between folks, wildlife, and the planet. With practically three many years of expertise working in over 100 nations, Ami makes use of storytelling as a software for conservation, empathy, and motion.

Her profession started in battle zones, the place she witnessed firsthand how environmental degradation—together with useful resource shortage, displacement, and local weather instability—profoundly impacts human lives. These early experiences formed her conviction that environmental and social points are inseparable, guiding her towards long-term, solutions-focused work that highlights resilience, collaboration, and risk.

Her work has been acknowledged with quite a few honors, together with Conservation International’s Lui-Walton Innovators Fellowship, the Lucie Humanitarian Award, the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting, and 6 World Press Photo awards. She is an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and an inductee into the North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame.

Through each her nonprofit management and her personal inventive work, she stays deeply dedicated to empowering rising voices and advancing a extra hopeful, solutions-driven future for our planet.

Instagram: @amivitale