Acclaimed photographer working with d.light to document ‘Life Without Lights’

Sam Goldman
CEO, D.light Design

 “Electricity is the steps that allow us to walk,” Khulaf Mohammed Qochakh told me.

Qochakh was an older man living in the town of Binika, in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. He was old enough to remember a time before conflict when Binika still had electricity.

That was half a lifetime ago.

He went on to list the ways electricity affected his small village. When they had electricity they could pump water into the village, he said. They had better schools, and the children could study longer. But when they lost electricity 17 years ago, they resorted to a community generator, which broke down often and was very costly, even though they paid to use it only a couple of hours each day.

Qochakh’s story is hardly unique – there are an estimated 1.6 billion people across the world who lack access to electricity. Their only choice for lighting is kerosene, which is expensive, carries a high risk of fires and is hazardous to human health. These are the stories documented in my photography project, Life Without Light.

My interest in photographing global energy poverty began in 2007, while I was living in northern Ghana as a Peace Corps volunteer. My neighbors lamented the absence of electricity, which they had been promised but were yet to see delivered. Having it, they explained, would have given them light to study and cook with, operate machinery and refrigeration – an increase in the a standard of living that would have attracted teachers, nurses, and other civil service workers from the big cities.

To put it simply, energy poverty keeps people poor. It is a critical piece in the mosaic of issues contributing to poverty, and often the one that is least addressed.

So far for this project, I have photographed in three countries – Ghana, Iraq, and the United States – and I have upcoming chapters in the United Kingdom and Uganda. The work has been published in magazines worldwide, exhibited in New York and London, and has won a number of awards. But my proudest moments are the times I have been able to contribute my work to the dialogue on energy poverty.

With the United Nations’ International Year of Sustainable Energy Access for All approaching, I have been given the opportunity to help create awareness of how lack of energy can impede the economic progress of poor people. I have been invited to exhibit my work at key events throughout the year, including the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil. I will address policymakers and world leaders, sharing stories from the people I have photographed.

To fund the next two chapters of the project – and present a wider range of issues to the United Nations next year – I have turned to the innovative crowd-funding platform called Kickstarter.

The rewards offered to donors who contribute to the project include photographic prints, sponsor credit at high-profile UN exhibitions, and d.light’s remarkable S250 solar-powered lantern and mobile phone charger.

My partnership with d.light began last month in Nigeria, during the Lagos Photo Festival, where Life Without Lights was one of the primary exhibitions. The prints were hung in a dark room, viewable only with d.light products. The response was overwhelming. Some in the audience told me that not only did they feel like the people in the photos, peering through the darkness – they felt a taste of what it is like to be me, carefully studying each situation so that I can create a telling picture.

And, of course, they also witnessed the life-changing impact of d.light’s work. The ability to see at night, clearly and vibrantly, without having to pay repeatedly to recharge a battery or power a generator, is helping people all over the world. It is giving them the "steps" to walk.

Please take a look at my Kickstarter page and consider helping in anyway you can. Within the international debate, the most vital voice – the voice of the afflicted – is often missing. Your help will allow me to continue collecting stories and voices of energy poverty from around the world and contribute them directly to the dialogue on sustainable solutions and energy’s future.

Please join d.light and me as we work together to bring light to people who are in dire need of it.