Defying the Myth: How We Value Lives

For over a decade, award winning photographer Carol Allen-Storey photographed three mothers, Annalisa, Nicola and Shoulana — each raising a child with a lifelong disability. She was there for the hospital corridors and the kitchen tables, the birthdays and the emergencies. The result is Defying the Myth: not a project about disability, but a story in collaboration with the families, told from the inside.

Over time, the work grew beyond photography into a shared act of storytelling — drawings, poetry and testimony woven together with the images, all in the families’ own words. As Clarissa Ward writes in her foreword, these children deserve to be seen “not as burdens. Not as tragedies. Not as the recipients of our pity or our inspiration — but as themselves.”

Join Shoulana, Annalisa and Nicola with Carol for a candid conversation on how we see and value disability, who carries the weight of care, and whether visual storytelling can change the way these lives are understood.

This event is a collaboration with Pranvera Shema Smith, Founder of On Front Line, an independent live events programme bringing together journalists, writers and leading voices for informed conversations on the issues shaping our world.

Event Schedule

6:15pm: Pre-event socialising and networking
A cash bar will be available for refreshments.

6:30pm: Event begins

7:30pm: Event ends

Speakers

Carol Allen-Storey is an award-winning documentary photographer specialising in humanitarian and social issues, and a UNICEF ambassador for photography. Her work has received numerous international awards, including Gold at the Association of Photographers and three consecutive Julia Margaret Cameron Awards. She has exhibited widely, including at the National Portrait Gallery, Somerset House, the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo and internationally. Her book Defying the Myth was published by GOST Books in July 2026.

Clarissa Ward is CNN’s Chief International Correspondent and one of the world’s leading international journalists. She has reported from conflicts and crises across the Middle East, Europe and Asia, and is the recipient of multiple Emmy and Peabody Awards.