Our Cultural Partners

Joseph Kayne

Joseph Kayne photographs the American landscape and Native American archaeological sites with a 4x5 large format view camera. Five (5) years ago he learned the rare antique process known as Wet Plate Collodion photography. Using the process from 1850, a wooden 8x10 Deardorff camera, and a lens from 1870, Joseph’s newest project encompasses Native Americans from the Southwest United States, as well as the Midwest. 

Joe’s photographs have been exhibited in galleries, museums, a U.S. National Park visitor center, and private collections across the country, including the Heard Museum and the Museum of Natural History.  His tintype of Deb Haaland was shown on The Rachel Maddow Show. Joseph was the first person to make a tintype of Deb Haaland, who is the first Native American to hold a United States Cabinet Position (Secretary of the Interior), and one of two of the first Native American women to be elected to the United States Congress.

Joseph’s interest in photography started while he was working in archaeology in Egypt and Israel during his college years. He received an art grant from the City of Chicago and has been a featured lecturer at the View Camera Magazine Large Format Photography Conference. Joe’s publication credits include: Lenswork, View Camera magazine, Sierra Club, Arizona Highways, Audubon Calendars (cover), Nature Conservancy (cover), Photo Life magazine, and Natural History magazine. He was a featured photographer and named a “Lord of the Landscape” in Outdoor Photographer magazine’s landscape collector’s issue and is recognized as a long-time large format nature photographer. One of Joseph’s images was presented on The New York Times LENS live blog. Joseph has been awarded an artist-in-residency 3 times by the Nation Park Service at Hubbell Trading Post, in the heart of Navajo Nation, in Ganado, Arizona.

Simon Lister

Simon is a highly respected veteran of the advertising and film industry, having worked with some of the advertising world’s top directors and creatives in his 34 years in the business. He heads up as joint Creative Director for Squeak e Clean Studios, a music and sound company that has an international presence, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Sydney. Squeak e Clean Studios is a frontrunner in creating soundtracks for global brand advertising campaigns, documentaries and feature films.

Despite, or perhaps as a product of his extensive experience in the advertising and film industry, Simon has discovered a great passion for capturing and sharing stories that are entirely unique from his own experience of life in his home countries of Australia and New Zealand. He does so through his masterful work in photography and film. For the past 13 years, Simon’s passion has taken him to some of the most remarkable and fascinating places in the world. He has captured breathtaking photographs and film in a vast range of countries including India, Morocco, Myanmar, PNG, Thailand, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Laos, Baja, Mongolia, extensive Europe and North America and of late Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Lebanon and Mexico.

Upon touching down, much of Simon’s exploration occurs on the back of a motorbike. Traveling this way allows him a rare opportunity to access areas, experiences and cultures not often visited by travelers. He gains first-hand insight into the mysteries and wonders of the human experience, sharing the untold stories of the people of our fascinating world.

These travels have been entirely self-funded, without sponsorship or partners; they have been pilgrimages of passion, fuelled by a pure heartfelt love and earnest desire to share all that he has witnessed and experienced.
Simon has seen first-hand how moving and humbling the human spirit can be, and acknowledges the power in communicating it through visual storytelling. He wants others around the world to be as moved as he is, by human life and the world in which we live.

As such, UNICEF has taken a keen interest in Simon’s work. Like Simon, they recognise not only the uniqueness and joy in the footage and photographs he captures, but also their significance and capacity to elicit change across a global platform.
In June of 2016 Unicef contracted Simon to be their brand photographer and filmographer to help create a library for their 193 offices to use across all platforms and also direct and produce their brand commercial which will be played globally in multiple regions around the world. The commercial is 90 seconds long and features the incredible voice of Liam Neeson, and for the other regions, voices Jackie Chan, Shakira and other Unicef ambassadors.
The brand launch was released at Unicef’s 70th anniversary at the United Nations on the 12th of December 2016.

In 2018 Simon has been featured in the Netflix documentary series ‘Tales by Light’ which tells the stories of photographers around the world. Simon’s story is about child workers in Bangladesh and Bolivia and he is partnered with Unicef and special guest Orlando Bloom, together they share stories of children in some of the world's harshest environments.

In 2020 Simon was Creative Director for the United Nations 75th Anniversary film that played in the General Assembly in New York city, it was played in the opening of the event to world leaders and representatives of the world's nation's.

Simon’s first-hand experience of humanity in all environments, along with his depth of knowledge of the film industry, means that he can bring an entirely new and unique visual experience to UNICEF with his photographs, film and 360VR experiences. He can capture, edit, create soundtracks and produce all deliverables including brand messaging across all mediums.