Amanda Bernal, PhD researcher, is doing fieldwork in Norway, specifically in Oslo.
Her ethnography consists of following Guillem Trius, from the OAK Stories agency, in his reportage of local people who are addicted to heroin. This report is part of "Norden", a long-running documentary project by the same agency that seeks to tackle in depth the chiaroscuro of the Nordic countries, considered in the collective imagination as "idyllic". It aims to address, from different cases in all the members of the Nordic Council, the fragility of this supposed welfare state in a rigorous and realistic way. The countries involved in this project are Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. This is a relevant case given that it is a pioneering project that involves being able to explore ethnographically the credibility, effect and impact that is exerted from Northern Europe to the rest of the EU countries in the way we understand aspects such as well-being, power, abundance and health. This project could not be carried out in Spain precisely because it is not possible to explore how these narratives are constructed in their country of origin, and Visual Trust will then have the opportunity to monitor their communication in Spain.
This means being able to explore its impact on the national audience, thus being able to follow Visual Trust's objectives in the analysis of all the stages of the social life of documentary images. It also implies the opportunity to follow the work methods of the professional Guillem Trius, a renowned photojournalist who regularly collaborates with media such as National Geographic, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and 5W and who is willing to show Visual Trust how to approach a documentary project of this type and enter into dialogue with the researcher.