My aim is to highlight individual experiences of becoming and being a nonbeliever in America, where unbelief can still carry a strong social stigma. I want to include diverse voices and overlooked narratives. I'm curious about what 'unbelief' means to you and how you experience it.

For the purposes of definition, nonbelievers may include atheists, agnostics, humanists, spiritual but not religious people, and people who identify as culturally religious (e.g., LDS, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish) but do not believe in god(s). You might choose a different label, or prefer to use none at all.

Nonbelievers are never just any of these potential labels. They are parents, children, siblings, friends and life partners who hold multiple overlapping identities. They have passions and fears, values and ethics. My goal is to portray the people I photograph as individuals who exist in meaningful relationship to others, as well as to the social worlds and environments they move through.

While nonbelief is usually defined by an absence of belief in God(s), I’m more interested in what exists in its place. How do unbelievers make sense of life’s big questions? What are the principles that guide their lives? Where do they find and create meaning? What’s their experience of systems of oppression, such as sexism, racism or Christian dominance? And how does that influence their experience of being a nonbeliever?

I believe in taking a collaborative approach and plan to create a short visual essay with each person I meet that will combine multiple photographs with words drawn from our conversations, presented together on the page or in an exhibition. The project aims to take audiences on a visual journey of encounter and discovery, with each person's story a chapter on that journey.

In this way, ‘Portraits of Unbelief’ aims to contribute to a better understanding of unbelief in America and counter negative stereotypes by producing a book of portraits and interviews, teaching materials for use in schools and classrooms, hosting a website and exhibitions in public venues.

Please let me know you’re interested in taking part, or would like to find out more, by completing this brief online form or copying the link below into your browser:

https://forms.gle/a2NqGh5nt4x8ksWs6

There’s a space on the form to share questions, but if you have any before you start, feel free to send me an email: aubrey@aubreywade.com

After receiving your answers, I will contact you with further information about the project and to arrange a time to speak by phone or video call (Skype, Zoom, etc) at a time that is convenient for you.

Thank you for connecting. I look forward to learning more about your story! Please feel free to share the project with others you think could be interested.

I am a British photographer (he/him) living in Berlin with my German wife and our two young children. I work primarily on long-term documentary projects that explore themes around identity, (un)belief, migration and our relationships to people and place, often working collaboratively to incorporate words, pictures and audio in a research-based practice. I work close to home as well as internationally.

I deeply value connection and community, and I’m respectfully curious about difference and diversity. I worry about the increasing degree to which we all live in our own 'filter bubbles' and I believe it's vital to create spaces for respectful encounters that foreground empathy and an open mind towards others.

So I work hard to connect the stories of the people I photograph with diverse audiences beyond publication in selected media. Examples of this include co-producing bespoke exhibitions in public venues, such as in Berlin's central train station or the Vatican, as well as co-developing materials that support learning in classrooms.

I consider it a privilege to do what I do and value the opportunities for encounter and exchange that projects like this one create. I'm open and curious, gentle and respectful. I believe everybody has a story that's worth telling.

I describe myself as an atheistic agnostic. I do not believe in God but I think there’s wisdom to be found in the world’s faith traditions. I do not believe in a divine mind that has fashioned the world, yet I believe that "a godless world is as mysterious as one suffused with divinity”, to borrow a phrase from John Gray.

Feel free to get in touch: aubrey@aubreywade.com

‘Portraits of Unbelief’ is an independent project supported by a grant from Explaining Atheism, an international academic research programme at Queen's University Belfast (U.K.) that seeks to improve understanding of the histories and possible futures of belief and non-belief.

Throughout the project I will be working in conversation with researchers Dena Abbott and Melanie Brewster, and their research project Unbelief within marginalized communities.

Let me know you are interested in taking part in ‘Portraits of Unbelief’ by completing this brief online survey (3-5 mins) or copy the link below into your browser:

https://forms.gle/a2NqGh5nt4x8ksWs6

After receiving your answers, I will contact you with further information about the project and to arrange a time to speak by phone or video call (Skype, Zoom, etc) at a time that is convenient for you.

There’s a space on the form to share questions, but if you have any before you start, feel free to send me an email: aubrey@aubreywade.com

Thank you for connecting and I look forward to learning more about your story!