Book Presentation, Talk & Signing, Carol Allen Storey: Defying the Myth

06:30pm - 08:00pm, Thu 22 Oct 2026

Award winning photojournalist Carol Allen-Storey is presenting her new publication Defying the Myth, published by GOST, in our Cafe Bar. She will be in conversation with Shoair Mavlian, director of The Photographers' Gallery, and the women featured in the book, exploring how we see disability - and whether storytelling can change how these lives are understood. The talk will be followed by a Booksigning in the Bookshop.

Photograph of child making a gesture with right hand in front of their face

Book Presentation, Talk & Signing, Carol Allen Storey: Defying the Myth

6:30pm, Thu 22 Oct 2026

Award winning photojournalist Carol Allen-Storey is presenting her new publication Defying the Myth, published by GOST, in our Cafe Bar. She will be in conversation with Shoair Mavlian, director of The Photographers' Gallery, and the women featured in the book, exploring how we see disability - and whether storytelling can change how these lives are understood. The talk will be followed by a Booksigning in the Bookshop.

Defying the Myth is a decade-long collaboration between the photographer and the single mothers, raising children with lifelong disabilities through photographs, drawings, poems, and intimate testimonies in the families' own words.

 

About Defying the Myth:

What began as a photographic project soon became a true collaboration with these families. Over time, through shared trust, vulnerability and care, this project has grown into something much larger—a community, a network, a family of its own. The book also features drawings, artworks, poems, and testaments made by the women and the children. 

The book shines a light on the struggles, and triumphs of three single mothers raising children with severe disabilities. This project is more than just a story of survival—it is a testament to love, creativity, and hope. In it we meet mothers Shoulana, Annalisa and Nicola and their children Kallan, Mekhye, Gabriel, Maria, Jaffa and Nuch. 

Also included in the book are forewords by Clarissa Ward, Chief International Correspondent CNN and Fiona Shields, Head of Photography for The Guardian News and Media. 

All proceeds Carol receives from the sale of this book will go directly to Shoulana, Annalisa and Nicola, to nurture their children’s futures and carry their dreams forward.

 

 

Carol Allen-Storey is UNICEF Ambassador for Photography and a multiple award-winning documentary photographer specialising in humanitarian and social issues. 

Her recently published book ‘Defying the Myth’, a decade-long personal project documenting three single mothers raising children with severe disabilities, has been recognised as one of the most important photography books of 2026.

Some of her awards include AOP Gold, three consecutive Julia Margaret Cameron first prizes, four Taylor Wessing Prize selections, and first prizes at the IPPA Awards and British Journal of Photography Portrait Award.

Storey’s work has been exhibited internationally, some including: The National Portrait Gallery, London, Powerhouse New York, the Nobel Peace Centre, Oslo, and the EU HQ, Brussels.