When Michael Brown was fatally shot in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, Time magazine sent documentary photographer and filmmaker Jon Lowenstein to the St. Louis suburb to document the unrest as it erupted on the streets. Lowenstein photographed and filmed the disproportionate use of force by police against protesters seeking justice for Brown, capturing in stark images the anger, tension, and power disparities he witnessed.

Now he wants to jumpstart the conversation about race and inequality in the United States with a far wider audience with his Postcards from Ferguson project, a set of eight postcards using his images — as a way to get the events of Ferguson into the hands of people in a tangible way.

“Most people, at one point in their lives, have sent a postcard to someone they love or care for with a simple and direct message,” says Lowenstein. “Usually, it’s about a trip, or a destination, but with Postcards from Ferguson, I hope to encourage all of us to confront our own difficult and ongoing collective history. I hope ultimately we can place ourselves in that history by sharing our own personal experiences with race and inequality with those we love or with politicians we want to influence.”

“Ferguson was a critical moment, and it’s vital that we find ways to create avenues for dialogue and change,” Lowenstein says. “I was blown away by the courage of the young people who stood up in the face of brute, state-sponsored force in an effort to create a new avenue for America. It’s almost certain that we never would have heard of Michael Brown and the systematic abuses of the Ferguson police department if people had not protested and said ‘Enough is enough, and Black Lives Matter!’”

The project is making its debut at this year’s TED2015 conference in Vancouver, Canada, as a gift to attendees.

“I wanted to launch Postcards from Ferguson at TED specifically so that influential people who might not normally have contact with situations like Ferguson would get the opportunity to engage the issues involved physically, psychologically and emotionally, through a familiar medium. It’s so easy to ignore what’s going on when you’re not directly affected. My desire is to spur dialogue that leads to change in people’s hearts, and in the laws that govern our society. I believe both are possible and, in fact, necessary.”

Postcards from Ferguson was commissioned by Fine Acts — an initiative led by TED Fellows Yana Buhrer Tavanier and Julie Freeman, with producer Pavel Kounchev. Fine Acts helps human-rights activists and artists work together on globe-spanning, collaborative projects, championing art with purpose for exhibition in galleries, museums, and public spaces.

“We hope the cards will provoke a physical call to action, prompting people to talk about this urgent issue, and turning image into involvement,” Tavanier says. “Jon’s photographs are too powerful not to get shared.”

Want to hear more about Jon Lowenstein’s experience in Ferguson? Read “Does after Ferguson exist?” on the TED Ideas blog. For an in-depth interview about Lowenstein’s long-term projects covering social injustice around the world, read “Why I document the often violent and traumatic daily lives of others” on the TED Blog. And follow him on Instagram, where Postcards from Ferguson will be featured.

Watch Lowenstein’s short film on his experience in Ferguson below.

The TED Fellows program hand-picks young innovators from around the world to raise international awareness of their work and maximize their impact.