Erased From a Davos Photo, a Ugandan Climate Activist Is Back in the Picture

When Vanessa Nakate, 24, was cropped out of a wire photo featuring her and four white activists, it drew attention that she now uses to expand her work in Uganda and beyond.

KAMPALA, Uganda — A young climate activist, Vanessa Nakate, had just sat down for lunch at the gathering of the global elite in Davos, Switzerland, in January last year when she saw the photo that would catapult her to global fame — not for what it showed, but for what it did not. Her, to be precise. Just hours before, Ms. Nakate, a 24-year-old Ugandan, had participated in a news conference at the World Economic Forum with four white activists, including the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. But when The Associated Press released a picture of the five from the event, Ms. Nakate had been cropped out.