Pedagogy of Photography Students in the News!

I just discovered this article written about our Doors of Reflection Project! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2008/08/world_savvy_map.php#

Opening the Doors of Reflection
One of the most powerful and richly layered art exhibits at the show is a project called "Doors of Reflections." Vivia, a vivacious 12-year-old girl from Jamaica, describes the project to me proudly. She perches on the edge of a wooden stool in the gallery, her yellow sundress glittering with sparkly sequins, and explains,

The whole concept was "doors of reflection," so it's � when you hold on to a knob and you're turning it and you're thinking about what's behind you and what's going to be in front of you, right? So it's like going back in time in somebody's mind and seeing where they gonna be in the future � or where they are now.

The middle-school class had collected photographs from their lives and homes and created visceral collages that rippled against the broken, cracked wood of an actual door, suspended from the ceiling.

"I'm just a problem that can never be solved. I don't belong here."
"Life is too harsh for me to be able to survive yet I continue on�."
"I will express myself."
"Albania is full of both beautiful and tragic memories. When I was five, the memory of seeing my aunt being shot by two drunk men hunts me & is heavy on my heart"
"Locked is what my door should be with all my secrets."

collage
The middle-school class had collected photographs from their lives and homes and created visceral collages that rippled against the broken, cracked wood of an actual door, suspended from the ceiling. Click for slideshow
These writings, scribbled with crayons, markers, paint and stickers, illuminate lives in which adolescent fears and insecurities are trumped by real terror and the desperate need to survive. I can't look away from the work. These kids have plunged their pens into their hearts and written with the unfiltered ink of raw emotion. Thoughts and secrets and desires are shuffled among photographs of smiling children, sepia-toned portraits of grandparents, geographies of memory, farmland, homeland and cityscape. When my gaze focuses on specifics, my eyes water, but I am at first unsure of these images as expressions of immigrant experience. Then, when I pull back and take in the entirety of the project, the conceptual theme washes over the boards.
The Immigrant Experience Leaks Through the Cracks

Boricuaz
La Boricua
such a shame
Datz all i hear
am i 2 blame
i am hizpanic
wat am i 2 do
IDK I don't have
a clue I cant
change my cul-
ture Itz not mii
fault I juz came
out diz way &
I cant go
back in
Im boricua N
proud Im
juicy NOT
Thin Im
brunette
not blond

The doors are the context, the frame and the canvas for the stories and feelings of the young artists. This poem by "Aze," is scratched into a windowpane in red and blue marker, the text hugging a photograph of a girl, body in profile looking outward into a void. Her shape is cut out and outlined in thick black: shadows that seem to be chasing her. A colored rendering of the Puerto Rican flag hangs suspended above her head. Taken alone, the image haunts, but within the collage of photos of smiling friends, doodles and magazine cutouts, its resonance sings. It is the immigrant experience � confusion, joy, pride, fear and sassiness leak through the cracks in the doorframe. As a work of art, as an expression of a young person's immigrant experience, the doors project is successful. It supplies images and media juxtaposed to each other in order to tell both individual and collective stories. As a collaboration project, it works on multiple levels. The viewer writes her own creation story of the piece, imagining a scenario where a group of 12- and 13-year-olds share scissors, glue, markers and laughter as they build the piece together. The images evoking pain and sorrow harmonize with those of survival and joy to tell a layered story of resilience.
Vivia sums up the process for me:
Through this project, everyone united with each other. Because everybody has a story to tell and everybody told their own story and now you get to see everybody's story. The fact that it's an art project really gives the person who's looking at it more in-depth features about who we are. And they get to see pictures of your life.

hey whats up people
yeah i,m just bored
have nothing to do
and i thought i would just take a look at this blog
it,s friday today///the fourth of july//the holiday i can see a lot of fireworks
i'm going to be happy and very very busy the next two weeks
my babybrother or sister is coming
and i have specialized
im going to be very busy and exited/im going to thisa wedding and bla bla bla
so friends
give me a call(those of you who know my number)
all right/bye

have a wonderful time

Irena.N

NBC

http://www.wnbc.com/video/16687900/index.html

Check out your work on NBC!~ Congratulations!

Congrats on a Great Year!

Congratulations to all the POP students who completed an amazing year! The OUR IDENTITIES exhibit at the NYPL library looks incredible and our presentation touched the staff and students at Bronx Green that attended the event. Remember it will be up all summer until August 30 so please bring your families and friends over the summer to show off the great work.

I also wanted to congratulate you on the DOORS OF REFLECTION art installation piece you created for the World Savvy Exhibit at NYU. The layers of your identities combined with the journey of your migration paths moved so many people!!!!! Plus you made the news! Check out these links to see the news! Shiquon and Clive's photo made the Daily News last Sunday! Mrs. DelaVaughn is so proud of you all!


http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=3573
http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/espanol/2008/06/16/2008-06-16_arte_inmigracin_e_identidad_global.html

Here are some quotes..:)

"Breaking up the space just beyond that is a series of hanging panels created by Bronx Green Middle School students, whose photography project resembles a graffiti-like assemblage of photos, words, poems and memories depicting the various places and experiences that forge the students’ identities. One student writes of constructing one’s identity by reconstructing the past: “Those old trees my father used to climb / When I go to Africa I shall do the same.” Another conveys a haunting memory of watching an aunt shot to death in Albania, a place “full of both beautiful and tragic” memories."....


..."Vivia Thompson, 13, whose "pedagogy of photography" class at Bronx Green Middle School created the hanging window panel displays, described how learning to express individual identities and hearing each others' stories led to an interesting conclusion: “We’re all different people who have really different backgrounds but we can all relate to one another.”

Looking Ahead

I would love for you to attend some great FREE summer photography/art/ecology classes offered through amazing organizations this summer! Let me know if you want me to register you!

International Center for Photography at the Point
Hunts Point, South Bronx
Classes are on M and W from 2-5
From July 7-August 13

Bronx River Art Center
Close by...

This organization is GREAT because it combines the mission of Bronx Green, the community service projects you did through Mrs. DelaVaughn's Advisory with the Bronx River Alliance, mediums of art you were exposed to through World Savvy (podcasts, short films, graffiti art..)and of course PHOTOGRAPHY...

FREE Classes for Teens through
Young Adults (Ages 13-21):

New "Legal!" Graffiti Painting
Are you constantly working on a tag or graffiti style in your sketchbook? Consider taking this Experimental Graffiti class! Explore the history of Graffiti Art in the Bronx by touring famous sites. Learn new and different techniques to project your unique vision without vandalizing private property.
Instructor: Courtney Burstion
Wednesday: 2pm-4pm

New Mixed Media Collage and Outdoor Sculptural Installation
This class will explore ecological, environmental and social issues through public art works produced directly in the neighborhood surrounding The Bronx River Art Center. Through these installations, students will cultivate creative expressions of their concerns, beliefs and personal histories within the context of the urban environment.
Instructor: Abigail DeVille
Thursdays: 2pm-4pm
Fridays: 2pm-4pm

ECO-MEDIA SUMMER INSTITUTE
Teens through Young Adults (Ages 13-21):

In partnership with Rocking the Boat - a youth boat- building and on-water education organization, students will help create downloadable videos and podcasts, creating a virtual tour of the Bronx River.

Interested students are required to sign up for a minimum of two classes. Work produced in all three of these classes will be integrated into one digital media product that will be uploaded to our digital media kiosk and displayed in public spaces throughout the Bronx.

Prerequisite: Basic Computer skills and some digital media experience.

EcoFilm
Write, use video cameras and edit footage with the same camera software used by top filmmakers (i.e., Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro). This class will include shooting, editing techniques and sound recording. Students will produce several short videos that investigate the important restoration work being done along our own Bronx River.
Instructor: Kevin Zacaria
Tuesday: 2pm-4pm

NewEcoPod
Learn how to create downloadable podcasts for Bronx River walking and paddling tours. Using Podcast Producer, capture sound recordings of tour guides, historians and our natural environment.
Instructor: Hector Canonge
Thursday: 2pm-4pm

EcoDigital Photography
Learn the basic techniques of digital photography. Explore the natural habitat surrounding the Bronx River and photograph animal and plant species. Learn how to use Photoshop, printing strategies and other presentation formats.
Instructor: Marisol Diaz
Friday: 2pm-4pm

I went to a workshop through En Foco taught by Marisol Diaz (Eco- Digital Photography) and I know you would learn a lot in her class! :)

Best Wishes for the summer!

At The WS Exibition : Right now 8:25 06-04-08

Right now I am upstairs but I've been downstairs , greeting our guesses and talking to them about our project .
We've been meeting other groups that World Savvy has been working with and learned that they have at least 20 schools and over 500 students involved , World Savvy is not just a New York based organization , it is world wide and impacting our everyday lives. The funds for the material and sponsers are from independent donators and I want to also say thank you to all of our supporters .

So now I will get back downstairs and continue with the discussions and explainations that we have on each other's projects ^.^ 

Paper Cut

I can feel the blood
coursing through my
veins

I can feel the breaking
of my
skin

I can hear the screams
inside my
head

Finally I feel DEAD

I can feel the
dripping of my
blood

I can feel the
scrapping of my
skin

I can hear the
bursting of my
ears
peircing with
screams

Finally I am DEAD


By: Vivia G. Thompson