The wonderful thing about photography is that anyone can do it. It’s the most democratic of arts. Anyone with a camera can make a photograph. Anyone with a little talent, desire, and, perhaps, mentoring, can make a good photograph.
This simple truth drives professional photographers nuts. They point out that it’s hard to make a very good photograph and exceedingly difficult to make very good photographs consistently, under pressure, day after day, year after year, over a lifetime.
True enough, but the fact remains that anyone with a camera can make a photograph and anyone with some talent and desire can make a good one. All of which makes photography a great way to introduce children to the creative arts.
That brings us to a terrific exhibition opening and book launch that I went to last night at The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, in Charlottesville, Virginia.
El Barrio, The Neighborhood: An Insider’s View of Southwood is the name of the book and exhibition that features photos made by a group of elementary and middle-school kids who live in the Southwood Mobile Home Park, in Albemarle County, Virginia, just outside of Charlottesville.
During the fall of 2008, professional photographers, led by Greg Kelly, co-founder of the Bridge, and Susan Mortell, a photographer who teaches locally, taught the students basic photography skills. Then, as Gloria Rockhold, the coordinator of Latino community relations for the Albemarle County public schools (and one of the people most responsible for getting the project off the ground), says in the book’s introduction, Greg and Susan "let them loose." The goal "was to visually record, interpret, and generally tell the story of the place where they live.... ...the students loved this class and blossomed during the process...."
Below are some snapshots from the opening. (Click directly on the image to see larger versions.)
Arnol Lopez shows visitors one of his photos.
Elizabeth Colindres, right, one of the student photographers, with Susan Mortell, left, one of the instructors.
The parents and sister of one of the student photographers look at a copy of El Barrio.
Arnol Lopez being interviewed by a reporter from CBS 19, a local TV station.
This project works on so many levels. It introduced students to art, showing them that it can be a way of creating beauty and a mode of self-expression. Seeing what they were able to accomplish instilled in them a sense of self-confidence. The exhibition allowed children and parents from Southwood to feel at home in a setting--an art gallery--where those who are marginalized and disadvantaged often feel out of place. Finally, the book is a tangible, permanent record of the project.
To outsiders, the arts community in most American cities seems insular, self-satisfied, and off-limits to anyone who’s not white and at least middle class. Greg, Susan, Gloria, and the other volunteers are proving that this doesn’t have to be the case.
Greg Kelly, Gloria Rockhold, and Susan Mortell.
Copies of the book, El Barrio, The Neighborhood: An Insider’s View of Southwood, are available from The Bridge.
The photos will be on display during the entire month of June. Anyone planning to be in Charlottesville for Look 3, the Festival of the Photograph, should drop by to see them. The Bridge is an easy five-minute walk from the main festival venues.
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