These are special documentary projects exploring social justice and community issues.

	Got Caught Up Out There: Photography by Homeless Women	The House is Small but the Welcome is Big View interactive site. View brochure site	A Closer Look at Youth	Changing Face of Venice
	In A New Land	Picturing Race	Girls' Lives Through Girls' Eyes	Multiple Exposures

Got Caught Up Out There: Photography by Homeless Women
Women in Venice capture their experience of homelessness (2009)

When the County of Los Angeles embarked on a major initiative to address homelessness in our region in 2007, we knew that the arts could be part of the solution; more than twenty arts organizations, including Venice Arts, were already doing important work reaching the homeless through the arts. How to demonstrate this to those making policy decisions about where to allocate resources for this effort? More...

The House is Small, But the Welcome is Big
Photo Stories by women and kids affected by HIV/AIDS (2006–07)

A two–year documentary project exploring HIV/AIDS and its impact on women and children. The first phase (2006) sent a crew of Venice Arts' photographers to Cape Town, South Africa. Project photographers were 15 HIV positive women, recent moms or moms–to–be, who reside in the townships of Cape Town. These extraordinary women documented their lives and shared their stories. The second phase (2007) sent a team to Maputo, Mozambique. The project photographers were 15 kids, orphaned by AIDS, and 6 teen activists interested in media advocacy. The result: A compelling body of photography that gives a human face to the continuing global AIDS crisis and, in particular, its impact on women and children. Led by creative director Jim Hubbard, VA co–founder, Lynn Warshafsky, advisory board member, Peter Hermann, and physician/executive producer Neal Baer. More...

A Closer Look at Youth
In Response to Killing, Local Teens Tell their Own Stories (2006-07)

Teenagers living in Mar Vista and Venice documented their lives and communities in Venice Arts' local
Social Art Initiative: A Closer Look at Youth. Created after the senseless killing of a teenager by another youth at Venice High School—the first such killing on an LAUSD campus in over a decade.

The idea for the project grew out of an interest in hearing directly from the youth affected by this killing, as well as similar community violence. We knew that they had their own, complicated stories to tell. We assumed that these stories would include, but be much greater and more layered than, violence or gang activity.

In fact, their stories are as varied as their personalities: Street–side memorials and a community car wash to raise funds for a funeral, yes, but also portraits of close families, friends, and festive neighborhood street life.Supported through the National Endowment for the Arts, the office of Councilman Bill Rosendahl, and the Abbot Kinney District Association, A Closer Look at Youth began this summer and will conclude in December with an exhibit planned for early 2007. Our hope is that the exhibit will not only be a showcase of the youths' creativity but, also, will allow youth to interact with the broader community to share their perspectives on issues that concern us all.

In A New Land: The Stories of Russian Refugee Youth (2004-05)

In addition to attending and documenting the conference, we met people from all over the world, explored the complicated issues of racism and xenophobia from an international perspective, and shared with the international community an exhibition of photography by American youth exploring homelessness, disability, and girls' issues, among others.

In the photo slide show Picturing Race, you can view a sample of some of the powerful black-and-white photographs taken by the youth in South Africa; we believe these are made even more relevant following the events of September 11th. These images, along with those from Los Angeles form the core of youth-led presentations and exhibitions in the Los Angeles-area exploring race.

Exhibits, to-date, have included: A comprehensive exhibition at SPARC (Social Public Art Resource Center), Bank of America, Windward Branch; City of Santa Monica's Martin Luther King Celebration; Vera Davis McClendon Youth and Family Center; and Art for Peace. Presentations have been made at Canyon Charter Elementary School, Couer d'Alene, Lincoln Middle School, Mar Vista Gardens, St. Anne's, and Westside Leadership Academy.

Multiple Exposures (1996)

A collaborative photography project designed by Venice Arts with the Armory Center for the Arts (Pasadena) and Watts Towers Art Center (Watts), Multiple Exposures involved approximately 30 young people. The project had two primary goals: to document these three very different communities through shooting, discussions, storytelling, and other interactive exercises, to help participating youth cross geographical, cultural, and economic divides and develop a broader understanding of the diversity in Southern California.

Approximately 50 images from Multiple Exposures were exhibited at the Community Gallery at Santa Monica Place. Click here to see a small selection from that exhibit.