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These are special documentary projects exploring social justice and community
issues.
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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.
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In
A New Land: The Stories of Russian Refugee Youth (2004-05)
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• View photos
In a New Land (completed April 2005), taught Russian immigrant and refugee teens living
in the City of West Hollywood to tell their stories through the
lens of a camera. The teens explored their own, developing cross-cultural
identity, took environmental portraits of the people and places
in their community, and their personal lives. They also worked
with historian David Kaufman from Hebrew Union College to explore
the similarities and differences between their immigration and
that of earlier immigrants and refugees. more... |
Alex Donskoy, 16
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Picturing
Race: From Los Angeles to South Africa (2001–02)
On
August 20, 2001 Delisa Alejandre, Justin Hill, Michael Linarte,
Selena Vargas, and Eamon Wright traveled with their Venice Arts
mentors to Durban, South Africa to attend the United Nations' World
Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia, & Related Intolerance. We
went as official delegates of the City of Los Angeles, under
the auspices of the Human Relations' Commission, and were accredited
by the United Nations for participation in the conference. We
were joined in South Africa by Randy Henderson and Justin Arnwine
from the Washington, D.C.-area. Justin's mom, Barbara, and Randy's
dad, Tom, are the Executive Director and Lead Counsel, respectively,
for Lawyers Committee for Human Rights Under the Law, active
participants in the NGO (nongovernmental organizations) leadership.
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Eamon Wright, 12 |
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.
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Selena Vargas, 16
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Michael Linarte, 10
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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.
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Girls'
Lives Through Girls' Eyes (1998-2000)
Girls' Lives was a national photography
and writing project conducted between 1998-2000 with teenage girls living in
four diverse American communities: Los Angeles, California; Maysville, Kentucky;
Leachville, Arkansas; and Detroit Michigan.
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Girls'
Lives was conceived as a project in which participants,
mentored by professional photographers and writers, would explore
their dreams, challenges, and hopes for the future in words
and images. It resulted in an extraordinary body of work that
was exhibited as part of new millennium celebrations at the
Mason County Museum (Kentucky), Focus:HOPE (Detroit), and SPARC
(Los Angeles). View photos.
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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.
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A Closer Look
