We have great news: the university around the corner from San Francisco, ARCIS, has agreed to host a photo exhibition for OJOS nuevos! It will be on December 11th, from 7-9pm. Thanks to a recent donation from a Chicago-based individual, we will be able to print 8 photos of each of the 6 girls. The university has offered to provide juice and snacks as well as a diploma for each girl-- this will be a surprise.
Some of the girls are now throwing themselves into their projects, grabbing me in the morning before school, class notebook in hand, showing me their ideas for catchy phrases for invites or possible design layouts. I stand on the patio at 7.15am, blinking sleep away through my glasses, clutching my morning tea while I wait to bring a few girls to their school, nodding in encouragement and a little surprised that we have made it thus far as a class. Not all of the girls have always been excited about their projects. While I am constantly limiting what I include here so as to respect the privacy of the girls with whom I work, I do want to give a realistic impression of the challenges we have faced with the tallar, workshop. The girls' situations present them with many obstacles, and while I can see strength, determination, pride, and intelligence, they are still only 12-15 years old and have a lot to learn about themselves and the world. As always, even though we may have a lesson plan about photography, other lessons frequently take precedence.
I've spent time with each student individually, talking about her photography and discussing which 8 she will choose for the exhibition. The next class is scheduled to be the last class, and we will be presenting our photos to each other in discussion form. We will probably keep meeting until the exhibition so that the girls can participate in the planning and feel more ownership with the show. Stay tuned for more updates...
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The first class of OJOS nuevos will meet for 1 more week. While we are excited to have started class, our resources are incredibly limited. We cannot keep the program running without the help of our supporters. If you would like to see OJOS nuevos succeed, please contribute in any way possible. Thank you to everyone who has donated and helped us come this far.
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