Ojos de Oaxaca, Photography Project with Teens

THE OAXACA LEARNING CENTER, OJOS DE OAXACA, OAXACA, MEXICO

PROJECT ABSTRACT:

Ojos de Oaxaca:  Photography Project with Youth: Oaxaca, Mexico

The teen population of Oaxaca City is growing, but overall enrichment activities are not. Young adults in Oaxaca, Mexico lack access to art programs and outlets for self-expression. The current lack of enrichment activities for young adults reflects the lack of resources in the area.  All too often, the income of Mexican families is spent on survival instead of creative endeavors.

                The Oaxaca Learning Center was created in 2004. It is a non-profit organization and a Project of the Mexican non-profit agency Instituto de Integracion y Asesoria Comunitaria, A. C. This organization offers young adults an educational environment where they can receive tutoring and English language classes. Often students in Oaxaca do not have the resources or abilities to further their education. The Oaxaca Learning Center serves low-income individuals between the ages of 14 and 24. Many of the participants of The Oaxaca Learning Center are at-risk through poverty and lack of family literacy.   The Oaxaca Learning Center  is a supportive place for young people to feel safe, welcome and encouraged to learn and grow. However, there are currently few creative outlets involving participants of the organization. The Oaxaca Learning Center is hoping to change this.

The Ojos de Oaxaca program will offer photography classes for young adults.  This project will empower youth by giving them the resources to tell stories through photography. Traditionally privileged people have cameras and opportunities to photograph.  In this project we will step down from that privilege and acknowledge the vision of an under-represented group in media: low-income youth from Oaxaca, Mexico.

Students will learn the photographic skills in order to create quality images. These photos will be through their eyes and will show their perspectives. This program will allow participants to feel inspired to create and express themselves. It will enable young people to learn a new skill that will offer a creative outlet for self-expression and self-confidence. Students will be encouraged to express themselves in positive ways that spread awareness about their communities and culture. Students will develop their own expressive voices and independent thinking. The Ojos de Oaxaca project will offer youth a supportive arena to expand skills, discover inner talents, and take an active role in their own educational and personal lives. The skills that these students learn can apply to future educational and professional endeavors. Ojos de Oaxaca will show that young adults deserve communities that want them to succeed and support their efforts to fulfill their greatest potential. Through this project, we expect to foster empowerment, insight and personal growth.

                The success of this project can be measured by the skills learned and the photographs that are produced. The quality of these images will exemplify that the project has had a positive effect on the lives of young participants. The continuation of student work in the future will show that this has been a worthy cause. The project will maintain a website of all of the participant's photos and biographies. This online gallery will be continually updated.  In addition, we will show all photographs in galleries throughout Mexico, the United States and Central America. The sharing of culture and art is in itself, a success. Through photography, Oaxacan youth will be given the chance to share their community, culture, religion and reality with the world. This unifying act will exemplify that our project goals have been accomplished.

DONATED DIGITAL CAMERAS AND FUNDING NEEDED!
IF INTERESTED, PLEASE CONTACT ME AND I WOULD BE HAPPY TO SHARE MORE:

We could really use your support to make this a successful project! Contact me for more information at: orangehula@yahoo.com. Thanks!