An LTP exhibition at the Durham County Library, May 2014

Please see the posts below to view online the LTP work made this spring by students at The School for Creative Studies.

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Pictures of injustice by Ms. Edwards’ students at The School for Creative Studies

This exhibition, on view at the Durham County Library, illustrates students’ ideas about injustice. Seventh graders in Ms. Edwards’ class at The School for Creative Studies focused on their own lives in this social studies lesson. With pictures and words students communicate their struggles with getting in trouble, feeling left out, being bored with school assignments, dealing with older or younger siblings, living far from one’s homeland or facing bullies. Ms. Edwards’s students worked with Duke undergraduate students in Literacy Through Photography, a class at the Center for Documentary Studies taught by Katie Hyde.

Portraits of classic literary figures, by Ms. Wash’s 7th grade students at The School for Creative Studies

This exhibition, now on view at the Durham County Library’s Main Branch at 300. N. Roxboro Street, features representations of classic literary figures made by students in Ms. Washalefsky’s language arts class at The School for Creative Studies. This LTP project built upon an in-depth study of a chosen character’s personality, motivations, goals, and struggles. Through an imaginative use of gesture, expression, symbol and background, the seventh graders’ photographs illuminate the contemporary appeal of such characters as Jo March, Piggy and Atticus Finch. Students’ first-person written narratives provide a glimpse into the inner world of their characters. The Durham students worked with Duke undergraduates in Literacy Through Photography, a class at the Center for Documentary Studies taught by Katie Hyde. (click on the images below to view larger versions)

Healthy Habits Cookbook, by Ms. Sims’ students at The School for Creative Studies

The students in Ms. Sims’s 6th grade health class at The School for Creative Studies made a Healthy Habits Cookbook. This assignment encouraged students to think about habits for physical, mental, and emotional health. Each student wrote a “recipe” and then made a photograph focusing on a single part of the recipe. Some of the ingredients involved exercise, others involved games and special hobbies, spending time with friends and family, or eating favorite foods. The Durham students worked with Duke undergraduate students in Literacy Through Photography, a class at the Center for Documentary Studies taught by Katie Hyde.

Ad pitches, by Ms. Barnes’ students at The School for Creative Studies

This work, on view at the Durham County Library, displays ad pitches created by 6th grade students in Ms. Barnes’ class at The School for Creative Studies. In a course about creative entrepreneurship and marketing, students envisioned their own products or services—many involving sports, music, fashion or technology. After scripting dialogues for hypothetical commercials, students experimented with capturing the essence of their product with a single still image. (click on the images below to view larger versions)

picturing home in seven languages

In March 2014, seven foreign exchange high school students living with American Field School (AFS) host families worked alongside seven Duke University students studying Literacy Through Photography. Together the international group explored cultural meanings and symbols of HOME. They first agreed on a word related to home for every letter from A to Z and then made visual illustrations for their words. Students drew upon their many languages–French, Spanish, English, Russian, German, Chinese and Thai–in representing their ideas of home. (click on the images below to view larger versions)

Kindness: An International Concept, a photo reflection by Manda Hufstedler

“What do you think we should use for the letter ‘T,’ Raphael?” I inquired. “Tendresse. It’s ‘kindness’ in French, and I think ‘home’ means kindness and love.” Raphael explained to me.

The Alphabet Project and “Home”

The LTP community workshop for the AFS international exchange student group that Katie Hyde and her LTP class conducted this year utilized the alphabet project idea, which allowed the students to determine words for letters in the alphabet that they felt best represented the feeling and concept of home. Each AFS student was paired with a Duke student in Katie’s class. When Raphael and I teamed up to determine words for a handful of letters, I was surprised by how similar our word lists were to each other. We noticed more similarities when we paired up with Michelle, another Duke student in Katie’s class, and Shelby. As we  collectively decided which words we liked best, we talked about why ‘home’ felt the way it did to us, and we seemed to all come to the conclusion that home was somewhere with a safe, loving, caring environment while being slightly varied for everyone. For example, I mentioned that I chose “Howdy!” to represent the letter ‘H’ because I’m from Texas, and although it’s a stereotype, it always reminds me of home. Michelle, Shelby, and Raphael giggled a bit by my insistence that the word is actually used, but they really liked it because it was unique.

From there we set out to capture our words through photographs. This, by far, was the most enjoyable part of the entire experience for me. Not only did we open up, but our small group of four bonded as we continued to recount our stories of home and come up with unique representations of things like the words “Howdy!” or “Tendresse.” Michelle and I stressed the power of framing, focus, and background as we approached the photography phase. When we came to “tendresse,” we were walking through the Center for Documentary Studies building and actively searching for a way to photograph kindness. Shelby asked the group, “Guys, what does kindness look like?” The group discussed how kindness felt: like your mom’s hugs or when someone helps you out when you need it most. As we walked outside into the cold rain, Raphael held his umbrella over Shelby. Looking up she exclaimed that Raphael’s act was exactly what kindness was, and asked for Michelle and I to capture it. The photograph was aesthetically beautiful with the bursts of bright color from Shelby’s sweatshirt and Raphael’s umbrella. Additionally, it ended up representing “tendresse” better than I think we initially imagined. Not only is Raphael offering to share his umbrella with Shelby, but he is actually handing it over to her and forgoing his own dryness and comfort in order to help her. Looking back, we decided that the picture accurately depicted what kindness at home is.

After all of the groups had taken pictures, we printed and assembled them on the wall. Each of us selected two pictures and wrote something, anything that came to mind about the word and it’s representation. Shelby’s writing about the “tendresse” picture refers to selfless acts of kindness between strangers and about kindness being an internationally understood concept that sustains hope in a world full of hate. I identified with and really loved her writing because I, myself, try to go out of my way each day and perform at least one act of kindness for someone I know or someone I don’t know. If everyone were to do this, I think the world would be a more just and loving place- a place more like how home feels.

I felt like this piece really portrays LTP and what it strives to do. First of all, the ABC project gave each person the opportunity to be creative and produce their own examples of what they think, feel, and have experienced. This project also allows people from a number of different places to convey through words and then visual representations what home means and feels like to them. Sometimes a certain word was difficult to explain, but photography helped promote understanding. I personally learned a lot about different cultures and people from the others in my group. All of our pictures had stories behind them from the person who suggested the representation, and we even had a few pictures that we labeled in several different languages. With understanding comes justice, which we learned is an important component of LTP work. Justice may mean a number of different things, and I felt this project promoted the concept of justice through giving people the opportunity to share their stories and educate others, which fosters acceptance and love.

Engaging with Self and Others: One Student’s Exploration, a reflection by Miranda Schartz

Coming into the Learning Through Photography course, I didn’t feel like I was inexperienced working with children. In fact, I probably would’ve considered myself well-versed in dealing with kids. However, what I had forgotten to consider was that I had not previously worked with students in a context where I was trying to coax them to produce a tangible and creative piece of work. That first day working with the School for Creative Studies, I had fooled myself into thinking that these kids would immediately jump on board with the LTP process and easily navigate the tasks we assigned. However, rediscovering that kids are only kids, I had to rethink my approach to involving the students. The first days with my group of 4 students were challenging. I didn’t realize I would have to be so involved, that my role required more than just leading an activity or assigning tasks. Initially the students had a difficult time engaging with the project. I became discouraged when it seemed my endless questioning and proposing of ideas wouldn’t garner any fruitful responses, but looking back on the final creations, I realize how misplaced my initial doubts were. 

In Ms. Wash’s seventh-grade class, the students had all chosen a classic novel such as Little Red Riding Hood or The Secret Garden from which they would analyze their chosen characters. The goal of our LTP project was for students to sketch images and then make photographs that captured the essence of their characters. We also asked students to write a new narrative not found in the novels to elaborate on the photo they had taken. Though none of my four students were overly eager to grab the camera and start shooting, Nicole was the first to take control of the situation as she imagined a photograph of Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden. Before assuming the character of Mary, Nicole asked another student to stand in her place as she designed the photograph. When the camera was finally positioned as she desired, Nicole handed me the camera while she swapped out the place of the model and became Mary Lennox.

The final product is a black and white photo taken from about six feet off of the ground, with Nicole herself curled up on her side, looking away from the camera. The black and white effect makes the photo timeless, and the distance at which the photo is taken gives the impression of a small, diminutive subject, highlighting the impact of her illness. To me, even more interesting than the photo or the photographic process is the writing that accompanies it. I had noticed that Nicole seemed frustrated with coming up with a text to complement her portrayal of the character. Pushing her to engage with her own photo and the information she had about Mary, I asked her to describe to me more about the sickness that she has brought to life. Nicole talked to me about how Mary’s skin turned yellow and she was very ill. She seemed confused on what to do with this idea of sickness, as jaundice is unfamiliar to her, so I simply asked her to assume the role as if it were here own illness. I asked “what would you do if suddenly your skin turned yellow?” She responded tentatively with “I would try to wash it off?” Up until this point, I think she had been having a difficult time assuming the role of her character. Empathizing with a fictional character from a starkly different background can be challenging to say the least, but learning to empathize is one of the most rewarding benefits of the LTP methodology. The methodology challenges kids to see their world through different lenses, and engaging with these lenses through role playing can lead to empathizing. In Nicole’s case, empathizing with her character gave her a starting point from which she wrote a short but impactful piece on “her” sickness. In the end, she took ownership of her character without hesitation or discomfort. 

Cultural Exchange-Seeing the Alphabet through International Eyes, a reflection by Flora Muglia

Language has an undeniable power, evoking memories, emotions, and community. Working with international exchange students on a Literacy Through Photography workshop, we chose to do the alphabet project with them because regardless of the language you speak, you can convey a universal message through imagery and photography. Choosing the topic of “home” for the alphabets provided room for creative exploration between languages and cultures, allowing us to share our personal experiences of what home is like, regardless of what country our home is in.

In this photo, Josie, Paulina and I stand side by side under a rainbow umbrella. The rainbow is meant to signify how the international community is made up of a myriad of colors, all of which are beautiful in their own way. Josie and Paulina are exchange students from Germany, and the intentional placement of bodies in this picture is fascinating. First and foremost, all three of us are Caucasian, though from different backgrounds. They did not feel that it was necessarily important to have a clear racial diversity within the photo; our heritage and countries of origin prove to be enough to tell an international story. They also chose to stand side by side and have me on the right hand side, which speaks to the beauty of simple acceptance. Regardless of my physical placement amongst the two other girls, the picture would have conveyed the same message that multicultural is beautiful. We took this picture from several angles including from the back in order to show the scope of the multicolored umbrella. Ultimately, decided that we ourselves, standing beneath the myriad of colors, embodied the concept of what it means to be international. Happy expressions are seen on all three of our faces, demonstrating the universality of a smile.

 

The foreign exchange students we worked with embraced the concept of literacy through photography, noting how engaged they felt with the project because it enabled them to be creative, move around and think actively. Josie told me that she wanted to do a similar project in her photography class at school and asked what other types of projects LTP encompassed. The versatility of LTP showed through; our project connected to the students’ lives and our understandings of the world we live in.

 

The three hours I spent with Josie and Paulina were filled with laughter and creative engagement, speaking to the meaning of this project at least as well as this picture does. The expansive aspect of LTP transcends cultural boundaries to create something unique, creative, and visually appealing. We shared our understandings of home and the language that we grew up with in order to create a message of overarching acceptance. Everyone in the international community has a global home, this world is an accepting place filled with people who can teach you more than you ever thought possible. Sometimes all it takes is looking at smiling faces under a rainbow umbrella to remember.

Resolving the half and half problem, a reflection by Emily Yang

Anyone could see the divide in the classroom. Half and half, American Field Service high school exchange students on one side, Duke undergrads studying Literacy Through Photography on the other. Some forms of hello were exchanged and names were passed around, but conversations were mostly happening within the two separate groups. Compared to the state of the classroom after the brief LTP workshop? Students from both groups were mingling freely, sharing stories, sprawled on the floor together coming up with funny photo captions… comfortable with each other and the cultural diversity that intimidated and separated us at the start. By the end of the workshop, we had embraced each other’s different perspectives, and it was wonderful.

Point of view is one of the core concepts of LTP. Holding the camera at eye level versus crouching and kneeling yields wildly different results in the final photograph. For example, in the “Yelling” photo, fitting in all three subjects required a long shot down the table, and this in turn highlighted the drama of the situation. Beyond the literal interpretation of how to compose a photograph, point of view emphasizes the value of self-expression and the importance of considering the different vantage points within each of our stories. What better way to experience this than through a cross-cultural exchange of ideas? An excellent example of this arose in collaborative effort to make a visual alphabet, which involved brainstorming and creating a photograph for verbs, nouns, or adjectives relating to a central theme (in our case, “Home”).

Our group was composed of Flora and I, two Duke students, and Josie and Paulina, two enthusiastic girls from Germany. We had a short time to photograph the list of words we’d generated, including “yelling” and “discussion.” After finding an empty classroom, Josie and Paulina proposed we host a mock argument. We had it all—explosive expressions, wild hand gestures, the works. However, when it came time to check this idea off the list, Flora and I realized we had misinterpreted the scene. We thought we had just photographed “yelling” while our German teammates thought it was “discussion.” Much laughter ensued, as well as descriptions of how two German family members ‘converse.’ We were amazed and eager to learn more about how the rules for each of our cultures were so different. Thus a cultural connection, LTP lesson and group bonding experience melded in our shared laughter and creative thought processes. Here was a solution to the “half and half” problem: having open and engaged minds work together to accomplish a creative project while maintaining an environment open to different cultural influences. After that, the two halves become one.