Nancy McGirr, Shinpei Takeda, and Jim Hubbard at the 2007 Visible Rights Conference

Visible Rights: Photography by and for Youth.

VIEW INVITATION

This series of conferences for international photographer-educators allows practitioners an opportunity to share techniques and best practices in order to enhance their own work teaching young people to take pictures. The conferences were held on the principle that teaching children to take pictures also teaches them to appreciate looking at the world through perspective, composition, and framing-decisions which can turn victims into activists in their surroundings. This essential transition often develops into a greater sense of empowerment with appropriate coaching and training. The first conference was held in Sao Paolo, Brazil, in December 2006. The sequel conference will be hosted at Harvard University on December 14 and 15, 2007.

Titled "Visible Rights: Photography by and for Youth, II," the sequel working conference is dedicated to discussions that will explore the diverse ways in which teaching photography can promote effective social change and enable agency. The 2007 seminar aims to strengthen the links among participants of the 2006 meeting held in Sao Paulo, Brazil and to broaden the project's scope by inviting new collaborators. Additionally, the objective of this year's meeting and exhibition is to develop several of the issues presented at the first conference in preparation for book of essays.

We are excited to announce that the 2007 seminar will attract over fifty panelists and participants from across the United States, Latin and South America, Europe, and Asia, including: Shahidul Alam, Drik Picture Library Ltd; Miguel Chikaoka, Associação FOTOATIVA; Milton Ribeiro, FotoRio; Martin Rosenthal, Colombia Se Mira. Panels will address a range of topics including the development and best practices of participatory photography, the variety of perspective and point of view in the representation of facts, networking and fundraising strategies, and success of pedagogical models. An exhibition of groups’ photos will also be displayed to accompany the conference.

Visible Rights Conference Workspace: Essays, Abstracts, Presentations, and News/Announcements

An Interactive Community - to make a submission to our workspace, please email cultagen@fas.harvard.edu

Please note that all essays and presentations are sole property and copyright of the author and may not be re-published or reproduced without the author's written consent. Please contact the author directly, if possible, or us at cultagen@fas.harvard.edu to request consent for duplication or other use.

Essays
AJA - Image and the Process of Healing in Refugee Youth
Alam - The Majority World Looks Back
Duarte - Photography and Indigenous Communities
Frank - Through the Lens
Guran - The Concerned Eye- Visual Inclusion and Citizenship
Hubbard - Shooting Back
Hyde - Portraits and Collaborations
Jirmanus - Communication for Societal Transformation
ph15 - Participative Practice

Essays in Spanish
Martin - Educational Possibilites of Art in Social Interaction
Pastor - The Factories of Social Photography and Photographic File TAFOS/PUCP
Rosenthal - Proyecto Colombia se Mira

Essay Abstracts
Chikaoka - Programma "Olhos d'Agua" Summary (Abstract)
Greeley - The Visual Economy of the Photograph in Post-Revolution Rural Mexico (Abstract)
Luttrell - Children Re-Framing Childhood (Abstract)

Presentations
Frank MIT - Through the Lens

News/Announcements

Announcement: Institute For Photographic Empowerment
A Joint Project | Venice Arts | USC Annenberg

Greetings From The Institute
News and Updates from I.P.E.
Dear friends and colleagues,

I hope this update finds you well. I want to share the exciting things happening at the Institutute For Photographic Empowerment and invite you to experience all that "IPE" has to offer.

How, you might ask? As our interactive site is fast becoming the "go-to" destination for academics, students practitioners (photographers, filmmakers, NGOs) and supporters of participant produced work, we welcome you to submit your links, feature project submissions and ideas, and academic research papers. Post your jobs, internships, events, and exhibits. Ask questions through the Forum, blog with your peers, or encourage your students to use the site to interact. And because the site is updated daily you can expect your content to be online and in our RSS feed within a day of submission.

We look forward to your involvement as our programs and initatives unfold and expand. Talk to you soon!

Pablo Toledo | IPE Program Manager
pablo@joinipe.org

Announcement: IPE Online: Tools for Practioners, Academics and Students
The Institute For Photographic Empowerment has been updated with new and interesting content and tools, including: an online forums on everything from policy and ethics to the impact of digital media and the Internet on story creation and dissemination; feature innovative projects that marry image making with advocacy; and educational resources for academics, such as books, articles, and papers.

Announcement: Fotokids seeking Director of Photography at our project in Las Mangas Honduras - please visit the job post @ idealist.org - Director of Nature Photography & Environmental education

Announcement: Venice Arts - View the blog maintained by students in Jim Hubbard's USC course titled Visual Communication and Social Change. The blog offers valuable insights to the world of participatory photographer from the often unsung student's perspective: http://joinipe.org/welcome/archives/172

Event: Join Venice Arts for a Student Group Show: Photography, Film & Digital Art Reception on Saturday, May 3, 2008 12pm-2pm. Also open by appointment. The Venice Arts Gallery is located at 1702 Lincoln Blvd., Venice, CA 90291. Please also note the address change.

Announcement: The inaugural First Exposures benefit event saw 400 people give their support during a silent auction, which generated enough proceeds to send six very excited teenagers (and two adults) to Ghana this summer for a photography project. In the wake of this success, images from the silent auction are still available for purchase at http://www.ghanayouthphoto.org, or simply visit http://sfcamerawork.org/mentoring.html to donate online.

Update: View the latest article published on Shahidul Alam's blog at http://shahidul.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/


Bibliography

The Visible Rights ToolKit

New York Times Article on Emancipatory Photography

Links

Otra mirada. Buenos Aires fotografiada por los chicos que viven en sus calles.

SF Camerawork: Mentoring - First Exposures