On Monday Katya and I facilitated a workshop with a group of 11 14-18 year olds at Centro Pedro Claver at 6th and Erie as part of their summer work program (yes the kids get paid to make cool art and think about how to make change in their community, and how to keep making money doing it).

We arrived at 9 and took some time to introduce ourselves, and the project, and play what has been a popular icebreaker (“I share common ground with…” – it’s like musical chairs).

We then showed a few short works with different content and styles to discuss how meaning is made through images. They really enjoyed, In Case I Disappear. They found Sofas slightly repetitive and long, but dramatic and engaging. Last we showed Contra. They enjoyed the message, and some of the visuals, but found others cliche- which made for a good discussion. A piece I didn’t get to show, but I think has a strong connection to this project is, No Man is an Island. We did not have time to ask them to suggest videos they like, but we should have. I also showed Power of Nightmares, which was a good exercise with this group.

After the scavenger hunt, we introduced the concept of story boarding, and used these handyFlickr Visual Stories as a lead. We handed out the postcards and gave them time to fill in the blanks and think about what they may want to say in their pieces. I think this part was the least successful. It seems important to have the time to move from the personal to the neighborhood, because most of them were not that interested in thinking about where they are from, as it relates to location. We did have some interesting discussions about why some neighborhoods open to fire hydrants to cool off, or move the trash to the bottom of the street, so it could be swept up, and in other (white) neighborhoods this would be unheard of.

Out of the postcard template emerged a conversation about stereotypes about the violence and drugs in Philly- how this impacts them personally, and how they are interested in presenting more positive images. When we return next week to do the actual pieces, I think we want to experiment more with the form, and give them the chance to get more personal and even more experimental… stay tuned.

Tagged: Follow The Van!