FOTOKIDS
Hard Lives Through Young Eyes
Jumping rope by the railroad tracks: Many students lived in squatter settlements by the side of the tracks until the government sold the land.
Marta Loarca, 9
Published: Nov 6, 2006
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TAMPA - Garbage pickers, glue sniffers, kidnappers beggars and blind men are some of the subjects of "Out of the Dump," an international photography exhibit about Guatemalan slums.
The mostly black-and-white collection, on view in St. Petersburg, offers a candid view of a world few ever see from the perspective of the children who live there.
There are photos of Marta Loarca jumping rope next to the train tracks, Gladiz Jimenez's brother and his friends hanging out, two young girls praying in candlelight and an old woman selling melons on the street.
"One thing I've noticed is that children under 12 don't tend to censor themselves, so they take pictures of everything," said Nancy McGirr, the founder of FotoKids, the organization that produced the exhibition.
FotoKids trains children from the margins of society how to take pictures with the aims of creating job skills and a means to self-expression. And for many of the children, it has provided a way out of the slums.
McGirr, an ex-Reuters photojournalist, stumbled upon the idea for the project during a photo assignment 15 years ago in one of Guatemala City's municipal trash dumps, where scores of people eek out a living collecting garbage for recycling. It's a place where dead bodies commonly turn up among the heaps of rubbish and dogs starve and rot in the heat.
Children living in the shantytown next to the dump were curious to see her camera, and she agreed to let them take photos. The results amazed her.
"They were very, very good," she said. "In fact, the first few years, I couldn't wait to get into the darkroom to develop film and see what was on it. I found a lot of the photos really moving."
What started as an experiment soon turned into her life's work.
Since its founding in 1991, FotoKids has moved beyond the dump and into other impoverished regions in Guatemala and Honduras. It has grown from six children to more than 80, ranging in age from 7 to 21.
Though documentary photography remains the primary focus, students also learn digital imaging, graphic design, Web site design, creative writing and video. The operation runs on donations from companies such as Olympus and Classic Restorations, as well as from individuals and grants.
In exchange for good grades in school and a commitment to the program, each child receives a scholarship of $300 a year for their studies. Many have graduated from high school, and 11 are currently going to college. This is an anomaly in a country where, according to a United Nations report, only 34 percent of children attend school beyond sixth grade. Several original alumni mentor the younger students.
The organization has received a lot of visibility over the years, with the exhibition traveling to New York, San Francisco, London and Tokyo, among others.
Photos 'Not Taken At Random'
The exhibit covers the gamut of existence, the harsh realities and poetic side of life.
"These photos are not taken at random," said arts activist Bob Devon Jones, who founded The Studio@620, a nonprofit arts organization and gallery in St. Petersburg. "These kids have really learned a particular skill."
He saw the images for the first time in a magazine and has since traveled to Guatemala. Impressed by the immediacy and power of the photographs, he decided to bring the show to the gallery.
Yamilett Salvador and Karen Ávila, whose work is part of the exhibit, took their first airplane flight to attend the opening in St. Petersburg.
Salvador, who recently turned 13, took a photo of a dirty mechanic working on an engine. She says she likes to experiment with different angles. For this photo, she got on the ground to capture the matrix of car parts and the mechanic's look of concentration. She explained that people were counting on him to fix the bus so they could get home.
Girl Wants To Be Journalist
Salvador, too, has experienced hardship firsthand. At one point, she and her family squatted near train tracks. Now they live in a gang-infested barrio near Guatemala City. Her parents scrape by selling soap in the local market. But that's not the future she sees for herself.
"I want to be journalist," she said during a phone interview. "I want to show the suffering, the people who don't have enough money or enough to eat."
Ávila, 14, also wants to use her photography skills to teach children when she grows up.
In her photo, a self-portrait she took when she was 12, Ávila shows herself reclined on the floor in a bathing suit, under the shade of an umbrella. It's called "Vacacionista," or "The Vacationist."
"This is her dream," said McGirr.
Being able to make a difference has been McGirr's dream.
"There is so much you can do with so little. I started this project with six kids and a couple of point-and-shoot cameras. Anybody can do that."
ON VIEW
Out of the Dump
WHAT: An exhibit of photographs by Guatemalan children
WHEN: through Nov. 18; noon to 4 p.m Tuesday through Saturday
WHERE: The Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S., St. Petersburg
HOW MUCH: Free, but donations are accepted.
INFORMATION: The photographs are for sale, with proceeds split between the photographer and the FotoKids project.
Natasha Del Toro is a multimedia intern working for TBO.com, The Tampa Tribune and WFLA, Channel 8. Keyword: Fotokids, for a photo gallery of work from the show.
