In Barclay, a distressed neighborhood in Baltimore City, schools are overcrowded and art programs are under-funded.  For the youth in the neighborhood, there are many ways to attract negative attention, and far fewer opportunities to gain attention for doing something positive.  As is true of many children, the youth in Barclay have a unique perspective of the world, but they rarely have any outlet for sharing their views with their families, friends and the larger Baltimore community.  My friend Beth Rossi and I wanted to empower a group of students to use their artistic voices to share their views on difficult issues in a way that would provide an opportunity for them to communicate their ideas with people who might not otherwise hear them.  Over six weeks, we taught photography to five students and coordinated a 40-print traveling exhibition of their photographs with accompanying stories written by the young artists.

The project was funded by Humanity in Action, Telesis Corporation, Kodak, MotoPhoto, CVS, and Pier 1 Imports.