Teaching Kids in Developing Countries to Tell Their Stories Through Photography
Sara Hansson and Jens Lennartsson feel that the media at large has painted an unfair and inaccurate picture of children in developing countries. And so, they’ve founded an organization that seeks to undo this wrong in a unique way.
The organization is called EYE AM, and through it, Hansson and Lennartsson hope to reach out to the children in these countries, teach them the basics of photography, and then help them to tell their own stories.
Currently EYE AM is in its infancy. Newly founded, Hansson and Lennartsson have taken to Indiegogo to express their belief in this idea and ask your help bringing it to fruition:
Speaking of their motivation, Lennartsson explains the imbalance they seek to right:
Todays media often creates an unfair picture of the lives of kids in developing countries – how they live and who they are. Poverty. No individuality. No creativity. But that’s a picture that is’t created by those who really know what it looks like. The kids themselves. Together with you, we’ll create a more realistic view of the world.
In order to do this, they need 20 cameras and 20 computers to take with them to the first three locations on their list: The Ukraine, Kenya and Ethiopia. If they reach their funding goal (€25,000 or about $33,350) in the next nineteen days, they will be able to start their journey and travel to each of these in turn.
In each of the three locations, they will teach a workshop for the kids and then guide them as they embark on a week-long photo project of their own. Their work will then be displayed on the EYE AM website, turned into a book, and sold through a stock photography agency, with 100% of the proceeds coming right back to the organization itself so they can continue to expand.
The campaign is just a first step, as they try to turn this from an idea into a true-blue organization. Once they’re off the ground, teaching, snapping and sharing what they believe will be a more accurate portrait of the kids in these countries, they hope the resulting photography will have a real impact on the world.
To help support the cause or learn more about the EYE AM organization and what it aims to achieve, head over to their Indiegogo campaign page or check out the organization’s website here.
(via ISO 1200)
