Ten middle school students who live in public housing will show Nashville what the world looks like through their eyes at an exhibition of their documentary photography and social change work May 8 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Nashville Civic Design Center.
The youth will speak to a crowd of community members, design professionals and city officials, including Mayor Karl Dean, at 5:15 p.m.
The Nashville Civic Design Center is located at 138 Second Ave. North in downtown Nashville. The event is free and open to the public.
"We have neighborhoods in Nashville that need our attention, and the Napier area is one of them," District 17 Council Member Sandra Moore said. "This exhibit highlights some of the social issues within this community from the perspective of its youth."
The exhibit is the result of the three-month Photovoice program, designed to give youth from a marginalized community an opportunity to discuss and advocate for social change through photography. The students live in or around the J.C. Napier Homes, one of the oldest public housing developments in Nashville.
"This project trained young people in this community how to use photography and dialogue to identify social issues needing change, and to use their photos and voices to promote that change," Emily Thaden, project director and doctoral student in the Vanderbilt Peabody Community Research and Action Program, said.
The project’s goals are to empower youth by training them in documentary photography and big-picture thinking; to provide an outlet to express ideas that they may not express verbally; and to increase their sense of their own ability to make a difference by creating opportunities for them to communicate about changes they want and need in their neighborhood to the broader Nashville community.
"Some kids in the projects have to deal with bad things every morning the wake up, and it would be best to change that," one youth said. Another added, "It’s never gonna change unless we all come together."
All of the participating children are "Littles" with Big Brothers Big Sisters and come from single-parent homes. Many have an incarcerated parent. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, at least 75 percent of the Napier community lives below the poverty line, 55 percent are 18 years or younger and 94 percent are African American. Last year, Council District 17, which includes this community, had the third highest crime rate out of Nashville’s 35 districts.
The project is a collaborative effort between the Vanderbilt University Center for Community Studies, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee and the Nashville Civic Design Center. It is sponsored by the Gannett Foundation, Vanderbilt Peabody College’s Center for Community Studies, Community Development Action program, the Peabody Department of Human & Organizational Development, and Gresham, Smith, & Partners. Pruitt Public Library and Wolf Camera & Video also provided assistance.
A forum on the project will take place on May 15th at 5:30pm at the Nashville Civic Design Center. The photography exhibit will run from May 5th to May 30th and an exhibition book will be sold for $12.
For more information about the exhibit, please contact Emily Thaden at emily.p.thaden@vanderbilt.edu or visit http://tinyurl.com/5bpdy9.
Media contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
Melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu