| In
honor of the United Nations Special Session on
Children, PhotoVoice, a London based NGO, presents
Unbroken: An Exhibition of Hope and Determination. Founded
in September, 1999, PhotoVoice has established four
projects training disadvantaged groups in documentary
photography around the globe. With the help of local
organizations and the individuals trained to shoot
such images, PhotoVoice raises awareness of the issues
they face and promotes their work within the international
community.
Located in Vietnam, the Street Vision project
is run within the Ho Chi Minh Child Welfare
Foundation in Ho Chi Minh City. Created in
1998, Street Vision holds annual exhibitions
at the Saigon Prince Hotel as well as a permanent
exhibition at the Omni Saigon Hotel. Since
its establishment, Street Vision has trained
over one hundred and twenty disadvantaged young
people in photography. Several former students
make their living through photography as lab
technicians, studio assistants or as photographers
themselves.
The
Rose Class project is comprised of Bhutanese
refugee
children living in Nepal. Despite lack
of funding issues, the Rose Class has continued
to edit, publish and distribute 500 copies
of their monthly newspaper, The Shangrila Sandesh¡.
The youth reporters come from seven different
refugee camps and have participated in organized
writing, and art competitions. An exhibition
was put on in the Khunabari refugee camp for
Teacher's Day in which two of the photographers
traveled by bike to all the camps photographing
nearly one thousand teachers working in the
camps.
Unbroken,
is an exhibition of photographs from both
the
Street Vision and Rose Class
projects and coincides with the UN Special
Session on Children in an effort raise awareness
among policy makers and implement change. Each
photo captures the emotions and lives of the
person behind the lens. The two young photographers
touring with Unbroken said, "without the
StreetVision project, we would just be among
the many street children in Vietnam we take
pictures of". Photographs in the Unbroken
exhibition were chosen for their expression
of the convention's four pillars: non-discrimination,
participation, best interests of the child,
and the child's right to life, survival and
development.
Unbroken's tour began May 3rd at the Asia
Society in New York and will remain on display
in New York at the Interfaith Centre until
May 21st. The exhibition will then head to
our nation's capital in Washington DC where
they will join forces with Refugees International
to vocalize the struggles of displaced children
around the globe.
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