Exhibit to show Guatemalan children's perception of peace

View of Guatemala City scene

Peace Through My Eyes: A Photographic Story Told by Guatemala's Children, an exhibit created by two Skidmore College students, will be on display in the college's Case Center Gallery Oct. 15–29. The show, which is free and open to the public, will officially open with a reception at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15.

The exhibit is based on children's images of peace—photos taken by school children in Guatemala City and by indigenous children in Guatemala's rural village of San Marcos La Laguna. The show focuses on the differing perceptions of peace between the two groups of photographers, children with contrasting socioeconomic backgrounds.

The photos are the result of a three-week summer arts program developed by Skidmore students Verena Bunge and Elana Hazghia for the two groups of Guatemalan children, ages 13-16.  Both groups were taught essential photography skills, were provided with digital cameras, and were then prompted to take photos of subjects that represented peace to them. At the conclusion of the summer program, the children also wrote poems of their perceptions of peace, which are included in the exhibit.

Bunge, a native of Guatemala City, and Hazghia, an international affairs and Spanish double major, were inspired by the documentary film Born into Brothels, the story of an English photographer who enters the Red Light District in Calcutta, India, to teach photography to a group of children, with the hope of selling their work and raising money to better their lives. The two students were struck by the power of the documentary and by the simple idea that photography and the arts could help open channels of creative expression and opportunity for impoverished children. (Click here to read an earlier story on this project.)

Months later, Bunge and Hazghia became aware of a national scholarship program, the Davis Projects for Peace, which awards $10,000 grants to college students to implement grassroots projects that encourage peace. The two put together a proposal for their Guatemalan program and were successful in acquiring the grant. They used part of the funds to purchase 20 basic digital cameras, providing 10 to each group.

To Bunge, the mission of Peace Through My Eyes was three-fold. "Our first priority was to open the dialogue between the two separate Guatemalan communities; then we hoped to create a deeper cross-cultural understanding between Americans and Guatemalans by displaying the photography in America," said Bunge. "Lastly, we wanted to prove the incredible creative potential inherent in these children if just given the appropriate tools and resources."

Explains Hazghia, "The objective was to compare and contrast the views of Guatemalan children from vastly different backgrounds in hopes of revealing that, in the end, all children dream of peace."

Photography from the Peace Through My Eyes project is available for purchase. Proceeds will go toward continuing the photography program for the indigenous children of San Marcos La Laguna, specifically by hiring local artist/photographer David Perez D'Sacach to run it. Proceeds will also go toward purchasing water filters for the families of the indigenous children, providing them with the clean drinking water they lack due to the pollution of their main water source, Lake Atitlan.

Hazghia explains the importance of continuing and sustaining the program, "For the children, learning to operate a camera and express themselves through photography, provided them with a world of excitement, creativity, and a new sense of confidence and pride. The children were able to tap into parts of themselves they never knew existed and acquire a real sense of accomplishment. It wouldn't be right to take the cameras away from the children at this point."

At the end of the program, some of the cameras were given to the American School in Guatemala City for further student use, and some were left with an administrator in San Marcos La Laguna to be loaned to children on a rotating basis.

Peace Through My Eyes: A Photographic Story Told by Guatemala's Children was previously displayed in San Marcos La Laguna's Hotel Paco Real, Guatemala City's Museo del Niño, the American School of Guatemala, and the Great Neck Arts Center in Great Neck, N.Y.

Tags: elana hazghia, davis projects for peace, verena bunge