Guatemala’s Fotokids escape gangs and find expression
Ana Caistor-Arendar — March 30, 2010 0 Comments
Ten-year-old Diego lives beside the train tracks in the centre of Guatemala City. He has two older brothers, who belong to rival gangs. A year ago one of Diego’s brothers was shot in the stomach by a member of the other brother’s gang.
Diego is not in a gang. He had been taking lessons in photography at Fotokids, an organisation that attempts to bring young people in Guatemala out of poverty by providing training in the visual arts. He had dropped out of the organisation, claiming it was too much hard work, but returned shortly after he left.
“He came in one day and said to me, ‘I’ve been thinking about it, this is a really good project, would you accept me back?’,” recollects Nancy McGirr, who founded the organisation 18 years ago. “He is now here every other day in the morning, without fail, and not only is he doing his work but he is enthusiastically involving himself.”
Art, Editor's Pick, Politics
Fotokids in Guatemala find beauty in the dumps
Ana Caistor-Arendar — March 27, 2010 0 Comments
Even by Latin American standards, the social indices for Guatemala are alarming, with an estimated 55 per cent of the country’s population living below the poverty line. Over half of the country’s population is under 18-years-old, and its dilapidated public education system is only able to serve 20 per cent of the country’s children. The result is an oversized and extremely young workforce with limited employment options.
This grim reality also partly explains how Nancy ended up strolling through Guatemala’s largest rubbish dump. Spanning forty acres, this pit of decomposing waste is one of the largest and most toxic in Central America. Here household rubbish and recyclables rot alongside discarded medical supplies and deteriorating animal and human remains. Nancy was drawn to the lives of the approximately 1,000 children living in the landfill. Many of them worked alongside their parents, searching through the waste for items such as clothes, cardboard and glass, to resell to middle-men at a phenomenally low price.
“I was walking around with my camera,” Nancy recollects, her thick mid-Western drawl still intact, “and it suddenly dawned on me – why not give the children cameras and see how they would photograph the dump. How it would be reflected through their eyes.”
Editor's Pick, Politics
Breaking the cycle of poverty in Guatemala: An interview with photographer, Evelyn Mansilla
Ana Caistor-Arendar — December 11, 2009 0 Comments
I think the most important aspect of what I do is to try and inspire my students by my example. I am not ashamed to tell them, ‘Look, I suffered from hunger, I had to eat from the rubbish bins, I suffered everything that I had to suffer in order to get where I am today.’ I like my students to see that it’s possible, it’s not easy, there are sacrifices that have to be made to reach our dreams, but the important thing is to have those dreams. This hopefully encourages them to think: ‘well if she can do it, why can’t I?’
Editor's Pick, Resistance
Section 76, which criminalizes taking pictures of the police in Britain, angers photojournalists and activists
Matt Kennard — February 28, 2009 4 Comments
Matt Kennard talks to photojournalists and activists about Section 76 of the Terrorism Act 2008, which makes taking pictures of the police potentially illegal.
Editor's Pick, Politics
Interview: Documentary photographer Jim Richardson on meaning, technology and Kansas
Ahmadreza Tavassoli — February 16, 2009 1 Comment
Ahmadreza Tavassoli talks to National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson.