by Ibby Caputo
Submitted to The Gambit Weekly, April 18, 2006
Sitting on a porch in New Orleans, four children who have recently returned home closely examine photographs. Their pictures give an unfiltered view of their environment: a destroyed house, a heaping pile of garbage, a bird, broken down cars, a community barber shop, a little brother, a blurry row of houses.
The photographs are unedited. Uninfluenced by political, corporate or media spin. They communicate the reality of a handful of children who were given cameras by The New Orleans Kid Camera Project, another one of Katrina’s grassroots babies, and asked to take pictures of their lives. Their vision candidly represents the present situation in New Orleans, as well as the problems Hurricane Katrina unearthed, such as the widespread poverty, corruption, government neglect, racism and class inequalities that plague the United States.
These children’s photographs, along side a display of hundreds of images from other community members, and images shot by local, national and international artists and photojournalists, will be featured at the New Orleans Museum of Art’s new exhibit, “Katrina Exposed,” opening on May 20, 2006. The museum received nearly a thousand submissions, which, as Steven Makalnsky, Assistant Director and Curator of Photographs at the New Orleans Museum of Art explained, represent hundreds of viewpoints of the Katrina experience, turning the New Orleans Museum of Art into an arena of public consciousness and contemplation. In an e-mail about the Katrina Exposed Exhibition, Makalnsky wrote, “New Orleanians are ready to step back and reflect upon what really happened, and what’s really happening. Taking a hard look today is an important step towards seeing a better tomorrow.”
The New Orleans Kid Camera Project believes that its children are some of the most powerful journalists this city has to offer. The kids of post-Katrina New Orleans are young artists, documentary photographers, historians, and educators. A small team of social workers and artists seek to empower children through art, and to help them find their voices through photography, writing and other creative mediums. With cameras provided by the Project, the children take pictures of their lives. Thus far, they have documented everything from cleaning house, to Mardi Gras parades in devastated neighborhoods, to military personnel and government contractors, to the returning home of family members, and second lines. At weekly group meetings the children openly share their photographs, stories and impressions of their changed world, while also cultivating creative and emotional tools that will be useful their entire lives.
The New Orleans Kid Camera Project sees itself, however, as only a vehicle for bringing attention to the children’s photographs and stories. Poor education, poverty, racism, class inequalities, lack of healthcare and other social injustices are these children’s harsh realities, which makes them the perfect storytellers. They are still young enough to not be completely hardened by the circumstances of their lives, but also old enough to understand and bear a conscious witness to the great injustices they experience. By providing them with a creative outlet, the Project wants to help them take this horrible situation, which for all intents and purposes should further decrease their potential for a better life, and show them how to productively use their anger, frustration and innocence and become agents for change. Basically, The New Orleans Kid Camera Project wants these kids to find a light in the darkness, and then share that light with the world.
So far, it seems the child photographers are doing just that. Their photographs represent the emotions of all New Orleanians: pain, anger, frustration, resiliency, hope and transcendence. These themes resonate in the children’s candid expressions, and as the photographic medium provides them the opportunity to make their experiences tangible, it also allows their unfiltered vision to be shared with people outside of the Gulf South.
