Thursday 3 May 2012

PHOTOS!


Photototototooosss coming very soon... in the mean time click this linkto see a few I´ve uploaded to the CMAP BLOG!

Sunday 22 April 2012

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I visited this 'ere blog page... but since I have long suspected I am the only visitor I don't suppose that matters much!
If any readers should exist, or stumble upon my page one hapless day, I should like to apologise for the sparsity of posts and information, however, you see, we've been pretty run off our feet here.  Planning and delivering workshops that live up to our high standards is a job in itself, but doing so whilst also trying to master the language with which we deliver the workshops has made us two very busy, stressed gringas!
However, I am revisiting my blog with renewed vitality for I should like to record the happenings of our CMAP photography doings...
This week we have seen the return of disposable cameras from over 50 children in Art Club and the photos we've developed from them are astonishing.  After dolling out the cameras I spent the Easter holidays worrying and uncertain that we would ever see them again...  so I was surprise to see (almost) all of them returned to us the following week, having been cared for, used and respected.  Don't think we assumed the worst of the kids, but in fact 5 months here has taught us just how unpredictable and hectic their lives can be, and perhaps we assumed that the cameras would not easily take priority amidst the it all.
The reality is quite the opposite, from children who rarely make it to art clubs, or who have seemed disengaged or disrespectful we have seen the most committed and astute photography.   Perhaps changing formats and expectations really works.  The pride and confidence we saw when we praised the photographers was a sudden, overwhelming change for me and something we have been struggling towards for months.
As a photographer I found my social skills and much of my now-confidence from standing behind a camera.  From my experience I feel that not everyone will be proud of their drawing abilities, or be able to write well, but with photography everybody can be proud of not only the photograph that they made but also of the subjects they chose to photograph, be them their pets, their family, their favorite toy.
I made a vow to myself not to worry or stress too much if the photography project didn't go to plan, if the cameras weren't returned or nobody took photos of their 'themes'.  I think the impact of entrusting a child with this camera they revere as so precious is quite something in itself, expecting the best of someone and communicating that they are trusted and respected, that is the most important element of this project.

CMAP blogging

Please click here to link to the OFFICIAL CMAP BLOG which I post on a little more regularly!!

Sunday 5 February 2012

Las Reglas de Piratas/The Rules of the Pirates

We started on the right foot in our first week (with our strong participatory ethos at the fore!) - determined to banish the school tables that dominate the space and create a 'world' of art club to transport us from our surroundings.  


Our long term goal is to be ever more participatory, to build confidence and creativity in the attendees, and to encourage responsibility and respect in their own work and for the group.  We are always conscious to keep things consistent for the children, who lead chaotic and insecure lives already, so we maintain the format and schedule that the workshops have always had.



However with new facilitators, whom speak Spanish as a second language and are still very much learning the nuances of the Guayaquilian accent, the temptation to run wild, especially with poster paint, was all too much for some of the kids!  


Hindsight's a wonderful thing; we know now that group work and collaboration will take a long time to nurture, with gentle progression we need to banish the frictions in the group, the judgement of themsleves and others, we need to ban the word 'feo' (ugly)!  Also individual art work is something quite dear to a lot of these kids, who don't have much to call their own, and survival strategies mean they are posessive of what they do have/make.   With all of this in mind we have readdressed our 'collaborative' approach, and are now prepared to gently introduce group and shared work little by little.  The groups need trust in each other and themselves, and more pride in their work before we can successfully work in larger groups. 


For week two we felt we had to run a 'Rules workshop', to reinstill some long forgotten rules of Club de arte and encourage respect and pride in our work, before we went any further with the Piratas project.


Nueva Prosperina hang their 'Reglas de Piratas' scrolls with the mural


The groups (4 in total) vary so greatly, in age, number, energy, consistency... we need to approach each one differently, and plan for their needs.  It will, of course, take time to get to know the groups and individuals within them.  Immediately, however, we need to tackle the group sizes, we want to work in a person-centred way, providing enough 121 attention to each child, and this is just impossible with only 2 facilitators for 25 or 30 kids.  

Sunday 29 January 2012

Club de arte 2012!

Club de arte 2012 is well and truly underway!  We've completed our third week as sole facilitators... our pirate project climaxes next week with our obra de teatro (play), 'El Mito del Pirata tonto' (The myth of the silly Pirate).

I'm finding it hard to find enough hours in the day to keep up my correspondence with England AND sleep a sufficient amount.  Ask Alma (Mum), as she informed me this week I hadn't made contact with her since my birthday on the 5th January...oops...

But we have good reason to be busy, having kickstarted our Pirates project in early January.  We introduced large murals as our first excercise in encouraging collaboration and group work (Please see previous post with project objectives).

The pirate ship mural in Nueva Prosperina - we prepared a base image and colour, and the kids added the rest in the workshops.

We have weekly workshops in 4 different areas of the city (Barrios).  We made a different mural with each group, with a different main image - but all the murals have the same horizon point, so we can hang them together when the exhibition comes around... so ALL the groups have produced a collaborative work together.

Painting the murals in Balerio Estacio (L) and Fertisa (R).


In Balerio Estacio one kind family lets us hold art club in their garden every week!

The groups are large for art club at the moment, CMAP have a rule of no more than 25 attendees, but in reality many more community kids* have been coming along and facilitators with big hearts have found it impossible to turn the children away!  It is a great accolade to the workshops that so many kids come back week in week out, and encourage their friends to come too, but our capacity is not limitless and the more kids we have, the less 121 time we can spend with each of them.  This is a work in progress, and we are determined to solve this dilemma!  In the mean time, however, we have had to split the group so half works with Chloe on making stick-on elements for the mural, whilst the other half paint the mural with me... in following weeks the groups will swap so everybody gets a turn.

(Finished mural photos coming soon!)

*1.  Community kids, meaning children who are not associated with or supported by the JUCONI charity, but nevertheless live in the same slum area, may be street-working, and have very little opportunity to partake in art activities or any extra-curricular clubs.

Sunday 8 January 2012

Family visits...

When I was four, I 'stole' a plastic toy pear from Sunday school (making my religious sentiments clear from an early age!), Mum was horrified.  But I didn't have one, and I thought I needed one, I thought my toy kitchen at home would be much better if it had a plastic pear in the fruit bowl!  I never knew what it was to do without anything (can say that now... let's not discuss my moaning adolescent years).  On visits in the Barrios (slums) this week,  many kids tried to steal pencils and paper, hiding them when I was leaving their house, whilst I was pretending to be oblivious.  Those kids thought their home/afternoon would be better with those pencils in it, I agree with them.  I think that's a big part of CMAP and why I'm here.

I know art isn't essential to live and breathe.  But I believe community arts projects are a really beneficial thing for many young people.  For creative and emotional development, self expression, communication and social skills.  There is a lack of this developmental support here, and that's the void CMAP aims to fill, at least in part.  The really serious stuff - food, medicine, therapy- all comes from JUCONI.

After two days on visits with JUCONI Orientadores (Psychologists), I am filled with admiration for what they do.  I wish I had the skills and strength to do the same.

Last thursday, January 5th, was my birthday and I spent it out on family visits in the Southern Barrios of Guayaquil.  I got pooed on by a baby who had no nappies, got bitten by a thousand mosquitos, saw the living conditions in some of the houses, was party to discussions with many Mothers about the problems they are facing, and met a lot of wonderful people, especially children.  My first day of adulthood (being 25...I consider myself almost an adult) I felt naieve, futile and guilty.  It's hard to express my experience or feelings, I choose my words carefully - I don't have the right to 'feel' sympathy and I'm nowhere near understanding the complexity of politics surrounding these slums.  I also have no right to show you inside the homes of the people who welcomed me in, so I shant describe much.  At the end of my birthday I came home, to my flat in the city and ate chocolate cake and drank wine with friends.  The contrast has left me feeling very conflicted, it's impossible to justify.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

¡Feliz año nuevo!

For Chloe and I, the real work starts here.... Club de Arte 2012 with Claudia y Raquel!! (Nuestros nombres en  Español, de acuerdo a los ninos en Club de Arte).

I have avoided blogging thus far for a few reasons; the first being that I am the only follower of said blog, but also these seven weeks have been exhausting.  Through my (still struggled) attempts at Spanish, homesickness, stomach bugs, poor skype signal and moving to the worlds biggest, hottest metropolis, at times I have felt myself too frustrated and tired to write much of interest.  

But, as I said, it all starts here!  We begin our long anticipated Club de Arte projects next Monday, so many more frequent and exciting blog posts to come!

We've been planning hard through the end of December, and presented our ideas to our partner charity JUCONI before their offices closed for Christmas.  We had a really positive response fromt he team of Psychologists who work with the supported children and families.

Working with themes that JUCONI has suggested, and our own observations from two weeks attending Club de Arte with Helen and Erika, we have felt the most urgent thing to encourage is group work.

Central to Participatory practice is that everybody participates in the activity, with no imperialist teaching but simply an encouragement of expression and creativity.  Collaborative work is needed within the Club de Arte groups at this present time to encourage social skills, diplomacy and tolerance of others.   In our time observing Club de Arte we have seen displays of conflict and violence between the children, and a lot of negativity about their own talents, and the work of others.

By introducing large scale collaborative art we hope to encourage a pride and joy in the process and the product, with less emphasis on individual skills or intricate drawing, and more emphasis in the overwhelming power of large art.

We are kicking off next week with large scale murals- just for a bit of a challenge!  these murals will serve to create our 'world of imagination', ever present throughout the project, they represent our stepping into a new world, with an atmosphere of fun and creativity, the murals will help us leave behind our physical environment (often a school classroom) and release inhibitions and the tensions of the day.


I don't want to bore you with the whole project document, but please have a read of the Synopsis for our first Club de Arte project - Piratas y Puertos.



Synopsis

Our first project with Club de Arte 2012 uses the theme of pirates to explore the purpose of a sea port, most specifically Guayaquil port and its history.  The fun theme allows us to create a ‘world’ in our collective imagination, which is key to achieving our aims for the project and allows us to learn about history and trade in a creative and stimulating environment.
The project aims to encourage collaboration within the children; JUCONI and Club de Arte have recognised a need for group working situations.  We will use large scale art such as murals and sculpture so the children need to work together, respect each others views and make decisions as a group.  The emphasis on collaboration will encourage us to be free of inhibitions and self-deprecation that can impede individual work.
The first session concentrates on creating our ‘imaginary world’ – all members of the pirate crew will be initiated in and given a red pirate bandana which they scribe their name on.  ‘Pirate portraits’ will be taken to record our pirate crew. Together we will create a large mural of  a sea/port/ship scape using pictures of Guayaquil as inspiration and adding artistic flare!  The mural and bandanas will be used during every session to ensure we step into our ‘pirate world’ each week.


Aims

Collaboration                                       
Community                                                          
Produce large scale art
Confidence building