Artists Statement

Putting this multimedia essay together was a learning experience for me. I have never really made any presentation like this before. It was a little rough trying to put this assignment together due to the fact that I did not have permission to take pictures of the people until the week before spring break. Overall I think my essay went together pretty well and conveys the story I wanted to tell.
I decided to put a couple of pictures of the outside of the school first. I took a picture of the name of the school and also one of the boys and girls club sign. This tells people where our service learning is taking place. Then I put a picture of the school library in to show where I do my volunteer work. I then placed a couple of pictures out of the packets that are given to the adult students which they use to learn English from. This will give people an idea of what I do to try to teach them how to speak English more fluently. Then I put a couple of pictures in of the group sitting at the table working on their English skills. I took one at a higher level to get the whole group in, and one is a eye level to convey what it is like to be there teaching them. Then I put in a couple of group pictures. The first one is a regular group picture, and the second one I gave them the option of making a funny face to convey that even though they are there to learn we still have some fun. The final picture is of the neighborhood from the playground of the school. This is to convey the sense of community that school brings to the neighborhood.
So far what I have learned about the community is that they are a very close knit community and everyone that I have encountered so far has been very warm and inviting. They help each other out whenever they can. They are very open with you about their life and are interested to hear about your life. I have tried very hard to get to know them all by name, but unfortunately they are not all there every week so it makes it kind of difficult. I have learned most of the names of those who are there every week. I have enjoyed the time that I have spent teaching, and I plan to continue to teach even after I have my required time in. What I have learned about using the camera as an instrument of investigation is that you can make your image convey whatever message you would like. The camera is a tool that the photographer can use to tell almost any story they want. You have to be very careful that you are not conveying the wrong message when using the camera.