YOUTH > RUSSIA
Photo Youth the art of crossing borders
Taking pictures to overcome the borders of their disability: hundreds of www.enpi-info.eu disadvantaged children have joined the PhotoYouth project, a cross-border initiative implemented between Russia and Latvia. This EU-funded initiative has brought together 250 young photographers and 50 teachers from 22 correctional schools for visually and orally disabled children, aiming to promote people-to-people cooperation between Russia and Latvia, , while working towards social inclusion and against discrimination. An EU Neighbourhood Info Centre journalist visited a photo exhibition set up at the Pskov Regional Arts College as part of the project to find out more. Text by Margarita Potekhina, ITAR-TASS Pictures by AFP ©EU/Neighbourhood Info Centre
This publication does not represent the official view of the EC or the EU institutions. The EC accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to its content.
N Marina Tikhonova, PSKOV- Katya Semenova had been committed to swimming and all she wanted was to teacher and member enter the department of Physical Education and Sports. One can easily discern a young of the project. athlete in this smiling tenth-grader of School number five in Pskov, Russia. Not the tallest, but with a straight posture, broad shoulders and fit enough to put many of her counterparts at school to shame. Katya also does skiing and some athletics. “But when they came from the Arts College to visit our school and started talking about photography class and how to work with a camera, I became really interested,” she said. Like many of her classmates, Katya is completely deaf. But when the Pskov Regional Arts College (POKI) decided to arrange a photo course EU Neighbourhood Info Centre for people with disabilities, the girl did not hesitate in trying some- Feature no. 98 thing new. This is a series of features on Together with a group of other children from schools in Pskov, Peters- projects funded by the EU Regional burg, Vyborg and even Riga, the joint international project ‘Providing Programme, prepared by journalists and photographers on the ground Access to Photographic Art for Young People with Disabilities’, PhotoY- or the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre. outh for short, was launched. © 2013 EU Neighbourhood Info Centre
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre – Feature no. 98
“By doing phototasks children are being integrated into the life of the community, while the community gets an opportunity to learn more about the world where children with disabilities live, which is not at all obvious for society at large”
Photo Youth – the art of crossing borders
p. 2
Integrating children into the community The EU supported project is part of the CrossBorder Cooperation Programme Estonia-LatviaRussia. Since its launch in January 2012, the PhotoYouth project has brought together 250 young photographers and 50 teachers from 22 correctional secondary and boarding schools for visually and orally disadvantaged children, those with developmental disorders as well as children from orphanages and social centres for teenagers. Based on the idea of equal access to supplementary education, the PhotoYouth mission is “to teach children with disabilities the basics of photography”, says the project coordinator in Pskov, Zoya Koroleva. At the same time, Russia, Estonia and Latvia strengthen their people-topeople cooperation: they work together, they enhance their contacts, they discover a world of mutual understanding. According to the Spanish photo-reporter Delmi Alvarez, who is the leading curator and the soul of the project, this initiative is so much more than just teaching children with special needs how to snap a half-decent photo. “By doing photo-tasks children are being integrated into the life of the community, while the community gets an opportunity to learn more about the world where children with disabilities live, which is not at all obvious for society at large,” he says.
N Ekaterina Semenova, project member, gestures during the opening ceremony.
Cultural exchange
N Members of the project attend during the opening ceremony.
The children have classes twice a week. They study composition, light, exposure and depth of focus. The courses are conducted by regular teachers trained to give photography lessons. The training has also included some study trips to Riga, Latvia’s capital, to learn the basics of photography. Among the project’s objectives is not only the promotion of cooperation between local municipalities and special education institutions, but also between the two countries, Russia and Latvia. “Although the training was conducted in English, it turned out that most of our colleagues from Latvia can speak Russian. It was nice to know that we share both a border and culture,” says Snezhana Vlasova, who is now teaching photography to children
“Although the training was conducted in English, it turned out that most of our colleagues from Latvia can speak Russian. It was nice to know that we share both a border and culture”
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre – Feature no. 98
Photo Youth – the art of crossing borders
from the Pskov children’s home. The teachers were joined by a small group of four photography’s students in their final year, who were offered the chance to become part of the project. Stas Pavlov is one of them, and this constitutes his first teaching experience. When asked if he had concerns about dealing with disabled children, Stas was adamant that the positives far outweighed any problems encountered along the way. “For me, the greatest challenge and at the same time the greatest reward is to communicate with these kids in class. It sometimes happens that you spend the whole day working out the lesson plan, and then everything turns out differently. The good “At the beginning thing is that Marina Anatolyevna, the sign language translator, is always there to I used to think help, otherwise we would not be able to cope.”
that when someone takes a great photo, it is because they can hear. Now I think that you can become a professional photographer even if you cannot hear, you just have to try again and again until you get there”
Photography is a universal language with no boundaries There’s one camera for every two groups and each group has five to eight people. Children are fascinated by everything: the streets, nature, animals. Anton Vysoky is most of all interested in portraits. “In my childhood, I always liked to take pictures of everything I saw, so I wasted a lot of films…. But then I was given my first digital camera and everything changed,” he says. Now, under Stas’s guidance, Anton is polishing his skills as a portrait-photographer, planning to turn his hobby into a source of income. Anton, who has been deaf since birth, is one of the lucky few who participated in last year’s PhotoYouth summer camp in Pushkinskiye Gory. The disabled children were all invited to take part in the project, but participation in the summer camp was decided through a selection process, with the children who showed the right attitude and significant progress during classes invited to take part. For one week, they worked on their photo tasks, looking through the pictures and discussing them with their colleagues and professors. The children were not the only ones to learn from the camp however. The instructors shared the experiences of their own teaching methods and discussed the results they achieved, elaborating on a variety of methodologies for teaching the art of photography to young people with different kinds of disabilities. “Photography is a universal language that has no boundaries. It was great to see these kids who barely knew each other and had different disabilities, enjoying each other’s company and exchanging ideas,” says Delmi Alvarez. “It is this intense communication, this sense of common accomplishment that was the purpose of our project”, adds Zoya Koroleva. After the camp, so many photos were taken that every school could arrange its own exhibition. Last March Pskov Regional Arts College opened the first PhotoYouth-Pskov exhibit, displaying the childrens’ best work.
p. 3
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre – Feature no. 98
Photo Youth – the art of crossing borders
p. 4
“I can take great pictures even if I can not hear…” N Natalia Afanasieva (L) and Snezhana Vlasova (R), teachers and members of the project.
Zoya Koroleva is sure that the course will go on after the PhotoYouth project is officially concluded in July. “All EU projects are based on the idea of sustainability. The start has been made, and it is a good start. I think our children will make even more progress. Through photography, they can fulfil themselves, become aware of who they are, what they like. We are confident a new project will be launched with our foreign colleagues.” Katya Semenova still has a year to go before her graduation, so she can take her time in choosing her future career. She is no longer so certain that it will be sport. “At the beginning I used to think that when someone takes a great photo, it is because they can hear,” says Katya. “Now I think that you can become a professional photographer even if you cannot hear, you just have to try again and again until you get there.”
CBC - Cross-border cooperation CBC, a key priority of the ENPI, seeks to reinforce cooperation between EU Member States and Partner Countries along the external EU borders. Timeframe: 2007-2013 Budget: €1.1 billion Objective: CBC aims to promote economic and social development in border areas. It strives to address common challenges, ensure efficient and secure borders and promote people-to-people cooperation.
Creating access to the art of photography for young people with disabilities The overall objective of project is to improve living standards and provide equal access to the additional education for young people with disabilities
www.estlatrus.eu/eng/projects/769
Duration: September 2011 to March 2013 ENPI CBC Estonia-Latvia-Russia Programme http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/regional-cooperation/ enpi-cross-border/documents/enpi_cbc_estonia-latvia-russia_fact_sheet_ en.pdf Budget (2007-2013): € 47.775 million Managing Authority: Ministry of Regional Development and Local Governments of Latvia
Budget: 259.015,20 € To find out more: Cross Border Cooperation: EU Neighbourhood Info Centre project list http://www.enpi-info.eu/maineast.php?id=171&id_type=10 ENPI CBC Estonia-Latvia-Russia Programme http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/regional-cooperation/ enpi-cross-border/documents/enpi_cbc_estonia-latvia-russia_fact_sheet_ en.pdf
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre An ENPI project The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. The project is managed by Action Global Communications.
www.enpi-info.eu