4-H project looks 'Through My Eyes'

Luisa A. Vázquez-López embraced change for her 4-H initiative.

Instead of going to schools, she went to children in six different Athens-Clarke County community centers and talked to them about leadership, citizenship, communities, families and education. "It's a little bit different. 4-H (usually) happens at school," said Vázquez-López, the bilingual program assistant for the UGA Cooperative Extension. "I thought I'd try to change the 4-H concept to something more social."

To wrap up her visits that have taken place over the past school year, she wanted the students to picture themselves and envision change, too. "I decided I wanted to finish with something related to art, where they could express themselves in a different way," Vázquez-López said. "That's why I got cameras, disposable cameras."

The children's assignment was to photograph themselves and the world around them.

Funded through grants issued by the New York Life Foundation and Global Youth Service Day, a photo exhibit of the children's work will culminate from 10:30 a.m.-noon Saturday at the Lyndon House Arts Center.

"What they were asked to do is show their daily life, how they see their community, how they see themselves. That's why the exhibit is called 'Through My Eyes, ' "Vázquez-López said.

She was inspired by similar projects in other cities, which encouraged children to use photography as a mode of communicating their unique perspectives. The local photos are as simple as showing favorite belongings, such as a radio, and they are as complex as picturing litter dirtying their neighborhoods.

"There are all kinds of pictures," Vázquez-López said. "They're all showing the three concepts - family, themselves and the community."

In Athens, children from East Athens, Garnett Ridge Boys & Girls Club, Casa de Amistad, J.R.Wells Boys & Girls Club, Broadacres community centers and Pinewoods Library, where Vázquez-López soon will be taking a job as branch manager, were included.

Film from roughly 25 cameras was processed. Before the shooting took place, lessons were given about how to take photos.

She expects most of the photographers will be at the exhibit to discuss their project.

"It has been very hard, a very different project ... but it has been fun, and the results are wonderful," Vázquez-López said.

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