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Autumn 2007 | Volume 30, Number 2
| Alumni
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Street Vision
校友给无家可归的青少年一个声音-通过相机的镜头
It’s 7 p.m.一位名叫Jezebel的年轻艺术家正在为她的第一次画廊展览做准备. 在西雅图市中心的基督教青年会三角画廊，她看着一群艺术赞助人，一边喝着圣佩莱格里诺，一边欣赏她的作品——摄影和拼贴画.
这位18岁的女孩在描述她的艺术灵感和未来计划时表现得泰然自若，口齿清晰. 到明年的这个时候，她希望能上大学，写她的第一本书. 这一点并不奇怪，但还有一件事很奇怪:耶洗别昨晚睡在桥下.
After leading a workshop on photo montage, 希拉里·普拉格(中)说，她“敬畏地看着”她的学生设计和安装了这个名为“街头革命”的蒙太奇.” |
一个聪明、有抱负、多才多艺的年轻女子是如何沦落到流落街头的? Well, first there was the mother who died. Then the guardian who committed suicide. 背叛她的朋友，以及没钱付房租. 这是其他青少年的故事，他们中的许多人在西雅图的垃圾箱里安家, alleys, and parks — can relate to. One door closes, then another, and another.
但就在生活似乎将你拒之门外时，有人为你打开了一扇门. For Jezebel, and a group of local homeless teens, 这个人就是好的赌博软件推荐的校友希拉里·普拉格. 希拉里说:“我想让他们有能力利用自己天生的资源来改善生活。.
拥有社会学学位，毕生热爱摄影, 这位2006年的毕业生想出了一个不同寻常的解决方案:摄影工作室. 其他人看到的是闹事者，普拉格对西雅图街头的年轻人有不同的看法. “这些艺术家渴望得到一些表达，”她解释说.
Prag, 谁暂停了丹佛大学的国际和跨文化交流硕士学位课程, had the vision part down. Now she needed the resources. 她向西雅图市长艺术与文化事务办公室申请了一笔拨款
petitioned the online photo developer Snapfish.com to provide free and discounted photo printing. They both said “yes.”
Shortly after, 她把自己的想法带到了西雅图的非营利组织“新地平线事工”(NHM), 提供关系支持的跨宗派基督教组织, meals, clothing, 以及其他为无家可归的青少年提供紧急服务的机构，其工作人员立即在日历上为她提供了一个位置. “When Hillary submitted her proposal for the class, 我很兴奋有人愿意花时间帮助年轻人探索摄影艺术,” says NHM’s life discovery coordinator, Naomi Yonemura.
From October 2006 to March 2007, 布拉格在“新视野”和西雅图城市学院开设了摄影工作坊, a street school in the Rainier Valley. Her class, called “Street Vision,” was an instant hit.
After a few lessons about composition, lighting, and camera technique, 普拉格分发相机和胶卷，让学生们自由发挥. Their assignment? 以最真实的方式记录他们的街头生活.
接下来的一周，普拉格收集并冲洗了这张照片. She took a look at some of the images while in her car. “I almost crashed — they were so moving,” she recalls. “这就是他们所知道的生活，这是专业摄影记者拍不出来的.”
In the months that followed, 学生们拍摄的照片展示了街头生活罕见而私人的一面——这些照片通常是黑暗和混乱的:一群年轻人睡在垃圾箱里, a city street lit from the glow of a drug pipe, a dead rat, the lonely view from below a skyscraper, police patrolling Westlake Center.
Yet there was humor, joy, and light in the images, too: a sunrise over Pike Place Market, a rainbow, and friends smiling. “Their lives are incredibly challenging,” explains Prag, but through the images, she says, “it’s like they’re saying, ‘I’ve been dealt a bad hand, but I’m still finding my way.’”
“The class taught basic photography techniques, 但它也帮助年轻人探索他们拍照的原因, what message they are conveying, and why certain pictures speak to them and others,” adds Yonemura.
普拉格说，这是一种艺术，但也是一种自我反省的练习. “鼓励那些非常脆弱的孩子去冒这种风险，就像让他们穿过火一样.”
当普拉格描述她的学生们的旅程时，她露出自豪的笑容. 例如，在完成课程之前，一个青少年做出了显著的转变. He moved home with his family, and even got a job. “我认为部分原因是他每周都会在4 × 6英寸的照片中看到自己的生活,” Prag explains. “He saw his life in print, and he made changes.”
Not all the stories had happy endings. Perhaps most difficult for Prag, she says, was knowing that after class, 她的许多学生不得不乞讨吃饭的钱，最后睡在巷子里. “知道这些孩子放学后要在回收箱里过夜，真让人心痛.”
When “Street Vision” ended, Prag took her newfound angle on the world to Boston, 她在那里度过了一个夏天，带领街头青年参加艺术和摄影讲习班. 她在波士顿最难忘的时刻之一是遇到了一位来自西雅图的老学生. 他认出了她，热情地宣布他们重逢:“伙计们，你们不会相信的!” he said, pointing in her direction. “她的摄影课是我在西雅图遇到的最好的事情之一. This makes at least my day, if not my week!”
今年秋天，普拉格开始了她推迟了好几个月的研究生课程.
“作为SPU的一名学生，我有能力改变世界，”她说. “作为一名毕业生，我正在学着意识到这对我意味着什么. Right now, 这意味着当一个年轻人通过照片自由地讲述自己的故事时，她会感到满足.
“正是在这些时刻，我学会了与自己和平相处. It is for these moments that I’m incredibly grateful.”
—By Sarah Jio
—Photos by Luke Rutan
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PRM同意大多数年轻艺术家的观点，他们认为摄影对街头青年来说既赋权又危险. 这可能会加强他们的身份认同，但代价是脆弱.
For more photos, visit the Photography Gallery. |
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