Kids with Cameras (PP)
Project manager: Kids With Cameras, USA
Project title: Picturing Beauty: Photographs Taken by Calcutta's Red Light Kids
In Calcutta's red light district over 7,000 women and girls work as prostitutes. Only one group has a lower standing: their children.
Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, became involved in the lives of these children in 1998 when she first began photographing prostitutes in Calcutta. Living in the brothels for months at a time, she quickly developed a relationship with many of the kids who, often terrorized and abused, were drawn to the rare human companionship she offered.
The children were fascinated by her camera and Zana became intrigued by the idea of seeing the world through their eyes. It was at that moment that she came up with the idea of teaching photography to the children of prostitutes.
She held weekly photography workshops between 2000 and 2003. The children were equipped with inexpensive point-and-shoot 35mm cameras and, to Zana's delight, they produced incredible work. Their images are explosions of colour; self-portraits, family pictures, street scenes, stunning tableaux of Bengali life.
The children are their photographs are featured in BORN INTO BROTHELS, a documentary by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, winner of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award.
In 2002, Zana formed Kids With Cameras, a non-profit organization to empower children through photography and to support their continued education beyond photography. 100% of proceeds from the sale of the children¹s work will directly support their education through Kids With Cameras.
Please visit our web site at www.kids-with-cameras.org