Beyond Vision - Ecuador (2008 - 2009)

Location: South and Middle America, Ecuador

Project Background

Photography by street children in Ecuador

In 2005, photographers Lara Kay and Lynn Weddle established the ‘Beyond Vision’ photography project in with local NGO Juconi. They imparted photographic skills to street children to help them document their situation and challenge public perceptions. The project also provided the children with valuable opportunities for employment. In 2008, PhotoVoice returned to Ecuador for the second stage of the project, generously funded by Insight Investment.

Project photo gallery

Ecuador is known as the land of fruit and flowers. We live in the middle of city and we still have glimpses of the beauty of nature. Nature in Ecuador is under threat. We need to take great care of what is precious to us all

The young participants captured some beautiful natural details in the urban wasteland of Guayaquil, seeking to show the resilience of nature in the face of human development. As street working children they are often pre-judged by those who do not share their lives.

Further project info

Beginners’ and advanced programmes taught photographic and transferable IT skills such as website design. The project also offered the particiapnts valuable opportunities to have tutorials and portfolio reviews with professional photographers and internships within the photographic industry broadening the particiapnts’ opportunities for employment.

Participants on the advanced course trained as peer educators passing on their skills to other young people recruited through Juconi’s programmes. These workshops concentrated on photography as a creative outlet and enable to the children to speak out about the issues affecting their lives.

“Giving children who literally have nothing access to the luxury of cameras and images of themselves and their lives is a significant contribution in itself. From Juconi’s perspective the lasting impact of Beyond Vision has been bringing to the children a realisation that what they choose to photograph is a communication from them. This has led to the children thinking about what it is they are saying both within and beyond this project. These messages are found and put into words and are then available not only to communicate to others but also to communicate to themselves.”
Sylvia Reyes Director of Juconi, Ecuador, 2005 (feedback after Beyond Vision’s first workshops)

Partners

JUCONI (Junto Con los Niños or Together with the Children) was founded in 1995 as an Ecuadorian not-for-profit organisation that provides specialised educational and therapeutic services to street-working children and their families.
Juconi’s educational methodology is internationally recognized. It provides highly personalized services for the child and family based upon an individually designed education and therapeutic plan addressing all four areas of human development: physical, emotional, cognitive and social.

The Chantal Fontaine School of Photography is a prestigious establishment based in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It is run by Chantal Fontaine, a professional photographer, and provides key commercial photographic services, running a digital studio, an agency and production services. In addition The Chantal Fontaine School runs an acclaimed educational programme – co-ordinating short-term to degree level courses.