Idea:Exchange

Idea:Exchange is a participatory educational process drawing on the medium of photography. It opened with the exhibit "The Way We See It: Young Photographers Examine, Define, and Change Their World". Held from June 17 to September 3 2010 in Washington, DC, the exhibit features 4 different intergenerational collaborations that weave together activist inquiry and the arts:

1. Visual Griots - A Griot is a story teller in West Africa who carries on the oral traditions of a family or village. Visual Griots is a project of AED's Center for International Exchanges (CIE) that promotes community cultural development and mutual understanding through the art of photography. In 2005, 22 sixth graders from Mali, West Africa engaged in a process of self-exploration and expression using photography. Students took ownership of the project and communicated what is important about themselves and their communities. According to AED, the contribution of Malian teachers, photographers, and community leaders in the planning and implementation of the project was vital to its success. Since the Visual Griots photographs were first shown in the students' villages, they have continued to amplify the voice of Malian youth to audiences throughout Mali and the United States - including at Idea:Exchange.
2. Critical Exposure - In this exhibit, Washington, DC students "pictured education" by photographing their reasons for leaving the school system and their motivations for returning. Critical Exposure is a nonprofit organisation that teaches youth to use the power of photography and their own voices to become effective advocates for school reform and social change. Nearly 50% of DC students do not graduate from high school, and Critical Exposure seeks to provide the community and policymakers with a youth perspective on the causes and consequences of, as well as possible solutions to, the city's low graduation rate.
3. Finding Voice - Josh Schachter is a photographer, visual storyteller, educator, and community activist. In this exhibit, Josh shares youth work from Tucson, Arizona's Finding Voice programme, which is dedicated to helping refugee and immigrant youth in ESL (English as a second language) classes develop their literacy skills and civic engagement by photographing, writing, researching, and speaking out about critical social issues in their lives and communities.
4. Photography on Fire - Beginning in 2006, Josh facilitated a photography project with 8 young artists living in one of New Delhi, India's largest "slum colonies": Kathputli (or puppet) Colony. Kathputli is home to nearly 9,000 Indian artists who dedicate their lives to performing traditional arts: puppeteering, music, dance, fire-eating, acrobatics, and magic. According to AED, their images "reveal a wealth of dignity and creativity amidst an environment often defined by its poverty."

The photography highlights the intellectual, aesthetic, and political potential of youth-adult partnerships, in which youth take the lead in framing the inquiry and determining how to represent their concerns most effectively to diverse audiences. The young people involved explored the art of photography as a medium not only for self-expression but also as a social mirror for reflecting on and questioning the contradictions they experience in their everyday lives and communities.

Coinciding with the exhibit is a series of lectures on youth development.

Youth.

Idea:Exchange is based on a process that AED describes as "participatory praxis", which "embodies deep commitments to collaboration, collective knowledge-building, and justice oriented research. Designed to disrupt unequal power relations, its practices validate traditionally unrecognized knowledges, alongside theories and methods of research, the arts, and social change."

Furthermore, "Photography is well-positioned for exposing the connective tissue between local spaces and global practice, demonstrating the political context of what appears deeply personal. Circulating rapidly around the globe, new digital media's increasing accessibility opens up new avenues and builds solidarity for social change."