Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home May-July 2017 1 Dear Stronach Prize Committee, Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home: May-July 2017 Adrián Ríos On my last letter-home I shared with you a bit on what Traslados last activity for this summer would be. Before explaining what these last two months consisted of, I d like to clarify that by last activity I do not mean that the project will discontinue. On the contrary, I hope that our last activity we did this summer will bring a longer existence and greater impact into our community. Nonetheless, as the tenure for the Stronach Visiting Scholar position comes to an end, I will share with you in this letter-home what the last artistic intervention for this time was about. Earlier this year, we came up with the idea of turning the children s art installation into a smaller intervention, but with a deeper impact, for borderland children. After a month of working on the possible outcomes, we finally anchored an idea and decided to implement a photography workshop for children aged seven to twelve. By May, we had come up with the solid idea on what our goal for this activity would be, but bureaucracy and logistics delayed our initial deadline. Then, during the month of June, we planned the content for the photography workshop and looked for a location where it could take place. This was especially important to me (to find a democratically accessible place) because I wanted a space where diverse children from different backgrounds could participate. At the end, after a long search, I decided to go with Comunidad Casa Cultural San Antonio de los Buenos, in Tijuana, because it is a place close to the core of downtown (and the border), but also next to a demographically underserved neighborhood of displaced communities. Fortunately, the staff at the cultural center was very supportive. In fact, our proposal for the workshop actually coincided with the 128th anniversary of the foundation of the city. Therefore, we arranged to have our final exhibition to commemorate this year s celebrations in an artistic way, showing migration and spatial perception of the border city as our main theme in the photos the children would take. Throughout May and June, Traslados created and organized the photography workshop for children aged 7-12 where they would learn through playful activities how photography
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 2 works, what social impact it brings about and how they (the whole community, but in this specific case the children) have a cultural agency to play. For this reason, we decided to call the workshop Traslúdica, evoking to Traslados (motion/displacement) and lúdica (ludic, playful). In addressing this, I must acknowledge that it was a tremendously difficult task to create a program for this workshop that would not only encompass the topics of basic photography while raising awareness on social issues, but that it would also be appealing to the children in a a playful manner. Fortunately, Traslados team managed to create a series of activities that would seem playful to the children and where they would also be learning on photography and social consciousness. The main objective for this workshop was to introduce children to the art of photography and raise awareness on the fact that they inhabit a border zone, where migration policies affect the community in their daily lives. In a sense, we wanted them to know that borders exist because of the people who build them, but also because of we (borderers) give continuation to them. Tijuana, displayed as an embassy for migrants in current transition, was the subject and location where our work took place. Besides having these factors, we also wanted to bring to the fore a current topic in the arts, which is the increasingly underrepresentation of analog photography. Therefore, we worked exclusively with analog cameras (also known as one-time use cameras or disposable cameras), excelling the importance of a shooting in contrast or in resistance to our common digital era.
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 3 Throughout the end of June and all month of July the children attended for five hours a week, the classes we d prepared to them. Maritza Demon a local photographer who shares with us our vision on the political impact the arts may have and I managed to break down the syllabus to cover the basics of photography such as composition, color, lighting, symbolism, motion and framing. This way, both of us created the material we d see in class and implemented diverse activities addressing topics of framing (what is the main focus of our photo? what is left out? what does it say? is someone/something being silenced?); symbolism (what does a tree, a border, a place mean? how can we see the polyphony of interpretations in photography, if at all possible?); motion and composition (can we really capture a movement? what does motion signify? do we have the right to move around?) etc. In fact, we had the opportunity, the necessary funds and the parents permission to bring the children to an excursion to the wall, where Tijuana and San Diego s border meet in the ocean. While there, we explored issues of light, motion, nature and what our role is to play in such a space of conflict and contradictions.
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 After a few weeks of classes, we started to organize the final exhibition where children would display their work in public in the Cultural Center s Gallery. Maritza and I did the curation of the photographs, but we also left the children pick their favorite work to exhibit since this was also an opportunity for them to explore new feelings towards the arts and give (social) value to their work. We opened the gallery with great success at the end of the month, where all children came to present their work. Diego, Mar, Nico, Uma, Ibrahim, Nylah, Víctor, and David were our consistent group of children who came to Traslúdica, and we awarded all of them with prizes and euphoric applause from all the community that attended. 4
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 5 In short, Traslúdica, what started as a potential interactive art installation, became a great success in converging the arts and social consciousness to bring awareness to the children who live in the Tijuana-San Diego border. The total work of nearly three months of preparing material and facilitating the workshop to the children, culminated in what I expected the most of Traslados: a unique experience for everyone involved where not only the interaction with art would leave a new approach towards it, but that it would contribute to the public good in forming new ways of citizenship. I d leave you for now with photos from all the workshop beginning to end and letting you know that I m eternally grateful for all your support in the Stronach experience. Thank you!!!
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 6 Some photos from our excursion to Playas de Tijuana (border wall at the beach between San Diego and Tijuana).
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 7
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 8 During our opening gallery at the Cultural Center. We had artists guests, music (played by our children too!) and some prizes and recognition to everyone!
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 9 We brought some ice-cream for the reception! We gave some certificates and prizes to our wonderful kids! They re truly artists!
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 10 ;) Mar, one of the children who took our workshop! We truly hope to see in the upcoming years more of her photography work! The children and Traslados team also received a certificate from the Cultural center! yay! Víctor and his family after the reception.
Adrián Rios Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize Letter Home April-May 2017 11 Some of the children, Maritza, and myself during our excursion to the border (blue wall in the background). Un abrazo de Tijuana!