Temporary Home for Children in Argentina

Living and Telling a Story in Pictures

We are carrying out a workshop with the girls and boys in which photography is taught as a game and it is look for using the photographic tool to generate awareness about values such as respect, responsibility and tolerance. To do this, the first workshops were based on the care of the camera (how to hold it by putting the hand on the belt, as always grasping it with both hands, position of the fingers, keep it in its covers, how to clean it, etc.) fostering responsibility. We distributed a camera for each group of children at the end of the workshop, each member of the group took a picture at the end of the slogans dictated by the workshop (recognize colors, finish a gimkana, relay game, etc) so we work with tolerance, respect and teamwork.

The initiation to the photographic language was done in a playful way where the children discover how the images are constructed for it there is a drawing space where the learning of techniques of self-portrait, portraits of spaces, things that I would like to photograph.

The look and the photography are very powerful instruments to elaborate stories so some workshops were based on the creation of stories that involved children as characters, defining a name and telling a small story of no more than 2 minutes. As triggers, everyday situations have been widely accepted, and this has allowed us to work on the value of children and their rights. 

Other topics that we have worked on are the following:

• The sight, the look and the point of view.
• Field of vision and framing, field and off-field
• Explain stories with pictures. The order of the factors does alter the product
• My camera and I: portrait and self-portrait, how I explain myself and how I want them to see me.

The workshops have allowed the team to know their tastes, and from there, they have been encouraged to develop and even reinforce skills that they did not yet know as their own. These workshops invite children to see themselves as protagonists of beautiful stories and to have better images of life.

We are currently starting a theater project that will help strengthen the self-esteem of children. We are transitioning the first stage where we are working towards a group consolidation, body exploration and dramatic game. Enabling in the participants a greater security in the scene and the theatrical space.

The dramatic play and the improvisations that were developed during the activities which allows the participants of the workshop to understand a little more of the theatrical language on the march and thus to understand a simple piece; Where each of the characters, the given circumstances, objective and event are located. This strengthens their feelings that they can do it, that a new world of opportunities for them and that another way of seeing reality is possible.

To capture the attention of participants, they alternate exercises with games they already knew and begin to create choreographies of the functions.

While children share life at home, as a working group they are consolidating. A link of trust has been created between the volunteers, team and the participants where respect is promoted, healthy coexistence.

The children are very happy to share this experience that leads them to imagine a better reality and the possibility of achieving it.