Rainy season has finally come a month later that than usual, after a sweltering heat dome that left us begging for relief. All of us that raised our hands for rain, (virtually everyone) found we received record rainfall all month, and with it flooding, sink holes and landslides due to saturated soil. Many of our families who live perched on the edge of ravines are living with near constant anxiety.
Guatemala’s president is considering asking the congress to declare a state of calamity. This would enable him to access emergency funding for dealing with the 332 highways damaged, the 5,757 houses that have received moderate to severe damage, and the more than 15,000 left homeless. Congress however, denied him the same emergency financing when we had serious wildfires in April and it is no secret that they wish to see the president, who ran on an anticorruption platform, fail. The rain continues.
But wait, is that the sun breaking through the murk? There are an amazing number of good things happening for Fotokids this quarter. First, I am on my way to New York City to celebrate and present at the opening of the Bronx Documentary Center’s (BDC) Latin American Foto Festival. Fotokids is exhibiting 50 photos, mostly from our 30th
retrospective show, but with addition of some newer images. I hope to see our New York supporters (and your friends/family) there, if you and they can make it. I am posting an invite on the Fotokids FB page or contact me for an invite that you can share. Open to the public. Date: July 11th, 6-9 PM, at the Bronx Documentary Center Annex 364 E 151st Street, Bronx NY 10451. It is right in between a school and a community garden and we have the whole gallery! I will be presenting and giving a walk through the gallery between 6:30 t0 7 pm. The show will be up the whole month, so if you can’t make the opening, I hope that you can come see it at a later date.
Attentive newsletter readers may remember that this is oursecond invitation to exhibit at the BDC. We were a part of their first Latin American Foto Fest in 2018 and we were highlighted at the time in a successful New York Times review.
More good news- Since many of you have written out of concern, let’s address the elephant in the room, the postponement of our semi-annual fundraiser. Due to a clerical error in filing deadlines with the state of California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) they have temporarily suspended us, but onlyfor the tax exemption on STATE returns in California. The good news is, this doesn’t affect our Federal standing; we continue as always to be in good standing with the IRS as a charity, have filed the missing document and we can accept donations.
Evelyn is more than holding down the fort here in Guatemala where we begin our search for the class of 2025. This means presenting our program in schools and then interviewing prospective students and their parents. In addition, she has been busy working with an old friend of Fotokids from RTI (an independent nonprofit research institute), raising support for us here in Guatemala. There are several things cooking; including a photo showing at the U.S. ambassador’s residence during an event for high profile Guatemalans, and a Fotokids exhibit at Anacafe, the national collective of coffee exporters, who are patrons and collectors of Guatemalan art. If that wasn’t enough, the Guatemalan athlete, Daniela Andrade,who ran 5300 km across Chile to support nutritional security in Guatemala, and was named one of the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes (2022), wants to take the older Fotokids on her national promotion tour to photo document her appearances throughout the country!
We received a very generous grant of $15,000 from a long-time donor to support our lunch budget, but Evie is also working on encouraging chicken and rice producers to donate product. Just today we received confirmation from a local supplier that a 100 pounds rice will be donated every month. This will stretch the lunch budget donation even farther and help us both in the city and Santiago Atitlán, with any surplus going to the families most in need.
As you know, Guatemala has the highest rate of malnutrition among children under five years in Latin America: nearly 50 percent, according to the World Food Program. Among indigenous children, the malnutrition rate is even higher: close to 70 percent.
On October 4th we will have an exhibit at the beautiful Panza Verde Hotel and Restaurant in their art gallery. Those of you in Guate, who have been asking me if we are doing an exhibit this year (and I replied no, I’m wiped out) take note!
In April, Berlin and I went to West Palm Beach, where we had licensed a Fotokids eight-week photography workshop for underprivileged kids at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts with students from the De George Academy. We taught the first two Saturdays and worked with Jose and Miranda who handled the remaining classes. It was a trip after which I felt a sense of loss when I left the kids. I haven’t taught in a long time and I realized how much I missed it. And it was a good learning lesson in what works in cultures other than those in Central America. Selected student photos, will be presented in an autumn exhibit at the Kravitz Center.
Ongoing negotiations, on behalf of Kravis Center, to bring our program to the West Palm Beach school system, working with underprivileged middle school children, might be in the cards. We did a similar program for children of migrant workers in California’s Central Valley that lasted 5 years, and then impressed with the program, the state’s school system, decidedto continue it under their own auspices.
The Fotokids classes – I‘m so impressed with the creativity and professionalism of our teachers. I am putting in two excerpts from the monthly teacher reports. This is from May 2024, from the 2nd year students, ages 12 and 13 in photography and the 5th year students (16 year-olds) studying design. Photography: “Students participated in various photographic activities including a visit to an artist’s studio.
May’s focus was on the various fields of photography, macro, landscape, street and travel. The students started with photo scavenger hunts and the practice of capturing the decisive moment, followed by a discussion of difficulties and undeveloped ideas. Brainstorming was utilized to discuss the definition of street photography and then after analyzing the style of Alex Webb, focusing on the use of color, composition, contrast and dynamism they went out to shoot using the abovecriteria..
They studied Levon’s Biss style in macrophotography and Ansel Adams in landscapes, and explored the influence of color temperature to transmit emotions. With travel photography, they analyzed the style of Lola Akinmade Åkerström and made a plan to implement travel photography in their community. Each student generated ideas of what and where they would carry out their practice of the various disciples and, afterwards participated in a peer critique.
The last week of May included another outing to practice concepts with individual attention given to each student. The month closed with photo assignments on morning light (blue) and sunset light (the golden hour) and a contest, with a bow to Mother’s Day, on “The Powers of Mother.”
In Design in Santiago Atitlán:” The older students explored typography and Adobe Illustrator through theoretical and practical activities.” Rather than run you through all the classes leading up to the end result I’ll just cut to the chase.
“Using various fonts students created calligrams for poems by Humberto Ak’abal, developed and improved sketches of typographic illustrations”. (I had to look up the word, calligram, which is a poem in which the calligraphy, the formation of the letters or the font selected represents an aspect of the poem’s subject.)
“The students downloaded fonts and began to vectorize their illustrations, correctly applying text tools and tracking. During the process, they received continuous support and made improvements based on constructive criticism”
I mean, really! I was up in Santiago and watched as they used this application and well, it’s just easier to show you the results, rather than have you glaze over with verbal definitions.
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“customized.” A sense of urgency often helps readers take action, so consider inserting phrases like “for a limited time only” or “only 7 remaining!”
