belongings & belonging
This year's annual project with two schools and the local art museum titled Belongings and Belonging.
This year's project with students from Cohen Hillel Academy & Salem Academy Charter School in partnership with the Peabody Essex Museum concluded in wrapping up a year long examination considering how our belongings connect to our identities, our cultures and our values.
What do our belongings reveal about who we are, what we do, and what we value? How are our belongings similar to those of others? How do our belongings differ than the ones owned by young people across town or a century ago?
Guided by these questions and PEM’s Connecting Community philosophy to “present and interpret works of art and culture in ways that connect art to the world,” this project linked two communities of learners who would not otherwise have a way to meet one another and get to know each other’s stories.
My role was similar to prior years (2015, 2014) in that I photographed each session to show the interaction between the student's and the lessons while highlighting the connections between them and the community that evolved. For this year's program, the student's were asked to bring in special belongings that gave insights to their identity, and I photographed in a few ways - one of their object and a portrait of them with their object. All portraits of their objects were taken at a downward angle as I wanted to show their feet as shoes reveal another aspect of identity. For the portrait of them with their object, they were free to pose in any way they wanted to express their personality. Lastly I took a simple portrait of each student and only asked that they cross their arms and lean against a wall.
The collection of photographs was once again designed into a book alongside insights and thoughts from the students and the photographs were displayed at a final class session held at the Peabody Essex Museum.
Creating Community
Creating Community is a project created through a collaboration between Salem Academy Charter School and Cohen Hillel Academy and guided by Facing History and Ourselves which brings together eighth grade students from each school who embark on a journey together towards building community with each other and within their larger communities.
For the 2013-2014 school year students investigated issues of identity and belonging as they pertain to themselves personally and to those who carried their stories on their journeys to America throughout history. By studying three key moments in American history, students reflected on the tension between assimilation and acculturation and what different cultures and specifically new immigrants have personally struggled with on their journey towards becoming American.
Students monthly at alternating schools to engage in a variety of learning through the use of film, literature, guided activities, presentations and discussion to gain a more nuanced understanding of the experiences of newcomers to America.
One of the key project goals was for students to interview an “immigrant” in the community and during an extended session in April, nine immigrants were invited to Salem Academy Charter School to share their stories on becoming an American with students. Participants were asked to bring an object of importance to them - one that told a story about their their immigrating experience or a keepsake that reminded them of their country or origin.
Utilizing the object as a starting point, students talked with participants and listened to their stories and experiences on becoming an American citizen. The interviews were recorded, and in the final two sessions, students composed an essay about each story.
Each participant was photographed with his or her object, and their portraits were presented alongside the essay written by the students.
North Shore Immigrants
The partnership between Salem Academy Charter School and Cohen Hillel Academy provided opportunities for students to begin to see that they are part of a shared enterprise and that learning about each other through story telling is a powerful tool towards creating community.
An exhibition of student essays pared with a portrait of each person interviewed will be on display at the Salem Visitors & Exhibition center June 12-30.
Wells Blog
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