The 2009 Ennis Beley Photography Project
"Myself, My Camera, My World"
Opens Sunday, November 15th
2:00 - 4:00 pm
The Gruss Center for Visual Arts at The Lawrenceville School
The Ennis Beley Photography Project is named in memory of an exceptionally gifted young photographer from South Central Los Angeles who discovered photography at the age of eleven and was killed in a drive-by shooting when he was only 15.
The multi-week summer project, which teaches the art of photography, is in its twelfth year and is an outgrowth of a unique partnership between Young Audiences New Jersey, The Lawrenceville School and HomeFront.
By engaging children in photography, we hope to accomplish a number of things. First, we want them to learn a new skill and to explore their creativity. More broadly, we want them to solve problems, initiate activities, experiment, and question. We want photography to bring students into contact with people and places within their community, but outside their everyday lives.
We don't know if any of the young people whose beautiful work you see here will become professional photographers. We do know that each child has found a new means of self-expression. And most of all, we see that through the arts and community, children learn what is possible. New worlds, new aspects of self and new capabilities are part of their experience.
The children's success in achieving these goals is a tribute to them; their instructor - William Vandever; the project director, Liz Winter-Kuwornu and the project assistants: Lilian Evans and Madeline Budd.
We thank our young photographers: Tymaire Sawyer, Manuel Rios, Makayla Sawyer, Albaro Rivas, Eric Wolfe, Anthony Skinner, Aaron Wilson-Watson, Shermaine Carter, Shamera Holt, and Bayshawn Jennings for sharing their enthusiasm and talent with us.
I know you will enjoy meeting each of them through "Myself, My Camera, My World."
The Ennis Beley Photogrpahy Project is made possible by: Interpublic Group, Betty Wold Johnson, J. Seward Johnson, Sr. 1963 Charitable Trusts, Ms. Margaret C. Morgan, The Prudential Foundation
With special thanks to: William Vandever - Instructor, The Lawrenceville School, HomeFront, Central New Jersey Maternal and Child Health Consortium, New York Camera and Le Camera
Visit our photo gallery to see pictures from The Ennis Beley Photography Project
