Photo Exchangers
What we do: Connect youth internationally in cross-cultural visual art projects. Students learn about their own and each other’s cultures through documentary field work, email, photography, and art exchanges.
Why we do it: To empower youth to promote cross-cultural awareness and a deeper understanding of their local and global communities.
How we do it: Through documentary field work both groups photograph and interview local residents, family members, peers, and organizations. They make photo books of their field work to exchange with their international partners. Studying each other’s work sparks email dialog. The email communication brings new meaning to the power of cross-cultural education by youth for youth.
Who we are: Photo Exchangers is the result of a collaboration between educators in the United States and partnering educators with the Tamale-based NGO RAINS (Regional Advisory Information and Network System).
Youth exploring and teaching about their culture through visual arts and technology
“We are doing this project to learn about people outside our homes and families, to learn about others that live in other places like Ghana. Another reason we’re doing this project is to explore around other neighborhoods and to interview people and to learn about them.”
-American Student
“The photography project is out to link children in Ghana to children in America… to help us learn new things in our area and culture so that to teach our friends in U.S… to foster unity among members in both clubs.”
-Ghanaian Student
