10 Years of Youth Education & Photography at the BDC
Saturday
Feb 24, 2024 | 3pm
For more than a decade, the BDC’s Youth Photo League (YPL) has nurtured the photographic talents of South Bronx students, bringing new resources and opportunities to a historically underserved neighborhood. The results have been stunning, as talented students have created photos and writing to tell their own stories, and those of their friends and neighbors.
Join BDC’s Founder and Creative Director, Mike Kamber, in conversation with Bianca Farrow—who helped create the YPL and led the program for many years— and alumni Pamela Y. Rozon, Elisa Luna Cameron, Lucki Islam, Tianna Maldonado, Alexa Pacheco, Lorena Nicole Vicente, as they discuss how they built a successful, community-based youth photography program and what the coming years will bring.
This event is held in conjunction with the BDC's current exhibition 'Through Our Eyes: Youth Photography at the Bronx Documentary Center, 2013-2023' which showcases the past decade of our student's award-winning photography. The exhibition is on view until March 3, 2024.
BIOS:
Mike Kamber has worked as a journalist for more than 25 years. Between 2002 and 2012, he worked for The New York Times, covering conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, the Sudan, Somalia, the Congo, and other countries. He was the first person in New York Times' history to routinely file photos, videos and written articles to the paper. His photographs have also been published in nearly every major news magazine in the United States and Europe, as well as in many newspapers. In 2011, Kamber founded the Bronx Documentary Center, an educational space dedicated to positive social change through photography and film. Kamber is an adjunct professor at Columbia University. He is the winner of a World Press Photo award, the Mike Berger Award, the Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Club Award, American Photo Images of the Year, and is a member of The New York Times team that won a 2003 Overseas Press Club award. The New York Times twice nominated Kamber’s work for the Pulitzer Prize.
Bianca Farrow is a community-focused program director, educator, and photographer. Passionate about the interconnectedness of arts education, social justice, and collective well-being, she is committed to creating spaces and programs that foster these connections. With over a decade of experience in arts education in New York City, Bianca played a pivotal role in the growth of the Bronx Documentary Center, where she initiated and developed an internationally renowned documentary photography and college success program for middle and high school students. Currently, she is engaged in facilitating youth participatory action research (YPAR) projects for middle and high school students, exploring the intersection of youth voice and community well-being. Bianca holds a B.A. in documentary photography and sociology from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and an Ed.M. in Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship from Harvard Graduate School of Education with a concentration in Arts and Learning.
Lucki Islam is a 20-year-old artist raised in The Bronx, of New York City. Lucki is dedicated to using her creative expression to ignite self and social transformation. As a poet, her words are a form of conversation and dialogue with her community, and the world. As a documentary photographer/filmmaker, Lucki captures the fleeting moments of, vulnerability, resilience and becoming. And as a theatre maker (Playwright, Actor, and Director) Lucki is interested in telling stories of the complex existence of grief and love.
Elisa Luna Cameron, a senior at The High School of Fashion Industries, is an ambivert deeply passionate about creativity and activism. Photography, a key component of her upbringing, plays a central role in her life, influencing her artistic pursuits in writing and video game design. Elisa sees the world through her lens, capturing stories and emotions that fuel her continuous growth. As she navigates the future, she is determined to integrate photography into her endeavors, blending her love for the art with her evolving creative expressions.
Tianna Maldonado—I tend to bring where I come from everywhere with me. Whether that place being Cooper Union, where I will be graduating this semester with a degree in fine arts, or in the presence of new friends, the South Bronx will always be portrayed. My aspiration is to be a representation of talent and excellence as an Afro-Latina who grew up in the most neglected neighborhood of New York City.
Alexa Pacheco is a 17-year-old high school senior who has been working with the Bronx Documentary Center since she was 12 years old. Her goal and passion in life is to be able to tell stories through photography and her art. She wants to be able to document untouched topics in her own way. In the future, Alexa wants to study photography in college and have a career taking photos and traveling the world.
Lorena Nicole Vicente is a Dominican, Bronx-based photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on the Black and Caribbean experience. She is completing an undergraduate BA in Film and Television from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Through her films and photographs, she seeks to tell coming-of-age stories that touch on themes of lost innocence, race, class, and cultural identity within marginalized communities, and to be a storyteller on behalf of her community
Pamela Y. Rozon is a photojournalist and videographer who resides in the South Bronx. She is graduating this year, 2024, from Hunter College with a BA in Media Studies and a minor in Environmental Sciences. Rozon is an alumni of the Youth Photo League (YPL) program with a passion for documenting the social, economic, and environmental impacts that climate change has in her Bronx community.
BDC Annex, 364 E. 151st St, Bronx, NY 10455
IMAGES: © Bronx Documentary Center