Visual Arts
Cameras for peace: Children's photos capture Colombia in war

By Young Chang
Seattle Times staff reporter

	YEISON ALEXIS BETANCOURT SEGURO Photographs taken by children in war-torn Colombia are on exhibit at ArtReach gallery on Capitol Hill.
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Jazmin Gonzalez Pineda dots her i's with tiny circles.

With shaky, loopy strokes, the 11-year-old writes that people have been raped and killed in Pines, Colombia. The text appears below her black-and-white photo of her sister playing dead.

Alvaro Andres Montenegro Brochero sticks capital T's in the middle of Spanish words like "pintor." The 11-year-old writes that there is "infection" in his shot of a Colombian laguna.

The captions help close the distance between visitors to ArtReach gallery on Capitol Hill and a war-torn Colombia in the photos.

After all, children everywhere have chubby, cartoon-ish handwriting.

Exhibit preview "Disparando Cámaras Para la Paz," through Dec. 20, at ArtReach gallery, 1405 Boylston Ave., Seattle (206-329-2722). More info at http://www.ajaproject.org/.

Children everywhere say exactly what they mean.

Titled "Disparando Cámaras para la Paz," or "Shooting Cameras for Peace," the exhibit is a product of documentary photographer Alex Fattal's year with refugee children on the outskirts of Bogotá. Fattal was in South America on a Fulbright grant to study Colombian photojournalism and the issue of differing perspectives. "Disparando" was part of the AjA Project, a nonprofit international organization for which he is a program director.

The group offers multimedia and photography-based education, among other programs, for refugee children. Fattal taught children how to document their lives with cameras.

They used plastic, green automatics that cost $10 each but offered a panoramic feature that made the pictures look like images from a DVD.

WILSON DAVID RODR’GUEZ "My House": First, poles were put up, followed by the door, siding and plastic. It has a small kitchen, a bathroom, a room for the parents and one for children.

"The idea of giving cameras to children is giving them the tools to tell their own story," said Fattal, 23. "To break the dynamic of foreign photographers. Even if it's a Colombian photographer, it's an upper-class guy who comes in and takes pictures and leaves."

The children behind "Disparando" don't get to leave.

Jose William Claros Conde's photo shows two children near a soccer goal. The 10-year-old's caption mentions that he is happy he can play outside.

Jenny Mayerly Pardo Bolanos' photo is of her young brother, who she says is without sight because her mother took many pills for physical pains.

Others show people rummaging through trash, a professor who didn't want his picture taken and a baby dressed in white and wearing a white bonnet. She is sitting alone in a big bed and looks much the way every baby does in a cozy bonnet.

	GUSTAVO ÇNGEL BARON CRUZ The kitchen of the 14-year-old photographer's home is always a busy place — for meals and conversation.

"I found them to be like any other kids," Fattal said. "They've been through tragedies, but they play impromptu soccer near the contaminated lake."

The 14 photos are part of a 43-image collection traveling through Colombia, where the photography program continues. The Seattle showing marks the exhibit's international debut.

Aaron Straight, executive director of ArtReach, a nonprofit organization that teaches life skills to at-risk youth through art and music, said he was moved by the emotions in the photos.

"When there's little to struggle against, there's little to say," Straight said. "It's not the resources that make good art. It's truly being connected to what it is you want to express."

Young Chang: ychang@seattletimes.com