Tag: art

PhotoPhilanthropy Visual Essay Submission, 2012

Bleak Landscapes and Grim Living Conditions meet your arch nemesi:
Vibrant Color, Laughter and Creativity.
This photo essay follows a group of American artists through the slums of Port au Prince and into schools, hospitals and orphanages. In their war against despair the best weapon of choice is intentional whimsy and purposeful joy.

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Project HOPE Art is comprised of a colorful cast of characters that appeal to my inner child. They work fervently to heal and inspire the children around them. I choose to photograph this organization’s journey into the Third World because I love their efforts, compassion and artful endeavors. They sing. They dance. They laugh. They create beauty from trash. They insert hope into eyes. Inspiring people to not give up or give in. But to laugh and appreciate what is and to make it through another day.

All of my photographs are used to populate the Project HOPE Art web media to tell stories of art upcycling, vermicomposting and dance workshops. This year I am working on my first illustrated Moringa Tree gardening and cookbook. This book will contain upcycled art and agroecology lesson plans, Creole recipes and actual Moringa seeds so each child who receives the book will have a grasp on nutrition, soil cycles and healthy eating. Science and Art really go hand in hand.

Several things are required to stay alive: water, food and shelter. Project HOPE Art provides the things necessary to be ALIVE: laughter, joy, ideas, color and vibrancy.

During my first trip to Haiti, in January 2010, I captured more than 5,000 images for Project HOPE Art. Together we turned those images into a book about PHA’s programming.

Now we have decided to collaborate together on a gardening cookbook, entitled “There Grows The Neighborhood.” The book’s first edition will travel down to Haiti in January 2013 filled with children’s recipes, food paintings and gardening photographs.

I will work on a second edition of the book, with a professional illustrator, to be released in January 2014. This edition of the book will encompass The Growing Gardens Guide, Vegetable Planting Guide and Container Garden Activity List — but also include a handwritten story accompanied by characters like Mardochee Le Magique Moringa and her best friend Herbie the Worm.

Through Project HOPE Art’s Visiting Artist Program and local collaboration with Haiti NPO – Haiti Communitere, I will also be traveling to Port au Prince to photograph a collection of artistic projects each quarter of 2013. My plan is to photograph alongside Project HOPE Art for as long as they will tolerate my intrusive camera lens.

sirèn, zetwal lamè ak avanti anba dlo a

To make believe:
(idiomatic) To pretend or imagine. To form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one’s mind.

For our January 2013 trip to Haiti we will be creating an under the sea adventure for classrooms, hospitals and orphanage bedrooms. Sirèn, zetwal lamè ak avanti anba dlo a (mermaids, sea stars and underwater adventures) will abound.

Christopher Columbus reported seeing mermaids while exploring the Caribbean 500 years ago.   People have spotted mermaids in the blue waters ever since. Since we are believers of magic, it is our goal for our January 2013 trip to create sirèn, zetwal lamè ak avanti anba dlo a (mermaids, sea stars and underwater adventures) in the bedrooms of all our girls in Haiti.

 

We are now collecting glitter, sequins, clear umbrellas, shiny fabric and other sea-related trinkets to take down to Haiti with us. We’ll be creating mermaid tail pajamas for all the girls. Decorating their walls with ocean drawings, toilet paper mermaids, blue fabric and streamers, umbrella jelly fish and paper plate sea stars.

 

We’ll also be creating our newest addition to the Art + Literacy program around an underwater theme.

Among the Neo-Taíno nations of the Caribbean, the mermaid is called Aycayia. Her attributes relate to the goddess Jagua and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree Hibiscus tiliaceus.In modern Caribbean culture, the mermaid is found as the Haitian Vodou Loa La Sirene (lit. “the mermaid”) who is the loa of wealth and beauty and the orisha Yemaya.

To learn more about getting involved, click here

Magic Moringa Tree

We are always open to exploring sustainable, gardening, food production-centric art projects. It was with excitement that we stumbled onto the Moringa Tree upon a recommendation from a former Peace Corps volunteer who had worked with the tree in Africa. Also commonly known as “the horseradish tree,” the leaves from this plant have:

7 times the vitamin C in oranges
4 times the calcium and 2 times the protein in milk
4 times the vitamin A in carrots
3 times the potassium in bananas

About the Moringa:
Moringa oleifera is known as a miracle tree by international aid groups across the world. The tree suprisingly has more beneficial uses to humans than any other plant species. Moringa is the sole genus in the flowering plant family Moringaceae. The name is derived from the Tamil word murunggai (முருங்கை) or the Malayalam word muringa, both of which refer to M. Oleifera. It contains 13 species from tropical and subtropical climates that range in size from tiny herbs to massive trees. The most widely cultivated species is Moringa Oleifera, a multipurpose tree native to the foothills of the Himalayas in northwestern India and cultivated throughout the tropics.

Moringa Oleifera is known as the drum stick tree in India and is used all across Asia and Africa. It is considered a miracle tree because of its high nutrient value; it has more vitamins than spinach, cabbage, or any other leafy vegetable. It is highly valuable because every part of the plant has a function, including the use of the flowers for medicinal tea and the use of the peapods as food.

Significance for Haiti:
Haiti ranks highest for malnutrition in the western Hemisphere, and over half the population lives below the minimum level of dietary energy consumption. Moringa will help provide lactating mothers and infants get the nutrition they need in early development, when it is the most vital. The leaves of the Magic Moringa contain all essential amino acids and are rich in protein, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, and minerals. Feeding the high protein leaves to cattle has been shown to increase weight gain by up to 32% and milk production by 43 to 65%.

More importantly, the dried seeds can purify unsafe water. By leaving the dried seeds in a bottle of unclean water overnight, between 90-95% of the bacteria can be purified.

The HOPE Art project will be focused on teaching the children to grow their own Moringa trees from cuttings and developing an artful cookbook focused on incorporating Moringa Leaf Powder into standard Creole cooking. We will also be working on creating planters from reclaimed buckets, barrels and coffee or banana bags with chicken wire.

To grow from a cutting:
After the trees have stopped producing fruits each year, branches need to be cut off so that fresh growth may take place. These branches are excellent for growing new trees.

Make a cutting at least 1″ (2.5cm) in diameter and at least six feet (1.8m) long.
Dig a hole 3 ft. (1m) x 3 ft. (1m) and 3 ft. (1m) deep.
Place cutting in this hole and fill with a mixture of soil, sand and composted manure. Pack firmly around base of the cutting. Form a slight dome or cone shape, sloping down away from the cutting. It is desirable that water not touch the stem of the new tree.
Water generously, but do not drown the cutting in water.
In India, the custom is to put some cow dung on top of the open end of the cutting. This is an excellent way to protect the cutting from pests.

Flying Hands Mural: Art is the Universal Language

FlyingHandsMural

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When you work with kids, to give them a voice in an environment that is particularly harsh, crushing and potentially foreshadowing of hardship to come. It is important, in my opinion, to foster flying when possible. To rise above the hurdles and let them not hinder dreams and goals.

HappyHandsMural-20

Our resident art teacher, Jenni Ward, brought down a large oiled drop cloth and paints. Teachers and Students alike decorated it with hand prints. Then the HOPE Art team doodled all kinds of things onto the mural, to inspire flying.

Our HOPE Art team doodled all kinds of things onto the mural, to inspire flying.

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Wings
Pegasus
Birds
Angels
Flying pigs
Dragons
you name it, we doodled it.

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We'll be hosting an art show this Summer to show off our mural. The finished product is beautiful, but the process to achieve it is even more so.

Mimi