Asian Arts Initiative (AAI) is a multidisciplinary arts center offering exhibitions, performances, artist residencies, youth education programs, and a community gathering space. Located in Philadelphia’s Chinatown North neighborhood, AAI uses art as a vehicle to explore the diverse experiences of all communities that include Asian Americans. The Youth Arts Workshop (YAW) started in 1998 and is one of AAI’s longest running programs. Since its inception, YAW continues to fulfill a growing need for constructive after-school programs for middle school youth and provides an environment to share cultural experiences and a safe space for young people to express themselves creatively.
P.O.V. represents the students’ gained knowledge on the basic conventions of photography and composition, as well as the joy of breaking those conventions. It demonstrates their experiments with various media, including digital, cyanotype, black & white darkroom photography, disposable film (processing courtesy of PhotoLounge), and Polaroids. Over the course of six months, students of Youth Arts Workshop worked together to create the images featured in this body of work. The project was centered on the idea of exploring the neighborhoods surrounding Asian Arts Initiative as if we were tourists in our own city. How can photography help us appreciate what we often overlook? How can we inject excitement and mystery into the streets we walk every day? Asian Arts Initiative’s team of teaching artists led weekly walks through Chinatown and Callowhill, as well as the routes to and from their schools, Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School and Holy Redeemer. The students learned these routine walks were meaningful and a gateway to artistic discovery and empowerment.
Class Participants:
Samma Amaro, 4th grade
Bruno Cabrera, 5th grade
Ophelia Cabrera, 2nd grade
Christina Chen, 6th grade
Beniam Davis-Jones, 4th grade
Bella Dong, 8th grade
Yaretzi Hernandez, 3rd grade
Lenny Lam, 8th grade
Eric Lin, 8th grade
Melody Lin, 6th grade
Bryan Liu, 7th grade
Huixi Liu, 3rd grade
Xiuchen Liu, 4th grade
Eliana Mencia, 6th grade
Jeffrey Phat, 8th grade
Patrick Yang, 7th grade
Emma Zou, 7th grade
