A collaboration between Beatrice Updegraff and Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation
My relationship with photography has changed throughout my studies and I have begun to question my authority to capture another culture in this way. As a white middle-class western woman, are these Hanoian stories mine to tell? How should I best capture this culture which I am not a representative of? Instead of telling the stories myself, can I facilitate a way to amplify Vietnamese voices instead? This has led me to investigate collaborative work as a more authentic and potentially less problematic way of documenting another culture.
About Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation is an incredible charity based in Vietnam; the organisation finds children and young people in crisis situations such as slavery, homelessness, and extreme poverty. They rescue people from danger, then work with them for the long-term so they can heal from trauma, injustice and disadvantage. Their work is used in advocacy to improve laws and policies protecting the vulnerable.
One of the most important things that Blue Dragon does is help young people find a new passion as an outlet for their creativity, a way of expressing themselves and processing any trauma.
Overview of participants
Throughout the ten sessions, there were a total of twelve students who attended – weekly attendance sometimes fluctuated due to school schedules. The age rage varied from ten to seventeen years old. One student spoke a very good level of English, three spoke very basic English and the others did not speak any English. All sessions were attended by a Vietnamese interpreter; they translated all of my slides before each class and were there to translate live. One participant was completely deaf and required a sign language interpreter. Several of the participants had special educational needs due to neurodiversity and past trauma. To support with any challenges arising from this, each session had a minimum of two social workers present.
Overview of sessions
Each of the ten sessions contained a simple theme or objective for the students to adhere to. However, the process was always more important than the product. After completing the ten sessions, each student chose which images they wanted to exhibit. They were encouraged to choose between four and six each; the only criterion was that they should select their favourite images, or those that they connected to the most personally. The students and I both kept journals throughout the project allowing us opportunities to reflect on improvement and think about future aims. The participants’ reflections are interwoven throughout the section of their work, along with the images that they chose. Further details of these sessions can be found following the project work.
The project culminated in an exhibition where the students work was available to purchase to raise money for the charity so that the participants had an autonomous role in their futures.
Now they have completed the project, students will receive a reference from me to show to high schools, universities or future employers about the skills they have learned and the individual strengths they have shown on the project.
Due to Child Protection Policy, a lot of these images cannot be posted online. For further details about the project, please contact me.