Academy for Educational Development

The day before we officially began our first workshop, our project team piled into a 1970's-era Smurf-blue Peugot, piloted by Alioune Ba, the official photographer of the National Museum of Mali, and one of the instructors who would be teaching students in the village of Damy a crash course in photography.

We were on our way to meet with village elders and parents of our prospective students. Although a local NGO had paved the way for us, this was our first step locally in implementing Visual Griots: a new community cultural-development project aimed at empowering young people to assert their view of themselves and their surroundings to both the local and global community. I knew that the process of the project—from this initial meeting with PTA and village elders, to using Malian photographers, to having the students take the photos themselves—would be as great a determinant of the project’s success as would the final product: the photographs themselves.   

A Malian boy from the Damy village
prepares to take a photogaph as part of 
AED's Visual Griots project.

Village Introductions
Introductions began that afternoon when we asked the villagers to lay ground rules for our students. The rules included: avoiding sacred spaces off-limits to our young shutterbugs; asking before shooting; and respecting a person’s choice to not be photographed. While it was important to the villagers to lay those ground rules, one of their most pressing questions was if they would be able to see the photographs.

When I heard this, I realized that foreign photographers generally go into villages like Damy, take their photos and then leave. This project is different. It is fundamentally about producing something by the community and for the community. In response to the question, I quickly reassured the villagers that in a week’s time there would an open exhibit of the students’ work.

“What will they be told to take pictures of?” asked one parent. Mr. Ba from the National Museum of Mali responded: “The students will make their own choices. They can take pictures of anything that is important to them. A picture is a mark of respect to its subject.”

The Visual Griots project is
introduced to elders and other
members of the community.

Alioune Ba explains that the students 
are free to choose their own subjects
for their photographs. "A picture is a mark of respect to its subject," he said.

Noticing this reluctance, we all took a step backward and gave each student a piece of paper with a rectangle cut out of the middle. For a long time, we practiced closing one eye and looking through our paper viewfinders. We talked about decision-making—what you want to include and exclude in your photograph.

Then the students got out of their desks and practiced walking closer to, and farther away from, their chosen subject. They turned the “camera” from a horizontal to a vertical position—noting the effect. We climbed on desks and crouched down on the floor to learn about perspective and all the choices we could make.

Shawn Davis teaches a group of
Malian students about perspective
by using paper "viewfinders."

Sense of Possibility
The next day when I walked into the classroom and stood at the front, ready to begin the lesson, little Kwinhan rose straight out of her desk, twisted the camera into the position that gave her the view that pleased her, and snapped a picture of me! Her friends giggled, as she smiled and blushed, surprised at her own bold action. The transformation in them was amazing.

Over the next few days, they would walk out of the school, proudly holding their cameras, and lead us through the village on a string of paths, documenting their mothers, aunts, and sisters in full shea-nut butter production; grandmothers and grandfathers resting on mats in the shade; beloved dogs, goats, pigs, and chickens scampering through the family compounds; the interior of the village church; girls at the well . . . It was fascinating to watch them stop and turn their camera on subjects that one takes for granted every day, and reflect on how best to capture it, given the possibilities learn in class.

These young people clearly appeared to have gained a better understanding of their own strengths and capabilities as well as a sense of possibility. They were in the process of actively placing value on their surroundings, but had yet to share that with the community.

The students, who were shy and
tentative at first, quickly warmed
to the idea of using the cameras
to capture images of their lives.

By participating in Visual Griots,
the young people gained a new appreciation for their own strengths,
and for their surroundings.

Each student brought a reed mat from their home to serve as a canvas, and stuck their selections to it, creating individual panels. We reminded the village elders that the students would exhibit their work the next day, and asked them to invite all who wanted to see their work. The only activities that we planned were a couple of speeches and the presentation of certificates.

But when we arrived the following day it was obvious that this exhibition was going to be much more than a couple of speeches. A huge crowd had gathered under a baobob tree next to the school. The village griot was singing and musicians were playing the balafon and drumming, in anticipation of the photographs. We quickly gathered and hung our panels on the exterior walls of the school.

I stood back as the crowd moved in on the pictures. You could not mistake the scene for anything other than a celebration. And they were celebrating images of themselves and their community, created by their own young people.

As AED prepares to share these images in Mali’s capital, Bamako, and here in the United States, I am encouraged that audiences will see the hope and possibility expressed by these Malian youth.

When the photographs were unveiled to
the community, outside the local school, there was no mistaking the scene:
it was a celebration.

"They were celebrating images of themselves and their community,
created by their own young people,"
 writes Shawn Davis.

ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE WERE TAKEN BY NESTOR HERNANDEZ