Photography a leading line to self-expression, resilience

Issue: Volume 101, Number 10

Posted: 10 August 2022
Reference #: 1HAVPY

Photography is supporting ākonga and kaiako to explore wellbeing and learn more about themselves and their creative strengths.

Photography allows students to engage outside of the classroom.

Photography allows students to engage outside of the classroom.

Mandi Lynn is a professional photographer and tutor. She first became interested in using photography to help improve feelings of self-worth when witnessing a five-year-old who was suffering from body shaming.

Mandi started a process of travelling around the country photographing women of different shapes and sizes whom she covered in gold.

From there she started working with young people in South Auckland, who were frustrated by negative publicity that overshadowed their good work and voices.

“There was extreme frustration about the lack of youth voice and the fact that they had no real way of being able to tell their own story. We happened to be working with cameras at the time, and they’re like, ‘You know, if we really learned how to use these cameras, we could tell our own story.’ So that planted the seed for what I do now.”

Mandi developed a course through online sessions and then in-school visits. She developed a method grounded in four key themes – Head, Heart, Guts, and Ground.

“The head is all about the ability to think creatively, to have critical thinking skills, and to deal with ideation.

“The heart is to do with their capacity to work collaboratively with other students and to develop their community – we have developed our online community, which is quite a strong little group,” explains Mandi.

Faithe’s students are now taking powerful images using new skills, like the rule of thirds. Photo by Betty.

Faithe’s students are now taking powerful images using new skills, like the rule of thirds. Photo by Betty.

Guts has to do with mana and resilience and the ability to deal with what is called the ‘grit pit’. This concept relates to how the students deal with creative challenges – how they might fall down into a ‘pit’ but then climb their way out of it.

“You’ve climbed out of the grit pit; you know you have shown resilience and you are now developing mastery of your skill set through doing it. Each time you climb out of that pit, each time you are hit with a new challenge, you’re strengthening your creative muscles,” she says.

Ground relates to building a body of work and finishing what you start. It is also about making an impact.

Students and teachers can take part in a year-long programme in which they are challenged to build a portfolio of work and to also seek out a non-profit group that they will create imagery for.

“The goal is for them to learn how to use their craft to make an impact on the change they hope to see in the world.”

Wellbeing key for kaiako

Manda Dagg, Faithe Hanrahan and Yani Ferens are three kaiako who have engaged with the photography programme.

Manda is a visual arts teacher at Hastings Intermediate who also takes extension courses, which is how she became involved with the programme. The school also received Creatives in Schools funding this year.

Students are given challenges such as finding reflections. Photo by Kallan.

Students are given challenges such as finding reflections. Photo by Kallan.

“The first thing that grabbed my attention was that it was at no cost to the school or the students. So that was really appealing. I looked further, and saw it was not just about developing photography skills. Mandi focuses on wellbeing and improving self through photography, which I think is important to Year 7 and 8 students,” says Manda.

“They need someone to tell them how good they are at something, and they need positive influence. Sometimes with arts, they might feel that they can’t draw, and they start to feel down about things that they might want to express in a creative way, but don’t really know how. Photography can break down some of those barriers.”

Barriers are further broken down as the course does not require students to have access to high tech cameras. Students can use iPads and cell phones. Mandi can also supply cell phones for the students to use if needed, as well as cameras.

Manda chose to do the course over six weeks with
her students. Students learn new skills, start taking photos, edit them, and then provide each other with constructive criticism.

“They develop self-worth through instant feedback in talking about each other’s work and how they can make improvements. It’s a feeling that they can achieve something because you can see it straight away on the screen. You can see how you can make an improvement.”

Each session can incorporate many areas of the curriculum. For example, learning about the ‘rule of thirds’ can be related to maths. This is a concept related to composition, where the photo is divided into thirds vertically and horizontally and the subject of the image is placed at the intersection of those dividing lines, or along one of the lines itself. As such, this ‘rule’ can bring in maths concepts and guidelines.

Manda has been pleased with the results of engaging in the programme, “The students are gaining practical photography skills, but also developing themselves, and their personality.”

Developing digital art

Faithe Hanrahan was appointed arts coordinator at Ōpōtiki Primary School three years ago. The eastern Bay of Plenty school has a roll which is 94 percent Māori.

 Faithe’s student uses weekly visits to Riding for Disabled to practise her skills. Photo by Betty.

Faithe’s student uses weekly visits to Riding for Disabled to practise her skills. Photo by Betty.

One of her jobs was to revamp the visual arts programme. When she was doing this, she noticed that there wasn’t anything specifically in there for digital art. It was not an area of strength, so she was mindful of having to upskill.

“That’s how I ended up doing this summer school programme with Mandi. I also work with autistic children, and I thought this was a good medium to work with for students who were not very verbal but can take photos.”

At first, Faithe enrolled some of her students in the summer programme but found they did not have the resources to cope with doing the course on their own.
She felt she needed to hold their hand, so told Mandi that she would train so she could then pass those lessons onto her students.

One of Faithe’s success stories relates to a 12-year-old girl who is on the autism spectrum. The student loves to take photos and has been given the photographer role when she and other students do ‘riding for the disabled’ on Tuesdays, a programme that teaches students with additional learning needs how to ride horses.

“She was leaving off heads or half the body of people when they’re riding the horses. But she can now take a nice photograph of a horse. It may seem like a little thing for some people, but for her, that was amazing, being able to hold the camera still and frame it, using the rule of thirds. It’s good to see that she’s practising new skills. I’m really proud.”

Team environment

Faithe is also working with students who are part of the Manutaki student leadership team, who take part in planning activities in the school. Over the last two terms they have been learning basic skills and in term 3 they will focus on capturing the school values of manaakitanga, tohetoa and kaitiakitanga.

Students created photos showing their treasures in different colour schemes. Photo by Wairua.

Students created photos showing their treasures in different colour schemes. Photo by Wairua.

The aim is to have students go around the school and photograph examples of the school values in action. The project will be completed with an exhibition of the work.

She can see the other skills that students learn through using the photography programme, such as constructive criticism and problem solving.

The process of providing each other with critical feedback involves not just saying “I like that”, it also involves the student asking questions such as “What would happen if you did...?”

Another way in which Faithe sees the students exercising problem solving and teamwork is when they work in groups.

“When they’re out looking for subject matter for an image, you’ll see them saying, ‘oh, what about if we go over there’ and ‘let’s try going against the fence instead of over there by the trees.’ You see them as a team working out solutions.”

Faithe continues to learn skills herself and sees the value of being a learner alongside her students.

“I say to the students, ‘Well, you know, I’m still working at composition – it’s something you get better at with every picture you take,’ and we talk together. So, I’m a learner as well and at the same time sharing what I have learned.”

Capturing taonga

Yani Ferens is a teacher at both Ngataki and Te Hapua schools, who also received Creatives in Schools funding this year. They are unique in that they share the same principal and a local curriculum that embodies mātauranga Māori and the sciences.

“The aim is to really empower the children through learning outside the classroom and really connecting to the environment through a te ao Māori lens and then also through Western science.”

Students embraced being creative with a fashion parade.

Students embraced being creative with a fashion parade.

The two schools have teachers moving between them to capitalise on strengths, but they are always open for new opportunities.

As such, when Yani saw the information about Mandi’s holiday programme she was keen to explore it, along with some of her students. Mandi then visited Ngataki School for a one-day workshop.

“Mandi captivated the students from the moment she came into the classroom. She put her boxes out which were filled with beautiful colours of fabric and jewels and all kinds of treasures,” says Yani.

Each student had to bring in a taonga, or they went around the school to find natural treasures they felt connected to. Mandi then talked to the students about composition and using monochromatic settings to enhance an image.

After the morning break students used clothes and materials provided by Mandi to dress up and create a fashion parade. Mandi created a backdrop, had music, and photographed the students letting go.

“It was just such a joyful, playful experience because the students that she was working with were Years 9 and 10. With that age group, they’re already quite self-conscious and developing their identity so it was just really fabulous to see them playing like that again, just being free,” explains Yani.

After lunch the students were given instruction on editing and more photography challenges, one of which was to work with ‘leading lines’. These are lines that appear in a photograph that have been framed and positioned by the photographer to draw the viewer’s eye towards a specific point of interest. One of Yani’s students had shown talent in this area during the day, so stepped up to become a class leader despite usually being quiet.

“There was an opportunity for him to be a bit of a leader in that space and you could see him becoming proud. “He shared a little bit about what his thoughts were around the leading lines and how to create it. Then Mandi added to that, so it became a co-constructed lesson.”

Yani sums up some of the benefits of the day, saying: “It helps their creative mind and to give things a go and push their personal boundaries and think in a different way.

“There was also that empowerment component of the dressing up space where they were able to talk about honouring your true self and being brave.”

Mandi with Faithe, students, and Mandi’s teaching companion, her dog Gritty.

Mandi with Faithe, students, and Mandi’s teaching companion, her dog Gritty.

A voice for youth

Mandi’s photography programme has the goal of impact and providing a voice for youth. One way is through the production of a magazine Create Happy. The magazine follows the head, heart, guts and ground philosophy, and the first issue relates to ‘head’ and is all about innovation, ideation, creative problem solving, critical thinking and wairua (spirit or soul).

Lola, 14, is the editor of the magazine. Growing up with a mix of home-schooling and at-school learning, Lola talks to Education Gazette about finding her passion in magazine production.

Lola met Mandi in 2019 when her mum booked a flower girl photoshoot for her. When the prints came back there were also tickets for a body positivity workshop, which Lola attended with some friends.

“It was a full-day workshop. We learnt so much, it was so awesome, especially for young me to learn and connect with other people,” says Lola.

For the adults, this workshop included writing down negative thoughts and then destroying them, something that Lola found empowering as she watched from around a half closed door.

The next time Lola engaged with Mandi was when her mother found Mandi’s photography programme website and asked if Lola wanted to do the course. This was in 2020 during lockdown, so Lola was pleased to have the opportunity to interact with other people through the course.

“So, in the lockdown of 2020, I began my photography journey. We had Zoom calls every week and just talked photography and showed our work and we received challenges.”

One of the challenges was an exercise from the first workshop – creating something that is negative, whether it is writing a letter or a drawing, and then destroying it. This was one of the challenges that Lola found stuck with her as she loved the sense of freedom that came from releasing the negative.

From there Lola was contacted in December of 2021 to ask if she would be a mentor for other students. This involved being part of a 450-strong online community, split into regions. During this progamme, Lola noticed that the other youth had a lot to say about current world issues, and after recognising a lack of youth voice in the media, decided to act.

“It has become an empowering magazine that promotes a voice for youth through creativity and hope,” says Lola.

The magazine is compiled by a crew of youth aged 12-16 contribute their strengths. One of the articles in the first magazine relates to the rainbow community. The article and the photos are brilliant works of expression.

“Everyone in our crew has different abilities and strengths and skills, and so as the editor I have to try to cater for that. With the LGBTQIA+ piece, we have a student journalist with us who is so passionate. They really wanted to write about this. I said, ‘Go for it, get your team together. We have so many rainbow students. Just get them all together and write the section. Do it. Go for it’. So, they did, and it was awesome. They made a group chat. They wrote all their ideas down and the end result was incredible.”

Putting together the first magazine was a challenge for Lola – to be organised and to communicate across different contributors to produce the final result. There were interviews, including with Mattheus Elwood, New Zealand Geographic’s 2021 Young Photographer of the Year. There were also contributions for creating art projects and competitions.

What started as just a photography magazine has become so much more. The aim for the magazine is to eventually move to being a print edition rather than just online. One of the goals is to have a subscription base of 500 by 2023 and then position the print magazines into places such as supermarkets and pharmacies as well as educational outlets.

“We want to send these magazines out to young people and to have schools and libraries using them for resources, as well as the Ministry of Education using our materials to give to schools as an education resource.”

One big aim in reaching youth is to not only give them a voice, but to also give them encouragement.

“Right now, it’s so stressful and so hard to be a young person, we want to focus on the good and focus on the projects that you can achieve and the things that you can do. We want to send out a message of not just hope but of empowerment.”

Lola would be keen for more students to join the Create Happy crew.

Lola in action interviewing for Create Happy.

Lola in action interviewing for Create Happy.

For more information and to read the first edition, please go to createhappy.org(external link) or visit @createhappymagazine on Instagram to find out more and go behind the scenes.

For further information about this programme, contact Mandi at clickhappy.org/schooljam(external link). More information about visual arts pedagogy can be found at artsonline.tki.org.nz(external link).

BY Education Gazette editors
Education Gazette | Tukutuku Kōrero, reporter@edgazette.govt.nz

Posted: 12:16 pm, 10 August 2022

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