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March Issue 2008
The Light Factory in Charlotte, NC, Offers Student Outreach Exhibit
The Light Factory in Charlotte, NC, will present the exhibition, Images of Manhood and Womanhood, an outreach project that investigates gender roles in the media. Students explore their roles as men and women through expressive photography and performance art, which will be on display in Middleton McMillan Gallery from Mar. 7 through Apr. 20, 2008.
The Light Factory's Education Team (Charles Thomas and Jen Crickenberger), slam poet Bluz (Slam Charlotte) and actress Micaila Thomas have worked with approximately 65 students in Grades 9 through 12, from The International School at Garringer High and Northwest School of the Arts, since the beginning of the fall 2007 semester. Under their instruction, students explored a variety of different aspects of manhood and womanhood. The young women in the project explored common themes like family, femininity, friendship and motherhood, while the young men investigated strength, pride, the importance of work, their cultural differences and social masks.
During Images of Manhood and Womanhood, the students expressed themselves through various artistic means and exercises, including self portraiture through photography and taking pictures of mentors and "anti-mentors." Students researched the meaning of their name and its relevance to who they are. In addition to discussing gender identity through objects, images, movements and poetry, they completed writing exercises in personal journals prompting self-discovery.
These activities brought forth deeper themes in their self-portrait work. Many students described struggles in their daily lives, both profound issues and typical trials of being a teenager. Students also shared insight on their battle for independence from their parents, or in some cases, their personal journey to understand parents they never knew. The students will express these subjects and other ideas at The Light Factory on Mar. 27, 2008.
Project sponsors include ArtsTeach, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Community Foundation through its Front Porch Grants program (managed by Community Building Initiative), the Arts & Science Council of Charlotte Mecklenburg and the North Carolina Arts Council.
Also on view at The Light Factory is the exhibit, Food For Thought, a fine art photography exhibition that features video installation, all inspired by food, on view from Mar. 7 through June 29, 2008.
The Light Factory is one of only four organizations in the United States that promote the power of image through photography and film. For more than 30 years, The Light Factory has served students, artists and the public at large by offering film screenings, photography exhibits, classes and outreach programs that promote media literacy and self-expression using the most powerful mediums of our time.
For further information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call TLF at 704/333-9755 or visit (www.lightfactory.org).
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