Unique Course Offering in Hong Kong Spring 2013

A unique photography class elective will be offered during Spring 2013 term at SCAD Hong Kong.

The “Special topics” class- “Photo Voice with Vision First” will run under "documentary photography" classes (both graduate and undergraduate level)

The class will be divided into two parts: Social outreach with "Vision First" and Documentary photography. Each part will take one weekly meeting for the entire 10-week term.

Part 1:

Vision First is a Hong Kong based NGO offering all forms of assistance for asylum-seekers and refugees. Through collaboration with Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Vision First is able to offer a unique workshop program of photography and cultural awareness course to their members during Spring 2013 term in Hong Kong.
Participates in this workshop will have access to SCAD’s instructors and facilities. They will work directly with SCAD faculty and students who work on behalf of a directive toward public service. In addition to being a creative outlet for self-expression, these classes will also provide practical skills that can be applied toward future careers in the arts.

We will conduct weekly meetings with the asylum seekers, either at SCAD or outside campus. The meetings will include: Computer/printing training, lectures and group discussions that will offer the asylum seekers a broader knowledge and understanding about photography and themselves through their own photographs. This we call “Photo Voice”- Using photography as a tool to express, deal and elaborate on emotions, thoughts, feelings and actions.
These activities will culminate in a finished series of photographs by each participant that could be used later in a group show/book publication/ or anything else that will commemorate the participants’ accomplishment and experiences.
The VF crew will work directly with the SCAD photography students to build a body of work that will speak about their lives in Hong Kong.

Part 2:

The SCAD photography students will attend a weekly meeting with the professor. These weekly classes will be dedicated to the “Documentary Photography” field, concepts, history and tradition. Students will be expected to work on their own documentary project for ten weeks and present work for critique on a regular basis.

In order to increase the number of participants and give the future collaborators an idea what the class will be about and how it will be conducted, we will have a lunch “get together” at SCAD on Friday, February 15th at 11:45am that will last 30-45 minutes. During this meeting we will have past participants (both SCAD and VF) that will share their experiences, we will project a slide show from the previous collaboration and as short video we produced last year to help VF recruit more funding and volunteers.

Please spread the word and contact me with any questions you might have.

Best,

Yoav Horesh
Professor of Photography
SCAD Hong Kong
薩凡納藝術設計 ( 香港 ) 大學
yhoresh@scad.edu