Collaborative double exposure by Georgia and Cynthia

#YourTurn

The early stages of this collaborative project idea was developed in 2014 by Joe Medina and Joan Gallant Dooley as a way to share resources and introduce photography to students. Their goal was to establish a creative collaborative spirit amongst diverse populations and has evolved into #YourTurn.

Students from Harvard-Westlake School collaborated with students from the Humanitas Academy of Art and Technology (HAAT), a public high school in East LA, for “A Sense of Community.” Together, they developed a 21st-century, vibrant documentary portrait of where “we” live and covered a wide range of territory — from teenagers on the west side of Los Angeles to teenagers living in Boyle Heights.

Photo educators at Harvard Westlake School and  Humanitas Academy of Art and Technology worked with Aperture teaching artist Alice Proujansky. Students developed Sense of Place photography projects and initiated photo based collaboration between two very different school cultures in Los Angeles.

Students also worked with L.A. public school educator Joan Gallant Dooley, who facilitated documentary workshops between photo students at Humanitas Academy of Art and Technology and photo students in Westside.

Alice assisted students in various documentary techniques. Throughout the remaining school year, Joe Medina and Joan Gallant Dooley students worked on developing their ideas for individual documentary projects. These projects were eventually produced as self-published, online books.