A photography contest in the Downtown East Side is projecting a more nuanced view of a community that is often shown in a negative light.
The Hope In Shadows project, which distributes disposable cameras to residents of the Downtown East Side and uses the best entries to create a yearly calendar, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
It allows the community to record itself so it can show its own face and not be looked at from the outside and judged as something less than it is, says Joe Thompson, whose photograph graces the month of April. We're pretty great when we're allowed to see ourselves and be ourselves. There are a thousand facets of beauty if you know how to see it.
His image shows a side-view of a group of people rallying in solidarity for affordable housing outside of the old Pantages Theatre.
A lot of this year's photos show compassion, says project co-ordinator Carolyn Wong. It's such an honour for me to sit down with the photographers and their subjects and hear about their life. I always feel honoured to see the depth of human experience and the passion people feel for this community.
In June, the Pivot Legal Society distributed 200 free disposable cameras to residents of the Downtown East Side. A week later, the society developed the photographs from the returned cameras, more than 4,000 images in total.
A panel of judges then shortlisted 40 of the best images and honoured the winning photographers with prize money and a certificate. The community then voted on the best images. Finally, last Tuesday, the Pivot Legal Society launched the 2013 calendar at a ceremony celebrating the 13 winning photographs at a packed Carnegie Community Centre Theatre.
The 18,000 calendars will be sold by about 200 DTES residents to help them earn an income. Vendors buy the calendars from the Society for $10 and sell them for $20. Over the past decade, Hope In Shadows has raised almost $130,000 for the Pivot Legal Society and for the vendors.
For information on where to purchase a calendar, go to HopeInShadows.com/buy/calendar or call Carolyn Wong at 604-255-9701.
