KHANKE, IRAQI-KURDISTAN
100CAMERAS X KHANKE CAMP
100cameras X Khanke Camp is a part of a 8 class course that is custom designed by 100cameras to empower youth in a community they care about with the opportunity to learn how to process their stories and create change. Pictured here are 100cameras students during the course.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
During spring of 2019, 100cameras joined in the work of an IDP camp located in Khanke Village, Iraqi-Kurdistan. The youth we worked alongside are displaced Yazidi youth who fled when Islamic State fighters invaded and destroyed their home in Sinjar in 2014, forcing them to make a treacherous and life-fearing, weeks-long escape to safety — with thousands not surviving or being captured and forced into slavery.
With the reality that they have now been displaced and living in tents in an IDP camp through heat and snow for over 5 years and may never be able to return to their home due to the mass destruction or even the trauma of such a return, our method utilizes photography as a powerful tool for self-expression, processing, and feeling ownership in the stories of their individual lives and those of their communities. Our approach intentionally leaves the boundaries open and clear because it is their right to feel and share.
“It’s important to help them communicate, to overcome what they have been going through. And just listen to each other and help them go off of their problems, not just cover it...that’s a real impact, that you can share your feelings and even your words — put it in one picture. That’s the impact that I think is going to be changing these kids.
The impact is also for the community. This program is helping kids. You’re teaching them a skill. How to be a photographer and also express yourself at the same time.I think that will stuck in their minds. They will never forget that. The impact personally that will help them to overcome the trauma. Each one of them was very excited to learn, and just helping them learn that there is a hope… respecting them, treat them actually as kids, that’s enough. They will remember that.”
The concepts of interpreting and processing emotions are introduced slowly throughout the curriculum, and each activity builds upon the prior. In the beginning of this program, the practice of expressing emotions outwardly was not translating metaphorically. However by the end of the course, students began capturing visual examples of emotions as related to their story — such as taking a photo of a boy standing alone on a rock to represent feeling alone, or sad, or waiting for their father, or quiet. Or a photo of a lone flower blooming in a field meant to one student that there was hope, while another student saw it more as a representation of survival and strength.
See how these incredible students processed their experiences in a way that uplifts their voices and perspectives. See here how they have chosen to be represented; feel how they have expressed themselves to be heard.
MEET THE STUDENTS
100CAMERAS X INSIDE OUT
We teamed up again with the Inside Out Project team to combine community, art, and our curriculum. Through their unique platform, students were able to see their narratives displayed in the form of life-size posters pasted on a community activity center in the heart of Khanke Village. Ultimately creating a presence that lifted up the voices and perspectives through the power of representation. The installation speaks to the heart and perseverance of the Yazidi community!
STUDENT IMAGE GALLERY
Follow us on social media to see images from the field as captured by the 100cameras X Khanke Camp team and the student photographers.