Through Our Eyes

“Through Our Eyes”is a long-term photography project launched in 2019 by Still I Rise. So far, it has involved 156 children aged 9 to 17 in Samos, home to one of the Greek islands’ hotspots for migrants, in North-West Syria, in the internal displacement camps of Ad-Dana, and in the Mathare slum in Nairobi where roughly 500,000 people live in extreme poverty.

All 156 children, who are students at the emergency and international schools of Still I Rise, were given the opportunity to attend a photography course led by the project creator,  Nicoletta Novara, and by Syrian photographer Mahmoud Faisal. At the end of the course, the students were given disposable cameras they could use to directly describe their difficult lives.

“Through Our Eyes” tells stories about migration, war, and poverty. Each picture comes with a note written by the children describing their memories and recounting their hopes and dreams for the future. The main objective of the project is to give children the chance to express themselves through the universal language of photography. The exhibition has reached  over 100 cities in Europe and the United States to date.

In Chicago, “Through Our Eyes” will be hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, the cultural office of the Consulate General of Italy, as a part of the project “Chi Siamo: (Re)presenting Italian Culture”, a one-year series dedicated to representation, diversity and inclusion in Italian culture.

EXHIBITION INFO

Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago
500 N Michigan Ave, Suite 1450
Chicago, IL 60611

Opening hours:
Saturday & Sunday, 10:30am-5:30pm
For weekday visits and groups, email toe.chicago@stillirisengo.org or call/text (773) 349 3732

https://sites.google.com/stillirisengo.org/toechicago