THE POWER OF PINKTHE POWER OF PINK
15/02/2020
THE POWER OF PINK
A photography and dialogue project - A Photography Project and Conversation
Inspiring collaboration and exchange between young women
photographers of The Lower Eastside Girls Club - NY, United States of America with
Club Balam / Stsebetik Bolom- Chiapas, Mexico. Exhibition and meeting of photographers from NY and Chiapas in HYDRA + PHOTOGRAPHY.
In the space between marching and marketing, the adolescent finds herself, absorbing multiple and conflicting messages coming at her from all directions. She is as confused as we are about what the future holds. In truth, while important conversations and actions are finally taking place to address historical gender inequalities, Disney, Barbie and the rest of the marketers of plastic toys and cheap clothes have colonised our minds, defining for most girls what a princess is and did long before she had her first pink dress.
However, despite all the pink product being directed at her, she instinctively knows that she is being labelled in a problematic way. How do we know?
Since our founding over 20 years ago, The Lower Eastside Girls Club has held an annual "Gowns For Girls" prom dress raffle. We receive hundreds of donated new high-end gowns each year and promote the event as a way to save money for more pressing needs, such as college tuition.
Every year, at the end of a day full of energy from the joy of pure and free fashion, we notice a curious fact: left on the racks after all the other dresses were tried on, and finally sent home with a 'satisfied customer', a few lonely pink dresses remained. Clearly not considered appropriate for prom, they held much promise as costumes and props for a million extravagant events: community street fairs and marches, reconstructed fashion items, fancy photo shoots. When we took pink to the streets, we attracted attention. The power of pink worked for parties and protests, art and activism.
The surreal and whimsical photos of girls in pink frilly dresses: New York City girls walking the streets with a taxi in the background, or Mayan culture girls in Chiapas, carrying their with hoes slung over their shoulders in the corn fields, remind us less of Scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs than a staged shot from the playful work of David LaChapelle or Argentine photographer Marcos Lopez, or the surreal fashion shoots of Deborah Turbeville, which is exactly the point. "The Power of Pink" is a photography project that demands that young photographers pay attention to the politics of everyday life.
The Lower Eastside Girls ClubNYC, United States.
For more than 20 years, Girls Club has operated in-depth photography education programmes with national and international youth organisations.
Our state-of-the-art digital labs offer more than a dozen classes per week in digital media. We train the next generation of fine art and documentary photographers, with a strategic focus on social justice issues.
The Lower Eastside Girls Club NYC, United States.
For more than 20 years, Girls Club has operated in-depth photography education programmes with national and international youth organisations.
Our state-of-the-art digital labs offer more than a dozen classes per week in digital media. We train the next generation of fine art and documentary photographers, with a strategic focus on social justice issues.
Balam ClubChiapas, Mexico.
The Balam Club, hosted and sponsored by the Na Bolom Cultural Association and managed by two indigenous photographers, is strongly supported by the Girls Club.
We are a brotherhood of photographers and, through photography, we have come to deeply know and respect each other's culture. Together we dream of a world without borders.
A VOICE Montana, United States.
It is a non-profit organization at Two Eagle River School on the Flathead Reservation in Pablo, Montana.
A VOICE strives to excite students by instilling self-awareness and fostering self-confidence, guiding them to recognise their inner creativity, encouraging them to express themselves and to explore and document their community, culture and history.