Impoverished Children Express Their Struggles Through Art

An exhibit of photographs and drawings by Philippine children whose art depicts their experiences living on and alongside a waste dump is on display at the University of Victoria’s A. Wilfred Johns Gallery.
    Over the last several years, anthropology professors Lisa Mitchell and Marjorie Mitchell have been conducting research on the perspectives of children living in an impoverished neighbourhood in the central Philippines.
    “Our project looks at what children living in poverty on and adjacent to a waste dump identify as risks to their health and safety,” explains Lisa Mitchell. “We’re interested in how children experience living in a distressed and dangerous environment without adequate housing or nutrition and without safe areas for play.”
    For her master’s research, anthropology graduate student Soma Morse worked with a group of these children to design and create an exhibit of drawings, photographs and narratives that depict their experiences of health, illness and community. The children created a series of drawings including family and self-portraits, and photographs of their homes, community, and safe and unsafe aspects of their environment.
    The exhibit was displayed at the Negros Provincial Museum in Bacolod City, Philippines. At the request of the children, part of this exhibit is now on display at UVic. The exhibit, entitled “Amon Purok: ‘Our Neighbourhood’ ” runs from Oct. 1 to 26 at the A. Wilfred Johns Gallery, Lower Mezzanine, MacLaurin Building, A-wing.

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