Photographing Community: A Student Lens on Democracy
Apr
19
to May 12

Photographing Community: A Student Lens on Democracy

 

Date and Time
Friday, April 19, 2024 - May 12, 2024

Location:
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

101 South Independence Mall East
Philadelphia, PA

 

The product of a new curriculum co-created by Working Assumptions, National Writing Project, and Citizen Film, Photographing Community: A Student Lens on Democracy, is now on view in Philadelphia. This curriculum was designed to encourage students to consider issues of community citizenship and care in the classroom, using American Creed clips as inspiration. We are excited to see the fruits of this endeavor out in the world and on view at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, now through May 12, 2024.

58 Central High School students captured, in photographs and writing, their beliefs, their values and ideals, including critiques of their own communities and of our American society. Their photographs are inspired by the national, multiplatform documentary initiative, American Creed, which looks at how communities around the United States express foundational democratic ideals. Central High School students are among the first to respond to this national effort.

https://theweitzman.org/exhibitions/photographingcommunity/

 
 
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Everywhere: Toward Safer, More Connected Communities
Jun
28
10:00 AM10:00

Everywhere: Toward Safer, More Connected Communities

 

Date and Time
Wednesday, June 28, 2023 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM PDT

Location
Virtual

 

Working Assumptions is pleased to announce that Jonathan Blair and Sam Schimmel, co-creators of the documentary media and public engagement initiative Citizen Power, were back in conversation with Rural Assembly’s Whitney Kimball Coe at their virtual event Everywhere: Toward Safer, More Connected Communities. Hear how they are working to build safer, more connected communities, the barriers they face, and their advice for other young rural community organizers here.

The event also included stories, keynotes, and performances from rural organizations, artists and allies. See the full lineup here.

 
 
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Photoville Festival 2023 - Citizen Power: Youth Perspectives on Care & Citizenship
Jun
3
to Jun 18

Photoville Festival 2023 - Citizen Power: Youth Perspectives on Care & Citizenship

  • Brooklyn Bridge Park - Emily Warren Roebling Plaza (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS
 

Date and Time
Saturday, June 3 - Sunday, June 18, 2023
6:00 AM – 7:00 PM EDT

Location
Brooklyn Bridge Park - Emily Warren Roebling Plaza

1 Water St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

 

We are excited to share that our banner Citizen Power: Youth Perspectives on Care & Citizenship is on display at Photoville Festival 2023 June 3-18 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

We are celebrating the captivating photography from American Creed “Citizen Power,” an upcoming documentary initiative from Citizen Film, which explores community leadership and ideals from young adult perspectives. Community leaders Jace Charger, Jonathan Blair, and Sam Schimmel used wrkxfmly assignment to photograph and write about the role care and family play in their activism.

Photoville will feature over 80 outdoor exhibitions across all five boroughs, with hundreds of artists and programming partners tackling a wide range of issues through exceptional photography from around the world.

 
 
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Connecting Our Heartlands: Toward an Inclusive American Creed
Jan
19
1:30 PM13:30

Connecting Our Heartlands: Toward an Inclusive American Creed

 

Date and Time
Thursday, January 19, 2023 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM PST

Location
Virtual

 

Working Assumptions is proud to partner with Citizen Film on the upcoming documentary initiative American Creed: Citizen Power. This initiative spotlights stories of young leaders facing America’s ideals, institutions and challenges. A selection of the cast members are using our wrkxfmly assignment to examine connections between their communal work and their work at home.

Recorded live on Jan. 19, Connecting Our Heartlands featured three Citizen Power cast members who showcased their photographs and shared their perspectives on the work of building democracy.

Jonathan Blair and his peers explore their roots in Appalachia’s coal industry, their own experience of blue collar work and their aspirations for the future.

Sam Schimmel illuminates his Alaskan Indigenous community’s fight to continue subsistence fishing, the anchor of the community’s sustainable economy.

Jace Charger, co-founder of Standing Rock’s first protest camp, takes stock of current efforts to organize and heal.

The event also features remarks from American Creed co-host David M. Kennedy (Stanford University Lane Center for the American West); Eric Liu (Citizen University); and Danielle Allen (Harvard University Safra Center for Ethics).

Connecting our Heartlands was co-presented by the Center for Rural Strategies’ Rural Assembly; their media platform, The Daily Yonder; the documentary organization Citizen Film; Working Assumptions, and the National Writing Project, the nation’s largest network of teacher leaders focused on the teaching of writing.

This event was made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this event do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Watch the video below, starting at 26:20.

 
 
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High School Students Use Photography to Document the Impact of the Coronavirus in Their Daily Lives
Jul
1
5:00 PM17:00

High School Students Use Photography to Document the Impact of the Coronavirus in Their Daily Lives

Monica Carson, COVID-19 Enters the Mind of the Youth

Monica Carson, COVID-19 Enters the Mind of the Youth

 
 

The COVID-19 Collection features photographs taken by high school students from across the United States documenting the challenging experience of living through a pandemic.

Created by Working Assumptions — a California-based non-profit that uses visual arts to challenge the assumptions of everyday life — wrkxfmly is an education program guiding students as they make photographs and write captions about work and family in their lives. A year ago, the coronavirus crisis suddenly and drastically altered that already complicated subject. Working Assumptions recognized that the students and teachers participating in this program needed a way to document and process this together. 

The photographs in the COVID-19 Collection capture this unprecedented personal and societal experience, and help viewers of any age recognize and process both the fear and hope of 2020. The students explore the duality of frustration and resilience, and highlight how confinement underscored the importance of connection.  

As one student’s caption reads: “Every time you turn on a screen, you are hearing about the impacts of COVID-19 all over the world, and yet it is so easy to feel alone. Without the connections we have grown so used to, it is often difficult to remember that everyone is struggling with the grief of losing their past lives, and working to build new ones.”

 
 
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Showing (work x family) Opening Reception at the University of Arizona
Jan
31
5:00 PM17:00

Showing (work x family) Opening Reception at the University of Arizona

Photo courtesy of Watts College

Photo courtesy of Watts College

 

Date and Time
Friday, January 31, 2020 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM MST

Reception is open to the public but rsvp is requested: RSVP

Location
McClelland Park Building 650 N Park Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (map)

 

Join us for the exhibit opening reception on Friday, January 31, 2020 from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. in the lobby of McClelland Park, home of the University of Arizona, John and Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Showing (work x family) is an invitation to take a close look at the interplay between work and family life. The 28-foot, six-screen photography installation combines landmark commissioned photographs of pregnant women in the workplace, a curated selection of works by contemporary photographers, and photographs by high school students who participated in wrkxfmly, our nationwide education program for high school photography classes. Photographers include Gay Block, Lauren Greenfield, Wing Young Huie, Rania Matar, Greg Miller, Melissa Ann Pinney, Andrea Modica, Sylvia Plachy, Angela Strassheim, and Michael Wolf. The installation features an original soundscape composed by musician, performance artist, and poet Alicia Jo Rabins.

 
 
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Showing (work x family) at the University of Arizona
Jan
9
to Apr 15

Showing (work x family) at the University of Arizona

workxfamily-UA-norton-school-mcclelland-park.jpg
 

Date and Time
January 9 - April 15, 2020

Monday to Friday 7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m

Location
McClelland Park Building 650 N Park Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (map)

 

We are thrilled to be working with the John and Doris Norton School at the University of Arizona to present our show Showing (work x family)!

The Norton School provides instructional, research, extension, and outreach programs in the areas of Family Studies and Human Development and Retailing and Consumer Sciences.

The ambition of the Norton School to prepare professionals for careers serving families, communities, and the marketplace makes it an ideal environment to share our work exploring the topics of work and family, pregnancy in the workplace, and caregiving through the lens of photography.

We are excited that the installation and accompanying programs will foster productive conversations and promote empathy among students, faculty, and community.

 
 
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Showing (work x family) at Arizona State University
Aug
19
to Nov 15

Showing (work x family) at Arizona State University

  • University Center Lobby (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS
Photographer Name, Photo Title, 20xx

Photographer Name, Photo Title, 20xx

 

Date and Time
Monday, August 19, 8:00 AM - Friday, November 15, 2019 5:00 PM

Location
University Center Lobby 411 North Central Avenue Phoenix, AZ, 85004 (map)

 

Showing (work x family), a 28-foot, six-screen photography exhibition with an original soundscape and 186 photographs by 135 photographers will be on view at ASU's University Center Lobby on the Downtown Phoenix Campus from Monday, August 19th through Friday, November 15th, 2019. The 30-minute experience tells the story of daily life from the early morning hours until late into the night, sequenced by a proprietary controlled randomization algorithm and presented on a translucent tensile structure designed by Viemeister Industries, New York. The sound environment was created by musician, performer, and writer Alicia Jo Rabins.

Showing (work x family) reveals the intimate choreography — the push and pull of work and family — in our everyday lives. These photographs share the intimate routines of mealtimes and bedtimes, commutes and carpools, calendars and keys, school-day mornings and weekend chores, childcare and grandparent shifts, single-parent households and blended families. The photographers whose images are featured in the exhibition offer perspectives on work and family, ranging from quiet moments of intimacy to the tensions of competing responsibilities.

The exhibition combines landmark commissioned photographs of pregnancy in the workplace; a curated selection of work by contemporary photographers who explore the interplay of work and family; and photographs by high school photography students who participated in wrkxfmly, an education program for high school photography classes implemented in over 50 schools across the country. For their wrkxfmly assignment, students looked at how work and family overlap in their own lives. Several schools in the Tucson area participated in wrkxfmly, including Amphitheater High School, Flowing Wells High School, Tucson Magnet High School, and Walden Grove High School. Many distinguished American documentary photographers, photojournalists and artists contributed to Showing, including Gay Block, Lauren Greenfield, Wing Young Huie, Rania Matar, Greg Miller, Melissa Ann Pinney, Andrea Modica, Sylvia Plachy, Angela Strassheim, and Michael Wolf.

 
 
Photo by Geoffrey Biddle

Photo by Geoffrey Biddle

Photo by Geoffrey Biddle

Photo by Geoffrey Biddle

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Houston Summer Arts Program
Jun
3
to Jun 27

Houston Summer Arts Program

Photographer Name, Photo Title, 20xx

Photographer Name, Photo Title, 20xx

 

Date and Time
Monday, June 3, 2019 3:30 PM
Thursday, June 27, 2019 5:30 PM

Location
Carnegie Vanguard High School 1501 Taft Street Houston, TX, 77019 (map)

 

We’re happy to be working with the Houston Independent School District to debut their first-ever summer arts program. The wrkxfmly program is at the center of this month-long intensive, which brings students from all across Houston together for two hours every Monday–Thursday. Under the guidance of photography teachers and Working Assumptions staff, students explore the interplay between work and family in their own lives. Students receive professional-quality digital cameras generously on loan from Sony, and have access to extra open studio hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays to further their practices.

As part of our commitment to facilitating opportunities for all students to explore the visual arts, this program is offered entirely free of charge. Our thanks go out to Carnegie Vanguard High School for hosting the program.

 
 
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working-assumptions-houston-summer-camp-2019-06-04-14-57-52.jpg
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home/work 2.0, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
May
4
to Jun 5

home/work 2.0, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA

Photographer Name, Photo Title, 20xx

Photographer Name, Photo Title, 20xx

 

Date and Time
Saturday, May 4, 2019, 4:00 PM– Tuesday, June 4, 2019, 5:00 PM

Opening Reception
Saturday, May 4, 2019
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Location
Armory 145
North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA, 91103, (map)

Open 12:00 to 5:00 PM. Closed Tuesdays and holidays. Admission is always free

 

Working Assumptions is proud to support students, teachers, and organizations who participate in the wrkxfmly classroom assignment by offering a mini-grant program to help fund exhibitions and related projects that reach the general public. This year, we awarded grants to two Pasadena high schools, La Cañada High School and Flintridge Preparatory School, for a collaborative exhibition of student photographs that—with beauty and sensitivity—reveal the intersections of work and family in their daily lives. The project was the initiative of Gayle Nicholls-Ali, photography teacher at La Cañada High School and Tim Bradley, a photography teacher and Chair of the Visual Arts department at Flintridge Preparatory School.

 
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