We met with Karen refugees for 2 hours every weekday for 6 weeks. Participants were given cameras and photography lessons and taught how to create blogs. In class the refugees discussed culture, human rights, globalization, education, health care, media, advocacy and their dreams for the future. We spoke mostly in English. When a student had trouble finding the English words to express their thoughts they would speak in Karen and other students would translate. The class worked together to write their biographies and captions. Participants also learned how to use the internet to create and publish their own media. We created the class blog together. Some students chose to use silhouettes and pseudonyms to protect their identities. As young leaders, some students were allowed to leave the camp. Their photos reflect life in Mae La refugee camp and their lives outside the camp.
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UNSEEN MAE LA
An innovative arts project for Karen refugees from Burma to describe their lives through photography.
Photos of Refugee Life Taken by Karen Refugees
UNSEEN MAE LA
An innovative arts project for Karen refugees from Burma to describe their lives through photography.
PHOTOGRAPHERS
TEACHERS
Mae La Refugee Camp
Mae La Refugee Camp is home to over 45,000 refugees from Burma. Ethnic Karen make up 97% of the people living in Mae La. The camp is located 6 miles from the Thailand-Burma border and is the largest of 13 similar refugee camps. Mae La established in 1984 is home to an entire generation of people in their 20s who have lived their whole lives in refugee camps. There are 26 schools, 5 community libraries, 24 churches, 5 mosques and 4 Buddhist monasteries inside the camp. Most of Mae La is surrounded by barbed wire and residents have restricted movement outside the camp.
unseenworld
UNSEENWORLD is an innovative international arts project for workers and refugees to describe their lives through photography.
The core of the program is a series of free photography workshops. Workers and refugees receive cameras and photography instruction while engaging in discussions about self-representation.
UNSEENWORLD is an expansion of unseenamerica, a project created in order to add the vision of workers to the vision of society. unseenamerica was conceived 7 years ago by Esther Cohen the Executive Director of the Bread & Roses Cultural Project of 1199SEIU, a 30-year old non-profit.
For more information email: Zoeann.Murphy[at]gmail.com
The core of the program is a series of free photography workshops. Workers and refugees receive cameras and photography instruction while engaging in discussions about self-representation.
UNSEENWORLD is an expansion of unseenamerica, a project created in order to add the vision of workers to the vision of society. unseenamerica was conceived 7 years ago by Esther Cohen the Executive Director of the Bread & Roses Cultural Project of 1199SEIU, a 30-year old non-profit.
For more information email: Zoeann.Murphy[at]gmail.com