DiversityIn December 2012, Weston High School was invited to participate in the GBSOCAN conference for the first time. GBSOCAN (Greater Boston Students of Color Achievement Network) is a network of students from all over the Boston area, advocating for anti-racism and diversity in student communities.
I was inspired by the discussions and activities that I participated in at the conference, and hoped to share that memorable experience with the rest of my peers. Back at school, I worked with other GBSOCAN members to first present to the faculty and then to students to raise awareness about achieving racial harmony at Weston High School. As part of that effort, I also took leadership in directing the GBSOCAN poster project to visually convey racial diversity. I photographed small groups of GBSOCAN students as my subjects for the project. With such a diverse group, I captured all kinds of different people who enjoyed being together: Blacks with Whites, Muslims with Christians, and Asians with Hispanics, and so on. The photography portfolio I created promoted racial harmony because it emphasized the positive impacts that diversity had on its students. The photos of the body’s touching, the mid laughs, the hugs, and funny faces caught by the camera all showed one special message we wanted to convey: The color of skin does not determine how we are perceived or how we interact with one another. |