Let me introduce myself. My name is Julayne Farmer and I have been a working photographer, sometimes teacher, and activist for the last ten years. For the past year, I have been working tirelessly on a way to help children in under-served nations. It is my personal aim to use my talent as a photographer to help transform the lives of these children and the lives of those living in their communities. I have developed a photo literacy program which will utilize both photography and creative writing as a means of teaching children how to better understand their own customs, cultures, communities, and selves from the inside, out.
It is upon this foundation that I have chosen to return to Ladakh, a region of India, set in the Himalayan range. Sometimes called "Little Tibet," Ladakh is steeped in Buddhist custom and culture, bordering Tibet to the east and Jammu and Baltiyul to the west. This remote area was once a highly important trade route between Tibet and Central Asia, but since the Chinese closed the borders in the 1960's, Ladakh's main forms of both trade and economic sustainability have come from tourism and subsistence farming.
The people of Ladakh can trace their heritage back to Neolithic times. It was around the 2nd century when Buddhism was brought into the region and since the 8th century, Ladakh has been caught in the middle of the conflict between Tibetan expansion and Chinese influence. This region has frequently changed hands between China and Tibet, though predominantly remaining a Tibetan population. Due to many raids from Central Asia, some of Ladakhs Tibetans were converted to Islam and much of the areas Buddhist artifacts destroyed. In its history, Ladakh has suffered invasions from not only Central Asia, but Tibet and Southern Asia as well. Ladakh remains a part of the Jammu Kashmir state in Northern India to this day and therefore continues to be the subject of territorial dispute between India and the countries of Pakistan and China. The people of this state have been the focus of many wars, including those of 1947, 1965, 1971, and the center of potential nuclear conflict during the Kargil War in 1999.
The children of Ladakh are borne into both a history of fighting and one of Buddhist peace, a history of confused nationalism and one of certain refuge. It is this programs mission to bring to light for these children, through the cultivation of imagination and critical thinking, their own beliefs and ideas of who they are as both individuals and as a people. In conjunction with the Druk White Lotus School (www.dwls.org) and the Lamdon School, it is our expectation that teaching literacy through photography will enhance the students' responses to the demands of learning, positively affect testing scores, engage the children in critical thinking, and encourage self-confidence while raising self-esteem. This program will provide positive visual stimulation, promote free expression and self-discovery, teach increased tolerance and awareness of others, and give students useful and practical skills in the areas of writing and photography. It is our desire that all children participating in this program will experience themselves as both authors and artists. In this world, there are two main types of learners: those who learn through the reading of textbooks, and those who learn visually, through direct interaction. This program seeks to combine these two methods of learning in order to more fully serve the students, opening the door to provide them the best opportunities to study and explore life.
It has been my great pleasure, in the past, to have taught photography to both children and adults. In these experiences, I have discovered that young photographers enter into the field with declarations of spirit unequaled. It is this programs hope that their unfolding progresses to fullness of spirit, however amazed or distressed their lives may be. The photographer projects himself/herself into everything he/she sees, identifying with everything in order to know it and feel it more wholly. It is this power given to photography, by its photographers, which allows the viewers to feel a communication of spirit when looking at an image. It is our belief that this communication will encourage, enliven, and empower these children to want to make a positive change in their communities and in the world. As the Dalai Lama says, "With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world."
