About Voices

The Voices of Children:

Exploring Childhood and Culture through Visual Literacy

Through a successful UIC International Links Grant awarded by the University of Wollongong, Australia in 2004 a unique project was established. Initially five universities were involved:  the University of Wollongong, City University Hong Kong, Assumption University Thailand, Northern Illinois University USA and the Universiti Sains Malaysia. The aims of this project are to strengthen research relationships between universities across the world, to collaborate with colleagues working in the areas of visual literacy, multiliteracies and narrative and to promote a deeper personal and cultural awareness and understanding amongst all those involved.

Voices of Children is a travelling photographic exhibition that draws on the images and text that children have constructed. Different personal and cultural perspectives are depicted through the use of images and words generated by children from 6 to 14 years of age. The children used disposable cameras to capture images of their everyday experiences and provided brief written responses to questions about themselves, their families and their views of the world. Selected photographs and text were then converted to large digital images, multiple displays and some static framed images for the travelling exhibition. To date exhibitions have been held in Australia and Thailand with plans underway for an exhibition in October 2006 in the USA.

The travelling exhibition has been organised by academic staff in the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong: Assoc. Prof. Ian Brown, Dr. Pauline Lysaght and Ms Ros Westbrook. Exhibitions outside Australia have been organised in conjunction with colleagues in each of the different locations. In each case, the focus for the exhibitions has been to include the children who participated in the project, their families and friends, as well as a broader audience.

This project has been generously supported by Adobe Systems US.

In 2006 the Voices of Children project has been expanded to include the contributions of children in other locations such as Qatar, Zambia and Guatemala with the continued aim of celebrating cultural diversity.

 

The images contained within this site are for viewing purposes only and are not to be reproduced under any circumstances. If you wish to inquire further about the copyright and use of these images please contact members of the Voices of Children team.