GIVE THAT GIRL A CAMERA!

Portage for Youth puts on photography exhibit

by Amy Sherman

When Julia Porras had to choose a location to shoot photographs, there was no question about where she wanted to go: the cemetery. The 10- year-old wanted to take photos of her Uncle Fred's grave.

"I never saw it before and I was looking all over for (the grave)," recalls Porras. Although Fred died in a bus accident when she was only 2 years old, Porras says he was her favorite uncle.

Porras' photo will be one of about 50 on display in an exhibit opening Friday evening at the YWCA located on Western and Selby avenues. Sheila Wellstone will hand out awards at the opening, which begins at 7 p.m. (For more details, see sidebar.)

"Just one of the girls" showcases black and white photos shot by 12 young women ages 8 to 17. The budding artists are participants in two different organizations: Portage for Youth, an after-school center located in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood, and New Voices, a program of The Circle newspaper, a monthly Native American publication based in Minneapolis. The, program was funded through grants from several nonprofits including the North-End/Payne-Phalen/Dayton's Bluff After School Partnership.

The girls were mentored mostly by members of Women Photographers and Visual Artists, a Twin Cities nonprofit. Portage Director Raeann Ruth contacted WPVA to ask the organization to coordinate a show for her girls. In August, five mentors were matched with seven girls from the Portage. The mission of the program was to provide role models and help the girls build self-esteem, according to Laurie Schneider, director of WPVA.

"These girls were provided with ideas for other opportunities in their lives," says Schneider. "The mentors and girls have had different life experiences so they were able to see a different perspective when they got together."

With their mentors, the girls shot many scenes including the farmer's market, the Mississippi River and the Dayton's Bluff Children's Garden. Mentor MaryAnn Sulik said she chose places the girls had never seen before, such as the sculpture garden by the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis. The field trips were exercises in perspective.

"I'd have them do things like lay on the ground and look at different angles, positions," says Sulik. "They see there is more there than what meets the eye."

The girls also learned the frustrating lesson of photography: sometimes photos don't appear as planned. "It took awhile to learn how to use the cameras," says Ruth. "(In the beginning) they had so many pictures of ceilings and floors."

The girls also set out on their own to shoot scenes from school and at home. But hands down, the darkroom was the coolest place.

"Not many kids our age get to go in the darkroom," says Nicole Egbufoama, who had imagined a darkroom as "a little shack."

"It was very dark," Tisha Ramos- Pena chimes in. "When one of us was in there by ourselves it was scary."

Usually girls who attend the Portage spend most of their time inside the center which is located in a cozy, large home on Fremont Avenue. At the Portage, 19 young people currently participate in a variety of free programs four days a week including computers, women's studies and mask-making. The participants are considered at-risk and are referred to the Portage through Mounds Park All Nations School. The one-year-old nonprofit is run by volunteers; the director will get paid a salary for the first time this year thanks to an $80,000 city grant which will also go toward programming.

A whopping 700 people have been invited to the opening, which is also open to the general public. The girls are eagerly awaiting their artistic debut, although it's a little nerve-wrecking as well. Tisha summarizes how she imagines the opening: "If we don't have to talk? Nice."

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