This project has as its goal to provide for psychiatric patients in the public hospital psychiatric Centro Psiquiátrico do Rio de Janeiro (CPRJ) tools for photographing his everyday life, the activities at the hospital and the historic port city, where is located the CPRJ. The award-winning Brazilian photographer Walter Firmo will give a workshop for patients, including theoretical and practical classes. The project aims to empower patients, collaborate with the therapeutic work developed with the psychiatric patients and create a unique photographic memory about the region.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Rio de Janeiro
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
The photographic workshop (digital photography) is dedicated to the psychiatric patients of the public hospital CPRJ, young, from 18 years, and adults. Most of them are residents of the region near the hospital, with difficulty enter socially and in maintaining their own subsistence. The absolute majority is maintained by family or by the State. This is the first time that a project of this nature takes place at CPRJ. The workshop already counts with great interest on the part of patients. However, in this first stage of the project, we agree with the direction of the hospital, the maximum number of up to 20 participants. As patients do not have any online representation, the Unconscious Memories project, represents a real opportunity to give visibility to this social group.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Besides the photographer Walter Firmo, the project team is composed of one producer and two assistants. The project will also feature the team of health professionals the CPRJ to accompany the photographic workshop giving medical support to patients during the workshop activities.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The project will guide participants to photograph their activities, family settings and affective, the daily life of the hospital and the region in which they live and in which the hospital is located, however, participants may also work with other content, and this, in fact, only enrich the proposal. The photos taken by participants are displayed in a blog specially created for the project. Is also planned an exhibition with the pictures taken during the workshop.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established or plan to establish that will contribute to the success of the project.
In addition to the partnership with the CPRJ, the project works in conjunction with the coordination of the course of Lato-Ethnographic Cinema sense & image on health-disease of FIOCRUZ
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
In this first phase, it is expected the formation of 12 to 20 (maximum) patients. This provided for the continuation of the project in order to expand the number of participants in the workshop.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
The project aims to teach a group of psychiatric patients using a digital still camera, providing technical knowledge to use the camera and developing their artistic skills. The project team has great experience with digital photography and with training workshops. The use of digital photography by psychiatric patients represents a possibility to present their view of the world, besides helping in their social and economic inclusion. Several patients interested in the workshop has the expectation of making financial gains needed to maintain himself/herself with what they learned at the workshop.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The lectures will take place in the building of the CPRJ, in a room provided by the hospital to the workshop. The practical lessons _ participants will come in group to photograph historic buildings, free trade, etc. _ will take place in the port region of the city. We will use twelve (12) digital cameras Samsung ES95-16.2 MP, one (01) Nikon SRL D90, one (01) Nikon D700, one (01) notebook Inspiro 14R with USB modem and Photoshop installed and the equipment for projection of photographs.
What is your current relationship with the community with whom you plan to work? What makes you the most appropriate individual or organization to implement this project?
I initiated contact with the community of CPRJ through an earlier work developed for the FIOCRUZ _ consulting and recording video with testimonials from patients who have attempted suicide. The Unconscious Memories project continues this partnership with the community _ hospital patients and health professionals _ the CPRJ.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Because of the peculiarities of the participants of the workshop will have the challenge of keeping the focus of the participants so that we can obtain a better learning. Let's deal with behaviors often dispersed or apparently unrelated. The presentation of a wide range of images/photos will be an important tool to enhance the look and stimulate participants. The practical lessons, in turn, are fundamental to the empowerment of the photographic language.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
The evaluation of the success of the proposal will be made by the ability of the participants to express themselves by means of the photographic language. The pictures of the participants will be shown in the project-specific blog. Also we plan to make an exhibition with the pictures taken by psychiatric patients during the workshop.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
The workshop is planned to occur in the months of May, June, July and August 2014. Will be 12 classes, being a weekly class with 2:0 of duration each lesson.
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Photographic equipment-12 digital cameras Samsung ES95-16.2 MP-$ 1,500
Equipment for image processing-01 notebook DELL, Inspiration 14 R (Intel Core i5; 4 GB; 1 TB) – $ 830
Transportation operating costs-$ 170
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
The disclosure of the initiative and the results achieved are essential for the maintenance and expansion of the project. We would like to count on support for dissemination of the project and of its achievements.
Contact name
Vania Beatriz Estellita Lins
Organization
Justaposição Visual