documentary Photography & photojournalism - insight out!

InSIGHT Out!

Digital Photography and Storytelling Workshops
Banda Aceh, Indonesia - December 2005
Phang-nga, Thailand - October 2006

I was invited to be a Digital Photography Instructor at the very first InSIGHT Out! Workshop in Banda Aceh, Indonesia in December 2005. InSIGHT Out! is a creative storytelling project for young people living in tsunami affected communities in Banda Aceh and southern Thailand. I returned to teach at the sixth one in Phang-nga, Thailand in October 2006. During these workshops, 144 girls and boys ages 8 to18 learned photography, editing and writing skills. Storytelling using visual images and words is a powerful medium for youth to navigate memory, uncer tainty, inner strength and dreams.

I taught 12 boys and girls at Dayah Al-Aziziyah, an Islamic boarding school for children affected by the civil war and the tsunami in Banda Aceh and instructed 10 ethnic Burmese children in southern Thailand. With the help of my wonderful translators, I watched as my kids unleashed their raw talent. Although none had ever held cameras, they each surprised me with their innate ability to shoot images that were not only compelling but gives us an insider’s view into the everyday conditions faced by their families and friends.

During the workshops the children in Aceh and Thailand exchanged illustrated letters and hand-made photo postcards, and wrote stories and poems about their hopes and dreams into their journals. In Thailand, the Indigenous Moken children joined Thai-Muslim, Thai-Buddhist and children of ethnic migrant workers from Burma in a unique cultural exchange.

I was honored to be part of a dedicated international team of InSIGHT Out! professionals and local NGO’s, and my work on this project has proved to be one the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Trix Rosen, Photographer