May/June 2010: The postcard micro-business (PCMB) is a project that creates an avenue of creative expression for the youth population working in the streets of La Paz, Bolivia. The PCMB started with four workshops that developed photography skills.
As a part of this series of workshops, students were given cameras to document their lives; stories that have generally remained untold. This act of image-making gives a voice to a specific population of children whose perspective is marginalized within Bolivia.
Mayo/Junio 2010: El micro negocio de postales (postcard micro-business, PCMB) es un proyecto que crea una avenida de expresión creativa para los jóvenes que trabajan en las calles de La Paz, Bolivia. El PCMB empezó con 4 proyectos que desarrollaron talentos fotográficos.
Como parte de esta serie de proyectos se les dio cámaras fotográficas a jóvenes estudiantes para documentar sus vidas, historias que generalmente permanecen sin contar. Este acto de hacer imágenes le da una voz a una población específica de niños cuya perspectiva es marginada en Bolivia.
Upon completion of their assignment, the students returned the cameras to me so the film could be processed. For the next class, prints of the photographs were displayed for all the students to see. As a class, we discussed which photos were successful and which photos were not. The students then selected the best overall photos to be used as postcards. We narrowed the photos down to the best six.
We financed the creation of 6000 postcards in total (1000 of each of the six best photos). Once they were made I hand-delivered them to Sagrado Corazon. Miguel Angel, the coordinator of Sagrado Corazon, had explained that Sagrado Corazon was struggling to stay open due to financial problems.
With this project the children could sell each postcard for 2 Bolivianos ($1 = 7bs). The student would keep 1 boliviano and then Sagrado Corazon would keep 1 boliviano. The children could then slowly become more independent, and Sagrado Corazon could fund their cooks and other necessary costs.
