Lydia's House
LYDIA'S HOUSE
Training: January 5 - February 4, 2010; Lydia's House, Chinyere Oteh, Instructor
Exhibition Site #1: PPRC Photography Project Gallery
March 23 - May 16, 2010
Exhibition Site #2: Urban Eats Cafe and Urban Art Collective
March 30 - June 27, 2010
Lydia's House "works in faith to end domestic violence by being a place of healing and a voice of hope for abused women and their children." It has been over ten years since I learned of Lydia's House. As a freshman in college, I had signed up for a service-learning orientation program and one of our projects was helping to sort clothes and other items and clean a storage facility used by Lydia's House. Though this was considered indirect service in that we didn't work personally with the residents of Lydia's House, the mission of this organization still touched me, and the experience remained with me for many years. Since 1995, Lydia's House has been a vital bridge for abused women and their children, "providing the time and support necessary for them to move from . . . emergency shelters to safe, independent, permanent housing." Clients get support from Lydia's House for up to two years while they rebuild their lives, obtain training and/or jobs, and receive help with their medical and legal needs. During this Photography Project I had the opportunity to work directly with children who live at Lydia's House. In order to protect their privacy while still allowing each child to express who they are, we took a creative approach to self-portraiture by photographing their shadows, creating silhouette collages, and writing poetry. The children photographed items that caught their eye in the meeting areas and rooms at Lydia's House community center, and together they wrote a story called "I Am Lydia's House."
--Chinyere E. Oteh, Artist and Photography Project Instructor
Text by Participants:
I AM LYDIA'S HOUSE
I am Lydia's House and I take care of people. I need workers and people to help me survive. I am big and brown and I have lots of windows. Parts of me are all over America. I feel happy because people need me and love me and keep me warm and safe and happy. I feel like I save people from situations of domestic abuse. I have lots of rooms like a computer room and toy rooms and a kitchen. I also have a game room. I love it when kids play in my rooms and watch movies. And I like for people to run in and out of my front and back door. I have a sign that says, "God gave good spirits to all the houses." I have a lot of pictures hanging on my walls. I hold a lot of people who appreciate me. I have windows and lights so the people who live with me can see me. I have bathrooms too. The people who work inside me take good care of me. When it's hot, kids wet me with the water hose. I am surrounded by trees, love, support, care and caring people. I would be sad if I got knocked over by a boulder, or if I was burnt down, or if bad people were mean to me and wrote on my bricks. I am Lydia's House, don't you like me?
--Three children (8, 11 and 13 years old) living at Lydia's House
I feel like when I came here I felt welcome because all of the people were nice to me.
-11 year old child living at Lydia's House
I thought at first the people were not going to like me and I felt sad, but they did like me. I feel good about living at Lydia's House.
-8 year old child living at Lydia's House
My Light Brown Eyes
I use my light brown eyes to design my clothing.
My light brown eyes look cute in my Baby Phat glasses
My light brown eyes are used to stare you down when you make me mad.
My light brown eyes match my light brown skin.
My light brown eyes are used to look at the sunset.
Are your eyes light brown or are they blue-green-gray, maybe even blue/green/gray mixed?
But I like my light brown eyes.
I use them to look at my family.
And if you see my light brown eyes you'll like them too, just like I do.
-By a 13 year old child at Lydia's House
Participants:
Participants cannot be listed due to privacy and safety issues.
Partners:
Lydia's House
Urban Eats Cafe
Urban Arts Collective