Vail Fletcher, communication studies, has her documentary project, “Rising Rwanda” (with photographer Lorena Turner) on display at the United Nations from June 12-20 as part of the Outreach Programme on the Rwanda Genocide and the United Nations. Fletcher and Turner, a documentary photographer and professor at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California, developed “Rising Rwanda” in an effort to capture and define the experiences of children born and raised in post-genocidal Rwanda. The study, initially completed in February 2010 and funded by an “Imagining America” grant, involved interviewing and photographing each child with a drawing they created as a response to questions about their lives in Rwanda, and their perception of their community, family and themselves. The collective drawings and responses provide a unique lens through which outsiders can begin to view how this new generation of Rwandans understand their past and future.
To see more about the U.N. program go to this link. For more information contact Fletcher at 7351 or fletcher@up.edu.