Picture this

04 March 2009

Geography lecturer Sara Parker has been visiting Sikles, a remote mountain village in Nepal on a regular basis since 1994 to carry out research and has been working with local groups which aim to improve the quality of life in the region. She is also link coordinator on e British Council funded project looking at teaching gender in LJMU and Universities in Nepal and Bangladesh.

One of the current projects being organised is a community photography project.  The aims of this project are:

• To encourage and support local people from Sikles in running and participating in a community photography project – in doing so to empower local people to represent their own world through images and text that will have a meaningful impact on those who take part in the project and beyond.
• To exhibit the resulting photographs in a variety of locations including Kathmandu with the potential for exhibitions in locations further afield.
• Income generation –  photographs from the project can be utilised on the web sites that are being developed by the various stakeholders such as the Sikles Development Concerned Group (www.sikles.org) and also to produce postcards, calendars and potentially a book for sale to raise funds.

In order to realise the aim of this project the organisers need help. There are a number of ways LJMU staff and students could get involved. These include:

• Donating a digital camera. If you have a digital camera that you no longer use, please consider donating it to this project. The camera will be very welcome in Nepal and will help people to participate in the project.
• Volunteering your time to help raise funds & equipment 
• Sharing ideas about sources of funding.  All ideas are welcome. If you can offer any advice on where to look for funding for this project to cover training costs, logistical costs and cost of staging an exhibition please get in touch.
• Making a donation
• Providing practical support.  If you can provide advice on printing and putting together an exhibition – either in Nepal or the UK – please get in touch. Or if you have web design skills perhaps you could volunteer to help develop a web site to advertise the project and the resulting work.

If you would like to discuss any of these options or if you would like more information about the project, please contact Sara Parker at s.l.parker@ljmu.ac.uk

Sara will be giving a presentation on her work in Nepal on Wednesday 11 March from 5p.m.-7p.m. in room GD01 at Clarence Street. If you would like to attend please email Sara to let her know.