NOW excursion images
These images are from excursions to the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 September, 2006. These excursions completed the NOW Program for participants.
Six young men and two young women attended the workshops at USC. During the sessions, Debbie Livingston (from USC) guided participants through an introduction to Photoshop, and gave time for the manipulation of images that enabled participants to share something about their lives with researchers.
Gallery
The young man who created this collage is in Year 9 and was born in Rwanda. Although a shy student at school, he enthusiastically enjoyed using Photoshop to create this collage.
He explained that he liked the variety of shoes in the picture, especially the basketball shoes and the men's working boots which were his favourite part of his picture.
This image created by a Year 11 Liberian student shows his soccer team in action. Sport, especially soccer, is at the centre of many of the lives of young refugees. Young men in particular find benefits in being able to socialise and relax playing soccer, and it is ultimately a big part of their identity.
Students from African backgrounds reported an expectation for them to take part in sporting activities and to be good at them.
When asked why he was naming his picture 'BMG', he replied that it was because he believed those in the picture, including himself, were going to be someone better one day, making money and being rich. Therefore the perfect title was 'BMG', Big Money Guys.
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Not all of the young participants in the NOW Program were new arrivals to Australia. The young woman who made this image had been in Australia since she was 3-years-old after fleeing from Ethiopia with her family.
She shared her experiences being a Year 11 student amongst other students from African backgrounds who have not been in the country as long as her. She expressed her frustration at what she felt was the overuse of US hip hop posturing by young African men. This greatly disappointed her as she was proud of the rich African culture and identity present in her community, and she wished it was much more eagerly accessed by the young African men at her school.
She also hoped for classrooms that were more supportive of the learning needs of students from refugee backgrounds. Her picture depicted the relationship between humans and large frightening tigers and dragons. The humans were scared of the fearsome creatures. Although the reality is that the animals were perceived as dangerous, they pose no threat and were trying to hide from the humans, whom they feared.
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This 'self portrait' was generated by a young man born in Liberia and is now studying in Year 9.
Though all 13 students produced photographs during the NOW Program, almost all of the images taken were of faces. While participants were urged to not take photos of faces, the group of photos returned showed the researchers the importance of friends and family, and how central these people were to the participants.
It was of equal importance for participants to capture pictures of themselves. This self memorialisation was valuable documentation of a time in the young people's lives where identities were being formed, developed and negotiated.
The young man in this image was careful to use the Photoshop tools on all areas of the photo, distorting his face, so as to be able to use this favourite photo that showcases his distinctive cornrow hairstyle.
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