"Born into Brothels" - Kids with Cameras art exhibition and fundraiser

Come see this amazing art exhibition and participate in the fundraiser for "Kids with Cameras" from the documentary film, Born into Brothels. A rare opportunity to see the artwork from the children in Calcutta supported by the Kids with Cameras project. The art exhibition and fundraiser will be held on Friday, August 29 beginning at 7:30 pm during the Annual NetIP 2008 conference.

Background
Zana Briski had no intention of teaching anybody anything when she went to live among the women and children of Calcutta's red-light district. But from the start, the kids in the brothels were wildly curious about her camera. Zana set aside her own project of photographing the women in the brothels and, over the course of a three-year period, led a photography workshop attended by sometimes eight, sometimes nine children. This exhibition represents the work produced during that time. The goal of the workshop was to provide a safe place for the kids to be themselves, to learn, to have a lot of fun and, in the process, to come to believe in their own worth. Slowly, they came to recognize and accept the permission they'd been given "to be as big as they really are," she says. The workshops and the children are the subject of Born into Brothels, directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman. Born into Brothels won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Kids with Cameras
In 2002, Zana founded Kids with Cameras just as the Calcutta workshop was coming to an end. As a non-profi t organization, it exists to carry on the legacy of that first group, igniting kids imaginations through photography and empowering marginalized children to explore and celebrate the fullness of who they are. Kids with Cameras has provided support to gifted photographers to lead children? workshops in other parts of the world. The organization is also sponsoring the development of a home for children in the red-light district.To learn more about the work Kids with Cameras is doing to educate and empower children, and to buy prints from this show, please visit http://www.kids-with-cameras.org. All proceeds from purchases go to support the children's education.