June 6, 2015 - Aug. 13, 2015

Aperture On Sight

At Aperture Gallery

Aperture On Sight: Teaching Visual Literacy through Photography

In Aperture Gallery’s Boardroom

It will be the visually literate among us who will be the most effective communicators in the digital age, which is why Aperture Foundation is committed to helping young people strengthen their visual literacy, critical thinking, and communication skills.

This exhibition features photographs and photobooks made by students of Aperture’s 2014/15 visual literacy program. Over the course of twenty classes, these students strengthened their visual literacy skills by learning how to analyze and interpret images—a cognitive skill that is decidedly valuable in today’s wired world. Aperture’s curriculum expands students’ visual literacy by teaching them to look carefully, articulate ideas using photographic language, and interpret and create meaning through an understanding of form, content, and context. The lessons encourage collaboration and inquiry-based learning, so that students may connect personally with photographs made by both their peers and master photographers. These students learn how to visually communicate their ideas, construct and defend their interpretations, create photographs with intention and meaning, and make self-published photobooks that share their stories.

Aperture’s 2014/15 program reached nearly one hundred students at six locations, which include Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School, Highland Park Community School, I.S. 61 Leonardo da Vinci, M.S. 136 Charles O. Dewey, Storefront Academy Harlem, and Grand St. Settlement’s after-school programs, facilitated by the Beacon Community Center and School’s Out New York City (SONYC).

Aperture’s teaching artists include Community Partnerships Coordinator Alice Proujansky, Rose Marie Cromwell, Alexis Lambrou, Christopher Lopez, Nancy Schneider, and José Soto. Additional support was provided by school staff members Allison Conte, Gordon Baldwin, David Dennis, Leah Lescouflair, Christy Herbes, Nkomo Morris, Kyle Heyward, and Rosmon Palacios. Aperture’s Education staff includes Deputy Director Sarah McNear, Education and Public Programs Assistant Ashley Strazzinski, and Education Work Scholar Adair Ewin.

The 2013–15 programs have been made possible with support from The Pinkerton Foundation, The Reba Judith Sandler Foundation, and a gift from Agnes Gund. Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with City Council, the Manhattan Community Grant Program, and Grand Street Settlement.

Learn more about our Community Educational Partnerships.


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Location Details:

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10001