Black Belt 100 Lenses Documentary Project to be Shown in Livingston

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Highway signs, vintage buildings, crop rows and fishing holes are some of the images Sumter County students have captured as part of a Black Belt documentary project to be shown on Thursday, Jan. 17 from 4-6 p.m. in Livingston.

“Black Belt 100 Lenses,” a joint project of the Black Belt Community Foundation and The University of Alabama, will be on display during a reception at the University of West Alabama’s Webb Hall Gallery in Livingston. The event is open to the public.

The project brings together students in grades 7-11 to document their communities in photographs. The Sumter County pilot program will be carried to other Black Belt counties, including Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens and Wilcox.

“To celebrate the conclusion of the Sumter County pilot project, an exhibition will be on display at Webb Hall Galley at the University of West Alabama Jan. 17 until March 1,” said Christopher H. Spencer, UA adviser for the project.

“Anyone from Alabama — especially from small towns or who just want to see how photography can have an impact on people and communities — will want to visit the exhibition,” said Whitney Greene, Black Belt Arts Initiative coordinator and co-director of the project. “It’s amazing how well these young people have captured the culture and challenges of the Black Belt through their photography.”

In addition to the students’ work, local artist Linda Munoz will have several works on exhibit. Munoz was commissioned to create artwork using the students’ photographs as inspiration. Pieces on display include a quilt and a glass mosaic that represents many of the students’ themes.

Elliot Knight, an intern at the Center for Community-Based Partnerships, has been one of the principal instructors for the project that uses photovoice, a research technique that blends grassroots photography with social science to record and reflect community strengths and problems.

“I have enjoyed working with the students,” Knight said. “Their dialogue surrounding the photographs has been as powerful as the photographs themselves.”