Picturing Peace is a new project sponsored by Buffalo County Community Partners’ United Against Violence coalition. The project gives Buffalo County residents and visitors the opportunity to share their vision of peace by asking “What does peace look like to you?”
Based on the successful PhotoVoice project in which high school students use photographs as a springboard for discussion and learning, the goal of Picturing Peace is to help area residents share their ideas about what peace means to them and how we experience it in our everyday lives.
“The United Against Violence Coalition decided to give everyone an opportunity get in on the discussion about what a peaceful world looks like,” said Community Partners’ Violence Prevention Coordinator Mark Foradori. “That is, how do people in our area support one another and live in harmony with nature?”
Buffalo County residents and visitors are invited to submit photos and captions at bcchp.org/picturingpeace between now and August 15 with the theme of “Picturing Peace in Buffalo County.” Photos can highlight issues of inclusion, caring, and security between the people of Buffalo County. They can inspire the people to recognize our interdependence with one another and deepen healthy and mutually supportive habits and relationships. They can show the ways in which our culture thrives in harmony with nature. Whatever peace looks like to you, it can be part of Picturing Peace.
Professional photographers, hobbyists, and anyone with a camera and access to the internet is invited to submit their photos. The submissions will by juried by a group of PhotoVoice students in August and their selections will be shown at a public exhibition at the Merryman Performing Arts Center on International Peace Day, September 21.
“Taking interesting pictures is important,” said Foradori, “but sharing ideas about the things we care about and ways to make them better is the real point of the project.”
To learn more about the Picturing Peace Project, visit bcchp.org/picturingpeace or call Buffalo County Community Partners Violence Prevention Coordinator Mark Foradori at 308-865-2290.
United Against Violence is bringing together parents, child care professionals, educators, school counselors, mental health professionals, youth pastors and law enforcement personnel to exchange ideas and combine our efforts to keep children safe and help them to become successful in our schools and community. Specifically, we work to promote and support trauma-informed care training for those who work with youth, peer mentoring through the Friends program, social/emotion education with the Second Step curriculum and promote community connections through PhotoVoice. To learn more about United Against Violence visit our web page at bcchp.org/unitedagainstviolence.