This exhibit features documentary photographs taken by 11 eighth graders that participated in an interdisciplinary project at Hand Middle School.

Minuette Floyd, Associate Professor of Art Education at the University of South Carolina collaborated with Mrs. Sharlyn Turlington, art teacher at Hand on this documentary project.

The students were given disposable cameras to document important aspects of their own lives.  They took pictures at home, in their neighborhoods, and throughout the Columbia area.

Floyd decided to bring this project to fruition while her own exhibition This Far By Faith: Carolina Camp Meetings, An African-American Tradition was on display at the McKissick Museum.

Floyd introduced the students to documentary photography and they took a field trip to the McKissick Museum to see her photo documentary.

Other project activities consisting of having the students construct visual journals and participate in a number of poetry and writing exercises.

Special thanks to USC graduate students in the English Department, Bhavin Taylor and Lynne Halm, and Art Education graduate students, Amanda Cox and Steve Leitzsey, whose assistance was invaluable on this project.

This project was funded by a generous grant from the Arts Institute at the University of South Carolina and the South Carolina Poetry Initiative.