Photography + Community good

“WHEN WE WORK WITH ANYONE WHO HAS A STORY TO SHARE, WE NEED TO MAKE SURE WE’RE BEING AS HONEST AND OPEN WITH OUR SPACE AS WE CAN BE, SO AS TO NOT MISCONSTRUE OR MISREPRESENT ANYONE.”

NO ONE WANTS to make their mom cry. Unless it sparks a human rights charity.

Gilad Cohen, an artist and human rights activist, had always found it hard to convey the work he was doing to his family. After Gilad showed his family a documentary about human rights abuses in North Korea, his mother broke down into tears. The film did what nothing had before: convinced his mom of the importance of sharing human rights issues through photography and film.

Gilad began his career with projects in international development work in Kenya, Morocco, Venezuela, and Argentina. While working abroad, he took a tourist trip to North Korea for the first time. “I didn’t know much about North Korea then,” he says. “It was like going to Mars.” When he returned to Canada, he was inspired to begin working closely with North Korean refugees.

Recognizing the power of film and photography, in 2012, Gilad put together a small team and launched the North Korean

Human Rights Film Festival. From this, JAYU emerged to address a wider range of human rights. JAYU, pronounced jahyou, means freedom in Korean. The team’s goals are to educate, build empathy, forge community, and inspire — and JAYU does all of these incredibly well.

JAYU currently offers three programs: the Human Rights Film Festival, an annual, week-long event based in Toronto; The Hum, a podcast series in which guests speak about inspiring human rights experiences; and the iAM Program, a photography training course offered to underserved youth in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

Each year the iAM team works with upwards of 250 youth, between the ages of 12 and 25. “The program is free,” says Celeste Cole, photographer and program director. “Over eight weeks, youth get arts and social justice training from some of Toronto’s best photography mentors.”

Provided with cameras, the youth are taught not only how to tell stories, but also essential work skills, such as how to show up

on time, edit and deliver photographs, and send invoices. At the end of each course, they work with JAYU to create an exhibition of their work. Participants can sell their prints, and profits from every sale go directly back to the youth photographer.

“Thirty-nine of our 2018 iAM youth found paid employment as photographers after graduating from the program,” says Celeste, beaming with pride. “Some of them had to open up bank accounts for the first time to deposit their earnings.” Alumni from the program also have the chance to train to become mentors in future programs. This year, for the first time, the iAM Program has a 2015 program graduate working as a mentor for the next iAM generation — truly a milestone for JAYU.

Am I Wrong to Love?, the May 2019 iAM exhibition in Toronto, was a unique project for the participating youth and the community at large. “The project was a portrait series of 20 LGBTQI refugees from 10 different countries who were forced to flee because of their gender identity or sexual orientation,” said Gilad. “Each subject was paired with an iAM photographer for a portrait session.”

The exhibition opening drew a massive crowd from the community, and the panel discussion including photographers and the refugee subjects from the project was impressive and inspirational. The Am I Wrong to Love? exhibition extended JAYU’s impact in the community. JAYU also set up an Am I Wrong to Love? fund to collect donations for partner organizations that help to resettle LGBTQI refugees.

This exhibition brought forth some important discussions on ethics, not just for the youth photographers, but also for JAYU. “We must always treat human rights with a lot of care and sensitivity,” says Gilad. “When we work with anyone who has a story to share, we need to make sure we’re being as honest and open with our space as we can be, so as to not misconstrue or misrepresent anyone.”

Going forward, the JAYU team is looking to expand its horizons and programs past the GTA, to First Nations communities in Northern Ontario that might currently lack such opportunities. Gilad states, “We want to offer more youth the opportunity not only to explore a craft, but to learn more about themselves, feel more confident, and have fun.”

Find out more about JAYU - www.jayu.ca/iam