Mira Lemberg
Mira created Face-to-Face to help teenagers who have survived war, torture or trauma tell their stories. She designed a series of creative writing, art and photography workshops that culminate in a public exhibition, pairing vibrant full size portraits of the teenagers with their personal stories.
Face to Face invites the viewer to read these stories from the perspective of each individual teenager. The portraits show typical teenagers, but the stories force the viewer to look beyond the surface. Each exhibition touches emotions and acts as a starting point for broader community involvement, investigation and discussion.
Past Face-to-Face projects have dealt with teenagers from diverse cultural groups around the world including the United States, Australia, Canada, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. All participants, whether they are child survivors of war, refugees or indigenous youth, can experience the powerlessness that comes from others constructing and imposing myths about them. Face-to-Face gives these teenagers the opportunity to tell their own stories and to engage in the healing process of constructing their own narratives.
The end products of these workshops are large vibrant exhibitions of 10 to 14 panels combining full-length color portrait photographs of participants with their own personal stories. The approximate size of each panel is 115 cm squared (45 inches)
These exhibitions typically tour in community centers, libraries, museums and malls sparking media interest and public debate.
Some previous projects include: Face to Face – Multicultural Teenagers; Face to Face – Indigenous Teenagers from USA, Canada and Australia; Face to Face – Child Survivors of War, Torture or Trauma.
Contact
For exhibitions, projects, commissions, collaborations, or just to get in touch, please email: facetofaceprojects@gmail.com
Current project
Face to Face
Refugee Teenage Girls.
Exhibition opening at:
State Parliament NSW
December 10, 2014.