Exhibit Night!!!

The morning was spent at the school again for the final time. They presented a bunch of performances for us about varying topics of peace and community. They were, of course, adorable to watch. They had clearly been working hard in the past week that we’d been gone. They dances, mimed, sang and performed puppet shows for us. After they set such a high standard, we had to follow up and do the plays/skits we had put together the first time we visited. They were rough, and didn’t compare to what they did before us but I think we all had a great time. After our skits, my group went to judge their art and pick the winners from each grade. All of their art was going to be displayed at the exhibit, but the winners would be displayed separate and they would win a prize. While we were judging the students put on a buffet for us and brought gifts and all sorts of food for us to enjoy. It was really hard to judge the kids art work because it was clear that all of them had invested a fair amount of time into each project. They would also walk by to see which paintings we were looking at to try and persuade us. They were definitely crafty…both in their art work and their attempts to bribe us with their cuteness. Each of us had a bias towards to children we specifically had worked with. Once we picked out top four, we enjoyed our variety of foods and then presented the winners. Everyone one was excited for their art to be in the exhibit, and the parents and families were all invited.

                When clean-up was done, we had to say our good-byes. Yet again, good-byes were difficult. We all loved our time at the school and were sad to leave. The kids and staff all gathered by the main gate to say good-bye and wave as the bus drove off. It was like something out of a movie.

                To life our spirits, we went to Omar’s house/the CEMPROC office to spray paint the walls. It was a brief outlet for creativity and expression in a safe space. There were the obligatory hearts, smiley faces, peace signs, etc. Omar, although good at everything, also proved to be fabulous at spray painting. He could do shading and bubble letters, meanwhile I was just happy when I could make a circle in one go. Once Omar’s wall was completely covered in a variety of colorful symbols, we left to get ready for the exhibit.

                A small group of us ventured off with Omar to first, get ice cream, and then hunt down gifts for the winners of the art contest. Luckily, at the mall, there was a toy store and we went on the hunt for educational but fun gifts for them. It was fun, but difficult to decide on what would work well for them. Most of us had never had to buy fun but educational gifts for girls before and wanted to make sure that I wasn’t something cheesy that the kids wouldn’t actually enjoy. After finally coming to the decision of some art projects for them.

                When then left for the exhibit to finish the rather last minute installation of the kids paintings. We didn’t have that many supplies at this point, a lot of them had been used for the installation of the photographs. So through a makeshift board, with whatever tape we could find, we were able to get everything set up right before the exhibit opened to the public.

                The night went pretty well, some of the kids showed up and some of the winners came as well. Javier (our bus driver from the first trip) and his wife came, along with Omar’s family and people from the Casa de la Danza community. It was pretty busy for the night and people also seemed to be really inspired by our photographs. It is a great feeling to know you did a good job of representing the community you were a part of when receiving confirmation from those very same people. For me, that was the ultimate goal. What if the community felt we did a poor job of representing their culture or country? The entire exhibit would have lost its purpose and story.

                I think it is safe to say that the final product was successful and all of our hard work paid off. The exhibit was received well and given the time crunch, it looked clean and put together. The photos were going to be left up in the exhibit space at Casa de la Danza for a bit longer after we left. The stories behind the photos were what made the entire thing worth it, to see those photos hanging on the wall and getting to share them with other people; it can’t get much better than that.