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Children's lives come into focus

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

SHOWTIME “Doorways,” a portfolio of portraits of and by the youth at Kuhio Park Terrace, will open at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 25 at The Shops at Dole Cannery, mall level, first floor. For more information, visit www.projectfocushawaii.com

Photographer Lisa Uesugi shows photos she took of Georgette Liutolo-Lopes, 13, to children at the Kuhio Park Terrace Teen Center. From left are Pio Faamatau Jr., 11, Georgette’s brother Sione Liutolo-Lopes, 11, Georgette and her younger brother Solomon, 7. Photos by BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser TEEN'S INSPIRATION CLOSE TO HOME Sina Otineru, 14, took photos of her sister and wrote this description and affirmation: This is my big sister Fa'a. Some people call her Faith. She has been there for me from day one. She's 16 and goes to Farrington and wants to be a pediatrician. She always has my back. She watches out for me. She is the only one I can really talk to. She is easy to relate to because she doesn't judge people even though she's an outspoken person. I really feel that she cares for me. Sina's Affirmation I am athletic I can cook I will complete my goals so I can become a boat mechanic.

Jasmine Amato, left, and Evelynn Iosua, both 13, review a contact sheet of photographs. Project Focus Hawai‘i helped youths at Kuhio Park Terrace stimulate their creativity through photography.

Sina says her big sister, Fa’a Otineru, 16, who attends Farrington High, “has been there for me from day one.” Sina Otineru

Paul Pula, 16, photographs his sister, Aloha, 6, as part of Project Focus Hawai'i. Kuhio Park Terrace youths were given cameras and assignments to photograph someone special and unique to them.

A project by two professional photographers that put cameras in the hands of children who live in public housing has given the youths a rare chance to focus their lives artistically, and has produced an exhibit that will give others an intimate, powerful glimpse into their world.
The photo exhibit called "Doorways" will open Aug. 25 at Dole Cannery and features portraits of more than a dozen children and the people they love who live at Kuhio Park Terrace and nearby low-income housing in Kalihi.

It's their clear, dark eyes that immediately stand out in the black-and-white portraits taken by professional photographers Laurie Breeden Callies and Lisa Uesugi. Then you notice their Pacific Island heritage, youthful enthusiasm and the public housing background in the photos.
"They are very proud of their families, where they are from and the people around them," Uesugi said. "Some are smiling and happy, others are more intense."

One of the children, Georgette Liutolo-Lopes, 13, chose to photograph her grandmother, who lives with her in the housing project.

"She is like my second mom. My mom was young when she had me and my grandmother really helped her out. Because of this project I learned more why my grandma is important to me. You get to know how grateful you should be. It makes you think about it," Liutolo-Lopes said.

"They are amazing kids," Uesugi said. "They are humble and grateful and so honest in their feeling. It really validates what we are doing."

The show is the culmination of Project Focus Hawai'i, a 12-week community service program developed by Callies and Uesugi that allowed the students to be professionally photographed in their community. The youths were then provided cameras, trained to use them and given a timeline for completing a photo assignment.

The entire project has been funded through $8,500 in private donations.

To participate, the students had to sign agreements saying they would complete the project, which includes writing a self-affirmation, taking a photograph of someone important in their lives and completing a statement about what that person means to them.

The entire works of the 14 students ages 10 to 16, will be framed and made a part of the exhibit.

"It opens up doors for the kids to learn a new skill," Uesugi said. "It gives them a voice. We talked them through the photo shoot and about composition and then gave them a camera. Their assignment was to find somebody who is special and unique to them. It is interesting the people they picked."

While looking at the proof sheets of their photos last week, the children laughed and critiqued each other's photos.

"Who is that?" one child asked. "She looks serious. She like fight."
Farrington High School student Paul Pula, 16, selected his 6-year-old sister, Aloha, as his subject.

"If something happens to me she is always there for me saying 'What is wrong?' " Pula said.
Learning new skills, learning about themselves and about the people they love is what the project is all about, Callies said.

"The main thing is we hope that this will help them feel good about themselves," Callies said. "That they can accomplish things. That they can start something and finish it. It is more than handing them cameras and letting them go out and shoot. This is — are you committed to this project."

Callies and Uesugi are former educators and were brainstorming one day when the idea for Project Focus came to them.

“We were talking about how blessed we feel having been so successful in our careers and wanted to give back to the community,” Callies said.

Doing some research, the pair found similar projects had been done in other places around the world and helped children develop their self –esteem and confidence. All of the students are part of Parents And Children Together program at Kuhio Park Terrace. After costs are paid, any excess donations or money raised from the sales of a photo book to be published from the project will benefit PACT.

Cheryl Johnson, Director of the PACT teen program, said the children already have benefited from the summer project.

“Almost immediately the kids began to see themselves in a more positive light,” Johnson said. “I’m hoping it opens photography for some of the kids either as a hobby or careers.

“Connecting is a big word for us. Connections in relationships and helping kids build connections reduces isolation, which is typical of people who live in public housing. These have been very personal pictures for them. They were connected in every aspect.”

This first project has been so successful the founders plan to make it an annual event focusing on specific age, ability or economic groups.

“At the show , when I see the kids there and how happy they are and how proud the parents are of them, that’s when I will know it has really been a success,” Uesugi said.

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com