The Western Folklife Center of Elko presents " Voices of Youth," an interactive, community-based photography and audio project designed to place teenagers in closer touch with their community, Oct.1 through Nov. 30, at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History at UNLV. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
"Voices of Youth" gives teenagers an opportunity to learn more about their neighbors, friends, family, and themselves through the art of photography and audio recording for radio production. This exhibit includes black and white and hand-tinted photographs and an accompanying compact disc.
"We are all at risk of losing our community identity," said Voices of Youth curator and photographer Bruce Hucko. "So we've designed projects that are both meaningful to the kids and the community, because their voices are worth listening to and exploring."
Rural communities are struggling to maintain their cultural integrity due to land management issues, development, population increases and decreases, and related economic concerns. Located at the northern end of the Ruby Mountains, the town of Elko reflects a typical pattern of growth and decline found in many small towns in Nevada. Elko County is home to several different cultures, including ranching, mining, Native American, and Basque. Each has its own traditions that are at risk, and with change at the doorstep, it is important for a community's youth to resolve questions of personal and cultural identity.
Over a two-year period, a total of 18 students from communities in northeast Nevada developed skills to explore and document their surroundings. The artists visited ranches, rodeos, gold mines, skateboard parks, cultural celebrations, and people at home, and recorded their experiences through photography and recorded interviews. The results present a portrait of Elko County and the rural west and may serve as a model project for other communities.
The exhibit, a program of the Nevada Arts Council, is part of the Nevada Touring Initiative and is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Western Folklife Center. The Nevada Touring Initiative is designed to increase access to cultural events and experiences at the local level, particularly in communities that have typically been underserved, while supporting the work of artists.
