Students at Amity Regional High School recently created portraits for children around the world facing substantial challenges such as violence, war, extreme poverty, neglect and loss of parents. The portraits are part of an effort to help the children feel valued and provide a special childhood memory that they can take into adulthood.
Most of the children have no access to photography, so the portraits are their only images of themselves.
Since 2004 Amity Regional High School students have created 498 portraits for children in 10 countries. This year’s 51 portraits of children from Peru will be hand-delivered to the children by Memory Project volunteers this spring. Shortly thereafter, the Amity student artists will receive a video of the children receiving their portraits. Past videos have also included personal messages from the children, dancing, singing and other sentiments from the children, their caretakers, teachers and Memory Project volunteers.
The Jamie Hulley Arts Foundation has funded this project for 11 years, donating over $7,000 so that Amity students can participate. The portrait is typically the culminating assignment in a watercolor unit in Drawing and Painting II and an optional assignment in AP Drawing and Honors Art.
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- Fernando, by Isabella Ursini.
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- Johan, by Jenny Liu.
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- Luna, by Rachel Ciarleglio.