the hidden ways of the world
DESCRIPTION
The “Hidden Ways of the World” Project is the work of students from the after-school photography and poetry class at I.S.528 Middle School in Washington Heights. This book is a collection of images captured around the neighboring community of I.S. 528. Students observed “secrets spaces” in their environment, places that may not usually documented. The students then used these “hidden” images to write poetry that reflects on the nature of things unseen in their world.TRANSCRIPT
Photography and PoetryI.S. 528 Bea Fuller Rodgers School2009-10
THE HIDDEN WAYS OF THE WORLD
Cover photo by Darhiana Mella and title by Kirsy Guzman.
There is the way out Of the crazy city lightsThere it is at last
Roger Ramos
The “Hidden Ways of the World” Project is the work of students from the after-school photography and poetry class at I.S.528 Middle School in Washington Heights.
This book is a collection of images captured around the neighboring community of I.S. 528. Students observed “secrets spaces” in their environment, places that may not usually documented. The students then used these “hidden” images to write poetry that reflects on the nature of things unseen in their world.
Roger Ramos
Jules Gimbrone, Urban Arts Partnership Teaching ArtistSpecial thanks to I.S. 528 Bea Fuller Rodgers School Principal Norma Perez and Parent Coordinator Noemi Brito.
Cindy Vasquez
There are two sneakersGray floor, crack and Black sneakers
Don’t match the Black world
Lilivet Rodriguez
Haiku Reflections, 2010.
Spike is in my flagThe kkk is comingWe fight the battle
Hendryck Rodriguez
Colors of the skyBring me peace , joy and freedom
On this windy day
Karina Abreu
I see three buildingsAnd the sky is very high
Like the color blue
Justin Cabrera
Haiku Reflections, 2010.
IS IT LIGHT ON THE INSIDE?
It looks light on the out sideBut if you look closely it’s Dark inside. There’s something in that cornerMoving slowly, slower then a snailI think it’s the darkness moving away From the light some how crawling Leaving pieces of darkness behind But on the outside it’s nice and brightIt seems that the light likes the darknessSo much it wants to become it
Taina Almonte
The darkness runs away from the light becauseOf its kindness, to keep mankind aliveThe darkness is cold and dark if you sawIt you’d think its not happy but your wrongIts happy there’s nobody in its way to bother it. It seems to want to rule the day so mankindWould die out leaving its self in the world
Taina Almonte
6 7
THE LOST ROADShe is a hidden pathway that leads to the city
Careless humans write harmful things about her…On her
Mystical plants keep it safe from prying eyes Sacred rocks secure her to keep her away from danger
Although spies watch her carefullyHer worst enemy, humans crush her bones although
She heals over night Her two best friends light and darkness play together
But she sees darkness talking to those who spy on herPeople have no respect for her
They throw trash at her although they are trash Themselves
Now you know the life of the lost roadNow don’t say it to any body or there will be
Consequences You never know one day if you tell
She’ll lead you the wrong wayTo the middle of no were she’ll take you
So you can suffer the life she had
Taina Almonte
I am an ORANGE!
I am as bright as the sun I am as round as the sun
I am as orange as the sun in the blue sky
But I am an orange
People mistake me for a tangerine But am an orange!
People say they’ve seen me before in Detroit, Colorado, Connecticut
But I’ve never moved from my home in Washington Heights
I’m as small as a baby kitten just born But I am an orange!
Some people say I have seeds of a Pomegranate!
But I am an orange! I came from a small back yard from a
Little old lady But as a little seed my story is
Much more exciting! I traveled from Spain to Mexico
In a old, almost falling apart Cardboard box never keeping
Still Until I ended up under
Ground in some bodies
Taina Almonte
Student’s name, 2009.
The Encaged Tree Of Life
The tree has no where to go Captured by the demons
For life and deadly adventures But to them it doesn’t matter
They drink my syrup and come to life They surrounded me by things of white and orange
It’s dark and scary They hold me back
There are moving motors parked in front To me it’s deadly
Blue eyes stare at me from the scary dark I shiver and my leaves fly away
They catch it and suck up what they canSome of my leaves get stuck in the orange thingy
I’m scared out of my oaksI miss the woods where I watched the alive
Now the dead and deadly have captured the worlds greatest powerOne of the trees of life
Kirsy Guzman
Kirsy Guzman.
THE MAGESTIC BUTERFLYHe appears only on golden days
He walks the streets Tree by tree
His antenna is highWith spots on his hidden tie
He hides in the meadowsBut like a hungry dieing bird
I find himHe hides
I hideWho am I and why?
THE COLORS OF OUR WORLD
They are fadedNo beautiful periwinkle or dark red
Only a dull style of these amazing colorsThe colors are crinkled and wrinkled and erased from every ones memories
The brown looks like poopIt’s so ugly no one stops by to pick it
But dogs do
The small flowers were once beautiful and colorfulBut now the blend in to a bunch of darkened colors The green looks like mucus
Kirsy Guzman
The knitted hats are so dull like the flowers And the colors show barelyThe little balls buffy and all The pink used to be redA beautiful shining powerful redAnd the green used to be really green like the plantsAnd the grass That if you let it fall you will never see it
Bright I am bright like the sun Colors all around me Being outside is home to me It’s like a walk in the park The breeze is so nice
I can be spotted anywhere around you I am …Winter is the worst season I get to coldIt’s like a freezerI hang out waiting till nightfallSo I can be properly put to sleep
Malushy Mateo
Morning the worst time kids go-ing to schoolI am fed up they always yank my hair Oh my godPeople love me I am a wonder-ful colorI am………… ~RED~
Malushy Mateo
Red is the color of my painBlood is stained It spilled as I layA secret Souls to be savedI saw the untold
Their shadows pass like a mysteryLeaving the earth silentlyBags packed ready for a new worldTrees creep away tooReady for heaven
You pass a dark tunnelYou see the mysterious writings on the wallMaybe from a different planet you thinkCorrect
In this mysterious tunnel lives the planet of Garbage You see tons and tons of garbage cansThere live the garbagetiners
Malushy Mateo
Student’s name, 2009.
Darhiana Mella
Yellow BlurDon’t know what I am Lost some where here
Confused of who I could beStrange land were I standI was perfect where I was
Until I was taken from the land I love
So I lying here looking all around me
I guess I could get to like it hereIt was very noisy over there
Yeah so much better over here
Darhiana Mella
Student’s name, 2009.
Mysterious caged tunnelWhen people see me what do they wonderI have no ending but a beginningI am as hollow as vaseI am a surprise that you want to find outSo capturing So you go my wayYou follow and never endYou follow to the end Surprising to find that you found a wayI seem so lost in my own world You see that I have friends They are the ones who stick with me right till the endA tunnel so mysterious That it is caged up No ending but still people come How ?
I SpyI spy with my little eyes something different
Something I never really seenRight now I feel like walking into it
All I see is trash Maybe it’s like a curtain covering the truth
And if it is…… Then what is behind itCould it be a world that we have imagined?
Or is it a jungleI guess I will never know
Do you knowBut still I spy with my little eyes something different
Darhiana Mella
No wait flowers I’m lost
Cell phone cases Maybe this is was a bad idea
I am lost It was suppose to be a surprise
A hidden surpriseAnd now it is a terrible
Nightmare
It is stairs where do they lead
Oh more stairsI walk down the other stairs
the sky changes It is no longer dark and
lonely it is bright and cheerfulIt is full of grass and trees and moreBut wait the sky has changed again
It has changed to a world full of bracelets
A hidden surpriseI see it I want to go to it but howI see the stairs so I goI see a pathway could it be a surprise Or is a curtain covering the truth No
Darhiana Mella
Student’s name, 2009.
The Shadow
I appear on grounds of mine I am a animalThat soon you will know I walk on the streetOf mine I can’t see what other people seeWonder what people see that I can’t see
I am a animal who is very tall eatingHealthy food so I can be strong I can’tFind nothing to eat because there is
Not that much green
Genesis Torres
Genesis Torres
6 7
Envirmental Bird This bird cares of
what you do stoplittering or this
bird will do extremelybad things to you
not proud of where I live because all I see is trash, trash, and trash
I am green but, I am proud! Rotten.Clumped.And annoyed cause nobody is buying me. And the customers are buying other things.I am just like a person with feelings.Not one sight of beauty.I came from Dominican Republic.
Genesis Torres
I am green but, I am proud! Rotten.Clumped.And annoyed cause nobody is buying me. And the customers are buying other things.I am just like a person with feelings.Not one sight of beauty.I came from Dominican Republic.
This project was made possible by Urban Arts Partnership and funded through 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
Urban Arts Partnership is a not-for-profit organization that provides vital arts education programs in New York City public schools to improve academic achievement, community outreach and youth development.
© 2010 Urban Arts Partnership
www.urbanarts.org