Dylan Yarbrough

During my time with Joyce Kilmer Elementary School, I led a color theory workshop series with
the Black Student Alliance. We discussed the importance of color, both formally and emotionally.
To create the artwork, the students participated by experimenting with Photoshop’s new
generative AI tools. The students created text prompts based on vocabulary words, color hues,
artists’ names, art styles, and emotions – such as: “abstract, analogous, minimal, yellow,
Ellsworth Kelly, anxious.” These prompts would create simple shapes and color combinations
that we later composited and collaged into larger pieces. This work is important because it helps
young people learn about established color theory concepts, navigate their emotions using art,
as well as understand emerging tools that will undoubtedly impact the world around them.

This ongoing documentary project is in partnership with Artists in Public Schools, a Chicago-based organization that pairs artists with Chicago Public Schools. Arnold Mireles Academy, my school partner, is an elementary & middle school located on the South Side of Chicago. Artists in Public Schools assigned this school and helped me go through the vetting and background checks necessary to work with school children. 

When reflecting on my experience in public school, the thing that resonated most with me was my experience with school mentors. I had people to look up to outside of my family that changed the trajectory of my life. I had a troubled childhood and experienced a lot of trauma. Unfortunately, I had to process that trauma at school while trying to navigate a standardized educational system. I feel like my life had a dark trajectory. My counselor, art teacher, English teacher, and history teacher showed me a path. 

I shared my experience with Principle Robins, my contact at the school. We had a great conversation about the pedagogy and mission of Arnold Mireles Academy, which includes programming to help children process trauma in the classroom. Principle Robins plans events, such as a petting zoo, to allow kids to have healing experiences. For me, after growing up in the south, a petting zoo feels somewhat benign. However, for a child growing up on the south side, this might be their first interaction with an animal that’s not a pet. The excitement and curiosity of connecting with these animals can be healing for stress, fear, and anxiety. 

Arnold Mireles Academy recently launched a mentor/mentee program that pairs school faculty with students. I organized meetings with the faculty and students to come together, have their portraits made, and talk about mentorship. This body of work compares photographs of spaces within the school campus with diptych portraits of mentors & mentees. By pairing portraits together, we can see the young mentees occupying the same space as the older mentors. This direct comparison brings up ideas of time, generations, cycles of life, and the things we pass on to one another. I hope that this project inspires mentorship, dialogue, and healing.

The curriculum for the class is developed from Aperture Foundation’s On Sight program. The curriculum combines art, visual literacy, and technology lessons. Visual literacy depends upon students looking at images, freely talking about what they see, and learning vocabulary that allows them to talk about photographs comfortably. In every lesson, students are encouraged to inquire about visual elements. They have an open discussion about the subject matter and concept. Masterworks are shown side-by-side with student work to prompt discussion. 

Students are encouraged to explore their home, local community, and school from a lens-based perspective. The class openly discusses the students’ feelings, opinions, and perspectives about the world. Students learn how to use photography as a tool to empower their voice. Through a combination of technical instruction, critical thinking, and self-expression, students are encouraged to use photography as a tool to understand their lives and potential careers.