Tonawanda PhotoVoice Exhibit Opens October 11th
Our community’s health doesn’t just depend on the choices we make as individuals, our health and well-being is affected by where we live, work and play. The Clean Air Coalition’s photography exhibit, Tonawanda Through Our Eyes captures the social and environmental determinants of health in Tonawanda.
The exhibition is the result of months of hard work by Tonawanda residents. The work began with a community mapping exercise where residents plotted where they lived, and identified locations that promote and harm public health. The group identified similarities and differences between each neighborhood. Residents then headed into their community to capture images of Tonawanda, both t
he good and the bad, that community members live day after day.
The exhibition will be used to educate the public about the connections between the environment and public health. It will also be used as a forum to call on elected officials to implement policies to reduce pollution in neighborhoods. Tonawanda Through Our Eyes is part of the Clean Air Coalition’s PhotoVoice Program, an innovative participatory photography and storytelling method that allows communities to represent themselves and crate tools for advocacy to achieve positive social change. PhotoVoice was initiated by the Coalition last year by residents on Buffalo’s West Side.
The gallery opening is Thursday, October 11th at 6PM at the Brighton Library, 999 Brighton Road Tonawanda. To RSVP call 852-3813 or email Danielle@cacwny.org.
The exhibition is sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency’s CARE Program, a broad based partnership to reduce toxins in Tonawanda.