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Explanation of why I ended up doing my own assignment:
I really wanted to get an example of a shadow poster up on the site, since it's hard to explain. So I walked over to this state-run girl's home near my house; I went with my friend Emma Hedditch who is visiting from London. I often go over to this place to do video projects with the girls there, if they have the inclination, which often they don't. The plan was to assign the girls to make posters of the shadows in their home, a shadowy place they are restricted to until they are seventeen. When we got there the Girl Empowerment people were there, a team of women who I good-heartedly think of as my enemies. They had beat us to the punch and had the girls making collages from cut-up magazines that were supposed to reflect how they felt about themselves. No offense but this is the opposite of the shadow poster because no matter how hard you try, your collage will look like shit because it is made of shit magazines. It is the illusion of freedom. The shadow poster automatically looks good but it's harder to believe it will because it's so simple. It seemed really important to provide a counter-balance to the magazine collages, so Emma and I sat with the girls, cutting out shadows while they cut up these magazines. The Girl Empowerment people would call out things like: If you had a magazine, what would you put in it? Or, Does anyone want the word "survivor" -- and no one would ever respond. "Vin Diesel" was shouted occasionally. One girl was cutting out the word cleavage and a Girl Empowerment person said: Remember, this is supposed to reflect you. (Ouch.) But the girl replied: I know. I'm really busty for my age. When Emma and I were done we showed them our poster: It's of all the shadows in this room. And one girl, Misty, says: You came all the way over here to do that? We said yes. The shadows are of things like the curtain, the lamp cord, the plant.
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