Louise Contino

I am a twenty-something American who travels the world to pursue projects that allow me to creatively combine two fields, art and geography.

Currently I am based in Kampala, Uganda until June 2014 to develop a participatory art project called Picturing Wanteete. Essentially I am teaching the basics of 35mm film photography to seventeen people from a rural village so that they can tell the story of their community's struggles and strengths through their own eyes. I also am creating environmental portaits of the Wanteete Photo Collective members. We will combine our work to create a multimedia exhibition in NYC this Fall.

This project is in collaboration with Spark MicroGrants, an international NGO leading the way in the East African bottom-up development movement, and an inspired Ugandan CBO, BESO. I have wandered halfway across the world to share this story with you because I believe in community empowerment and untold stories. Not to mention the thrill of a big adventure!