Exhibition Photostories

Welcome to the Look Out Loud virtual photo exhibition! Here we are featuring the photostories created by eight young women studying at the LISI School in San Juan la Laguna, Solola, Guatemala.  We hope you enjoy seeing the incredible work that these participants have shared with us! 

We'd love to hear what you think about these photostories! Feel free to share your thoughts with us and our participants by commenting on our Facebook page or tweet @LookOutLoud !!!

And as always, the more people who see these stories the better, so "share" away! 

* Click on the photographs to enlarge them
**Click on each participant's name to see her full gallery

Graciela

I live in Santa Clara, Solola. The women work and sell fruits and vegetables at the market to make money. 

This is a little kitten. She was born with 5 other brothers and sisters. In our native language, Tzutujil, she is called "mish".

The women carry all different things in baskets on their head. Sometimes they carry food. Sometimes they carry things that they sell, like textiles. 

This is in San Juan, la Laguna, where I attend high school. The old people like to sit in the square and talk. In San Juan, there are lots of murals painted on all of the walls. 

This is my sister. She is wearing our traditional clothing. Most of the Mayan women around the lake still wear what we call "corte". 

Elsa

My father is a fisherman. He is a good worker and fishing is good work. He works all day. My mom also works. When my dad brings back the fish. my mother sells them. They did not go to school. My mother only went to school until she ws 8 years old. She can read, but my father cannot. 

I have 6 siblings. Together, we are 5 daughters and 2 sons. Six of us are studying in school but the youngest is only 2 years old. My siblings are all very fun and are always playing. I am 18 years old and for the younger siblings it will be much easier to pay for school because when I graduate I can help pay for their education. 

This is my sister, Cecilia. She is 5 years old. She is wearing a blouse called a "hupil" from Solola. The blouses from San Pablo are very special. Each village has their own style of traditional traje. The women make the blouses to make money for their families. 

This is my youngest sister. She is 2 years old and is always playing. My mom and dad take turns caring for the children. 

This is my cousin Diego. His house is right in front of my house. He only has 2 brothers. He is studying in 3rd grade. My entire family lives in San Pablo la Laguna with me. 

Dora

This is a fun picture of my cousin. There is a fence that surrounds her house for security. 

Weaving is a very important part of our culture. Usually we do back-strap weaving. but this is a different type. 

This is my brother. He is standing outside near our home. The young boys do not wear our traditional clothing anymore. 

Many men are tuk-tuk drivers in our town. It costs 5Q ($0.62) to get from one town to the next. Maybe this boy will be a driver when he grows up. 

All of the kids love drinking Pepsi. Even the babies drink it out of their bottles. 

Ceci and MAlena

This is the view from Malena's home. The Mayans live high up on the hill and the tourism occurs down by the lake. There is a lot of separation. We have electricity in almost all places now. 

The park in San Pedro is where the people do all different activities such as walking around and chatting with friends when they have nothing else to do. San Pedro has a lot of tourism due to the volcano and the different places for tourists such as bars and restaurants and stores. There is also an ecological reserve. The positive effect of tourism is that it helps with the economy of all of the families. The negative effects are that lots of the tourists do drugs and are bad influences. The boys are the most affected by these things. 

This is Saint Paul. Malena is catholic and Ceci is protestant. Many families visit and also have statues in their homes. We also have the ancient Mayan religions but they are not practiced as much anymore. Most people are Christians of some type.

Helenne

The people work hard everyday either in town or in the fields. There are many vendors who sell fruits and vegetables on the street. 

These are the yarn that they make the textile weavings with. In San Juan it is very common to do weaving. In San Pedro it is also common. My mother-in-law knows how to weave.   

This is my father-in-law at his farm near the lake. They cultivate cabbage, herbs, and other vegetables. They sell them in the market. My husband does not work with his father. He drives a tuk-tuk. We have been married for 2 years. 

This is my mother-in-law, Albertina. She is a vendor for a living. I live with my in-laws now. I named my daughter after her. 
 

This is my daughter. Her name is Albertina. She is 2 yeras old and is very fun. She is also mischievous sometimes. Here she is eating ice cream in a bag.  It is very difficult to care for her and also complete my studies. My mother or my sister-in-law cares for her when I am at school. I want to have more children later because I am only 21 now.