The following is a reflection from Divy Bhagia, a facilitator with Sauhard, an nonprofit in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Sauhard facilitated a portion of the 2019 Leadership Collective.

This year, 360Plus collaborated with Sauhard, to host a part of the Leadership Collective. Thirty nine learners from nine different countries experienced a journey of ten days to explore different lenses of Youth Citizenship. They learnt from each other as well as the young people they met in India, to understand the issues faced by the current youth. While discussing these issues, they developed a toolkit which will provide them with mediums to become active citizens and change the world.

One of the most important tools that they encountered during their adventure was photography. It is the simplest means of visual storytelling. It is the stories of other people that help us better understand our own feelings and emotions. It is a photograph which can invoke a deep emotion in a person by the message it portrays. But our tradition of photography, which originated from cave paintings during the stone age, to digital photographs in the current era, is diminishing. The current trend of selfies is trying to eradicate the essence of photography; the art of capturing stories, ideas, visions and feelings.

During the process of learning, we encouraged the students to use photography as their tool through which they can express their thoughts about Ahmedabad. In the nine days, they clicked many photographs, all being perceived differently. At the end of their learning, Sauhard organized an exhibition where every student chose a picture from their collection, which best described their views on Ahmedabad, and their learnings. The exhibition was a collection of 39 beautiful photographs with very unique perceptions towards Ahmedabad.

You can see more of the learner photography on our Facebook page.