Opening Night of Raising Them Right

Amanda's sister and brother-in-law scrutinize her work.

One of our good friends, Amanda Van Scoyoc, spent most of 2008 in Boston, MA where she followed the lives of teen mothers in a lower-income section of the city.  We visited her while in Boston, and the experience stuck with me.  An artist of several media, Amanda has a unique talent with camera in hand.  Her project was to document the experience of teen motherhood through interviews and photography.  The result was a body of work and an experience that no doubt has affected her life, and has shed some light on the prevalence and problems with teen motherhood, an issue that is very relevant in North Carolina.

Tonight was the opening of her exhibit, Raising Them Right, where she presented all of the portraits taken of the mothers, their children, and sometimes their significant others.  It was great not only to support our friend (and Isaac’s godmother), but to see the work, printed large, hanging on the wall.  It was very satisfying to watch Amanda field questions from groupies after the panel discussion.  It was really neat to see someone doing something with her photography, to be doing something important with her talent, to be making her mark on the lives of others–not only is she Isaac’s godmother, she is also the godmother to one of the women she interviewed, photographed, and got to know over the course of her work with Roca.

Congratulations, Amanda, on the completion of your project–I realize it was actually done some time ago, but now you’ve received some public recognition from your work, and enjoyed being an “authority” on the subject!