Youth Action Coalition (YAC) and GirlsEyeView (GEV) invite the community to attend the GirlsEyeView 10th Anniversary Photography Exhibit. The event will be held at the Burnett Gallery at the Jones Library in Amherst, where young women from the group will get the chance to share with the community their unique and expressive photos during the month of October. The reception will coincide with the Amherst Art Walk, with refreshments, conversation with the artists and an opportunity to purchase photographs and make a donation to this powerful program.

Youth Action Coalition (YAC) is a non-profit community organization based in Amherst. YAC promotes youth empowerment through creative expression, leadership development and community engagement. GirlsEyeView is a program of YAC with a focus on promoting self esteem and self expression through photography and creative writing. GirlsEyeView is comprised of 7th and 8th graders from Amherst Regional Middle School. In the safe space of an all-girl group, participants tackle issues that matter to them while also learning about black and white manual photography, from shooting and developing film to enlarging prints.

The showcase will host numerous images that the girls created on their own, that deal with issues of importance to them. All the pictures were created with the skills they have developed during their time in the group. Also on display will be images created by Girls Eye View alumnae from the past decade.

Now that the group is entering its 10th year of existence in Amherst we’d like everyone to join us in celebrating all that this wonderful group has done for these middle school girls over the past decade, while enjoying the wonderful works of art that are both expressive and creative. Member Marietta of the 7th grade expresses her excitement stating that “It’s really cool that I can be in the 10th anniversary showing and I hope it’s around for another 10 years.”