Walking through the glass doors of the ASU Anthropology Museum, the matted frames on the wall showcase an array of photographs of everything from candy in vending machines to beat-up cars and neighborhood graffiti.

All of the images were taken by Phoenix fifth- and sixth-graders as part of the South Phoenix Photovoice project. The images depict the students’ perspectives of health and well-being in the community.

The Photovoice project is designed to discuss the increasing problem of childhood obesity and allow students to speak through photography.

The photography exhibit opened this week at ASU’s Tempe campus and will run through March 12.

Seline Szkupinski Quiroga, project co-director and medical anthropologist at ASU, said issues of childhood obesity are often expected to be solved by food preparers and school officials, rather than the students.

“I wanted to make the students feel empowered that they would have things to say and adults would be paying attention,” she said. “I also wanted to do the project as a class, with a photographer, so at the end of it they would have some sort of skill.”

The photographer brought in for the program was ASU graduate Andrew Hammerand.

Hammerand graduated in May with a fine arts degree and was teaching community photo classes at ASU when he was approached to be the instructor for the course.

In the classes, Hammerand taught the children the basics of using a digital camera, how to be aware of their surroundings and to see the world in photographs.

“As much as I was there for the technical aspect, I was there to guide them,” he said. “It was more than just clicking the button and hitting the shutter.”

April Bojorquez, a sociocultural anthropology graduate student, also worked on the project. Bojorquez said she has experience working with the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and interacting with students, so the project was a great opportunity.

“[The project] is really going to show the potential of the program and give voice to the students involved,” she said.

The program has a community partnership with the South Mountain Salvation Army, an institute regularly involved with children-enrichment programs.

It was funded by the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Health Services, ASU and the Salvation Army Phoenix South Mountain Corps Community Center.

The students involved in the 12-week program had weekly assignments based on what they learned in class. Exercises ranged from bringing in photographs of everything they had eaten that week to taking pictures of their perspective on healthy eating.

In the beginning, the students focused on individual factors like not only eating fast food, Quiroga said, but as the program progressed and discussion took place, the students started thinking in terms of the community.

“A turning point for me was when the kids took a picture of a car and they said, ‘this car is healthy,’” Quiroga said. “It was just a car, but the car was good since you can drive to get food.”

In South Phoenix communities, many of the students don’t feel safe traveling by foot, and illustrated health in the terms of a car, which they see as a safe place, she said.

Hammerand said he was impressed by the higher learning the students demonstrated.

“Seeing them propel toward the world of art and photography — and really a higher appreciation for art — was great,” he said.

Collaborators in the project said they hope the project will lead to continuing funding for art and academic enrichment programs in South Phoenix.

“I love the idea of using arts to get people to articulate their ideas,” Quiroga said. “I would love to partner with theater or dance and do more work of this kind.”

These students grow up more quickly than people who might not have lived in South Phoenix and deal with situations that force them to mature more quickly, Hammerand said.

“It really is a good thing when the community comes together to give opportunities to the students,” he said.

Reach the reporter at amoswalt@asu.edu