Visual Diaries: Alter Egos

Rejoining us for her third year, Jonna facilitated the creative and provocative Visual Diaries Session for rising sixth and seventh graders. Weaving together activities that introduced essential photographic concepts, cyanotype printing, reflective writing, and polaroid photography, the project culminated in an exploration of inner selves through the Alter Ego project.

An Exploration of Identity & Place

Documentary Filmmaker and Photographer Jonna McKone truly began honing her documentary work in 2012 in Duke University’s MFA in experimental and documentary arts. She has been working with youth for years, most notably with Radio Rookies, a youth media collaborative with WNYC public radio. White there she worked in collaboration with four nontraditional high school students. Jonna produced long-form radio documentaries that explored the intimate, interpersonal lives of her students; from attempts to establish relationships with estranged parents to navigating the carceral system and its impact on our families and communities.

Jonna’s work remains imbued with thoughtfulness and careful questioning. She brings this approach with her to PAGE’s summer programming and embeds the practice of careful consideration in her curriculum. Her work, both with our students and beyond, often focuses on the intersections of physical space and personal growth.

Facilitating deep reflection around the Appalachian landscape and its personal and cultural implications is at the forefront of Jonna’s Visual Diary Project. Beyond tangible deliverables, Jonna’s work intends to facilitate contemplation around the multiple intersecting identities we all carry with us.

Alter Egos integrated conceptual writing in the students' visual diaries and accompanied handmade papier mache masks the girls built and decorated. Combining the photographic skills and narrative skills they developed through the three weeks of programming, students created self-portraits and peer portraits.