Building trust and planting seeds with the young photographers of Bastogi

Situated on Rome’s northwestern edge and almost solely known for its social deprivation, the former Bastogi residence was only ever supposed to be a short-term solution to a temporary housing shortage problem. But today, some forty years on, it is a neglected housing estate and home to around 2,000 people – including many children. 

Employment is low, ill-health is high and the young rarely have the opportunity to see what life could look like outside of their community. And this is where the charity AMICI DEI BIMBI ETS has stepped in. They work with the local community committee to deliver study support to students of all ages in what is commonly called ‘former Bastogi’. While their chief aim is to reduce school dropout numbers, they also want young people to discover new ways of expressing themselves.

And they have found the perfect partner in Canon Italy, who has been bringing the creativity of our Young People Programme (CYPP) to students for a decade. They sought an organisation known for building long-term, trusting relationships with young communities for many months at a time. But in Canon Italy’s CYPP they found a team which could not only bring the technical skills of photography to the youngsters of former Bastogi, but introduce new ways of working together, new concepts, new knowledge of the world and – so importantly – new potential career horizons.

But it’s not always an easy ask, as fashion photographer, Erica Fava, discovered when she entered the classroom for the first time. Canon Italy felt that her no-nonsense teaching style was ideal and approached her specifically to deliver lessons with the CYPP in former Bastogi. But, as she recalls, “the typical response when I approached them was ‘why should I care? They’re not used to being listened to, they get little support from their families and don’t attend school consistently. They just pass time on their phones.” However, Erica is made of strong stuff, and these early rebuffs didn’t deter her in the slightest. If anything, they made her even more determined to gain the trust of these young people and show them a new way of looking at the world.

Trust.

Imagine how hard it might be to trust anyone, especially adults, if you come from a background where grown-ups are perhaps not present. Or reliable. Or even safe. This is why Erica needed to establish trust right at the very beginning and it may come as a surprise to learn the role that cameras played in this. She told the students that they could borrow them. That she had faith in their ability to look after them and return them. It seems like a simple act, but it showed the strength of her – and our – faith in these young people. And it built a really important bond that was to continue for eight months.

Officially, she was to teach for two hours a week, but this often ran over because she discovered that the only way to keep the students’ attention was to head out of the classroom and learn in the park. She also introduced them to Canon Ambassador Chiara Negrello, psychotherapist and photographer, Elena Russo, and photographer, Lucrezia Carnevale, who reinforced Erica’s teaching and messages with their own.

Even the very smallest children – some as young as four – began by simply ‘playing’ with the camera, working out what it could and couldn’t do, before the keenest went on to learn in more technical depth. “I expected more difficulties, but even the youngest students found the DSLRs more intuitive than the compact cameras.”

Over time, Erica had her ‘regulars’, students who returned week after week and in whom she noticed a gradual change. “Their perspectives shifted a little,” she notes. “They started mentioning more creative careers.” That sense of trust and the bond she had been so keen to build also showed itself in the way that some students began to let their guard down. “As I got to know them, they began opening up to me and some of their stories touched me deeply. Especially when they share something that would sound terrible to anyone else, but they tell it lightly, as if it were completely normal.”

Their images, too, were not the “hard and heavy” studies that she expected. “Instead, they focused on small details – a flower, a jar of Nutella, a backpack.” They took many portraits of each other, playing in former Bastogi. Or taking part in other activities with AMICI DEI BIMBI ETS, such as kickboxing. Together they paint a picture of the residence previously unseen and, as Erica says, they do so lightly. Perhaps not realising the power of the story they are telling.

At the end of the programme, the students had a rare chance to leave Bastogi for an exhibition of this work at the MAXXI Museum – the National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome – an event completely unlike anything they had ever experienced. “Once again, we have seen how the Canon Young People Programme is about so much more than photography,” explains Paolo Tedeschi, Head of Corporate, Marketing & Sustainability Communication at Canon Italy. “It’s about curiosity, discovery and new possibilities. The time we have spent with these incredible students has been inspiring in so many ways – and we have learnt so much from them, which we are privileged to take with us and can pass on to our future learners. We are so grateful to the young people of former Bastogi for sharing their lives and creativity with us and for the very special time we have spent together.”

Erica too firmly believes that the Canon Young People Programme “planted a seed” for the young photographers. “I hope they can see their future as not predetermined but shaped by these experiences,” she adds. “And that they always remember the time we spent playing and learning together.”

Learn more about the Canon Young People Programme.