Kara LaFleur

Kara will document the community youth program Work To Ride during the summer of 2008 using a Holga camera and culminating in an exhibition at the University City Arts League in Winter 2009. Work To Ride is a program for at risk and urban youth located in the Belmont Plateau section of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. Founded in 1994 by Lezlie Hiner, Work To Ride started as a refuge for kids who were willing to put in a little work to get off the streets of West Philly.

After volunteering with Work To Ride, Kara began to photograph informally around the barn, with what the kids affectionately coined her "dollar camera". Using this plastic camera uniquely conveys the underlying sociopolitical implications of class and race inherent within this program, from which a deeply touching narrative of impoverished youth and unparalleled opportunity arises. The images contained within Kara's project will seek to explore the very heart and soul of the events during the 2008 equestrian season.