Teenmom.ca: A Community Arts-Based New Media Empowerment Project for Teenage Mothers

Abstract

This article reports on a community activist arts-based media production research project. Project TEEN Mirrors Of Motherhood (M.O.M.), was designed by the authors, who are art educators and arts-based researchers, in collaboration with Elizabeth House, a Montreal community organization dedicated to meeting the needs of pregnant teenagers and young mothers. The purpose of the research was to examine how media production, offered in the context of a community organization, can empower teenage girls in difficult circumstances to share their views, to participate in community or policy discussions that affect them, and to define and solve some of the many challenges they face. Using digital photography, art, and video, the young mothers explored ways to re-frame, re-present, and discuss their own understanding of issues in their lives as well as re-consider their options. To disseminate their messages, the project produced an exhibit, a film screening, and a website, www.teenmom.ca. (See Figure 1.)