Mass Humanities (MH): The title of your project is “Storytelling in the Digital Age.” Why did you want to explore that topic, especially with younger people?
Claudio Eshun (CE): Being an inner city kid, coming from a low income background, one of the first tools I used was a digital camera. You can reuse it. It’s accessible. I mean, it helped me see the world differently. I grew up through the lens. Now, I’m telling stories and helping others tell their stories.
We’re in a digital era with AI and social media. So, just as students consume content, another thing is showing them how to be producers of their content. I’m exposing them to that but also having them tell their true stories.
MH: What were some of the building blocks of the project?
CE: I’m exposing them to how to create a vertical through photography, for them to do this full time. Trying to let them know you can be an unstoppable force, but you need to have skill sets, not only how to make images through the camera, but also the post-production, the file management, the business side of it. In order to follow your dreams, you have to put in the work behind it.
MH: What was the experience like for the students? It was a tight-knit group of around seven students, right?
CE: There’s hope in the future with these kids. They’re very aware and attuned. They’re very expressive on the ground level. They’re not only thinking about themselves, but of others. They’re thinking about the community there. They’re thinking about more than themselves, which gives me hope for humanity.
MH: When it comes to the 250th, what were some of the themes that the students explored as a group? Individually?
CE: Definitely immigration. The current administration and what’s going on. The support of immigrants in their communities and nationally. One of them was more internal than others, one understanding themselves as a Black man in the world, and one being an only child, firstborn, and first generation to set the tone for the family.
Being able to express yourself, even if you were nervous, was very good to see. There’s strength in that, emotionally, and in sharing that. It was well received. And you can hear in the voice, but then also see it visually.
Someone else was focused on neighborhoods being torn down and remade, but also talking about the memories and the family being there, hoping that the memories can continue to be made and still have that homelike feeling after the renovations. Another student wanted a family tree, and they’re very connected with their mother and sister and how they visually displayed that was very clever.
MH: What value the humanities have as a tool for young people?
CE: I feel like you have to have a sense of people in a way where either you can share your ideas concisely or precisely, whichever way you want to share it. And also if you’re going to share your ideas, make sure you care about those ideas that you’re sharing out in the world. Because if you don’t care, others will see it and see right through you.
And then also, how you present yourself in the world. I always tell them to take up space, have a strong stance. Say it like you mean it. Say it with confidence. If you’re not feeling confident, you have to say it with, you know, some form of assertiveness, just so folks take you seriously.
Don’t do it for me. Do it for you and the people around you. I always have them try to think about more than themselves.
“There’s hope in the future with these kids.”
MH: You mentioned that you were raised in Worcester. What was it like working with a group of young people in the city you grew up in for much of your childhood?
CE: I felt great because I told them ten years from now, these are the people maybe you bond with, hang out with, or make work together with. Or ten years from now I’m attending one of their courses or classes just to see what they are up to. I told them we’re connected much longer than this program.
For me, it was venturing out of Worcester, but also making sure to come back. To have that balance between being successful outside of Worcester, but then also trying to bring that back into the city. I told them that I was being realistic, because sometimes it’s tough. There’s not as much support in Worcester. But I’m trying to find ways to make it feels like home and a community that wants to thrive.