Nancie Eichengreen-Reyes: Los Niños de Lima

December 1, 2003 – January 7, 2004
New York Public Library – Fordham Center Branch
2556 Bainbridge Avenue
Bronx, NY 10459

Nancie Eichengreen-Reyes documents the plight of street children in Lima, Peru. Motivated and inspired by a PBS documentary and the desire to make a difference, Reyes traveled to Peru in 2001 to photograph the grassroots efforts of local nonprofits that help educate and care for abandoned and homeless children.

She hopes her work may serve as a vehicle for social change, bringing attention to the serious conditions facing street children in urban areas. Reyes states: “Living in the land of plenty, we often come to accept that ‘underdeveloped countries’ are just doomed to suffer and that some token of charity is enough. Indeed, our hearts are hardened and the faces of so many victims of poverty become statistics. Yet I felt that our foreign policy was responsible for the poverty and unending problems facing third world countries, especially in Central and South America. So, I am determined to bring attention to a problem that is serious and important in scope.”

Eichengreen-Reyes was born and raised in New York City, and is of a Latino/European heritage. From early on, the visual arts have been a part of her life and she has pursued those aspirations in higher education. She received a masters degree in television management in 1997 and a bachelor’s degree in 1995 in television production from Brooklyn College/CUNY. In this field her work experience includes assisting with production of MTV News Unfiltered, A&E; Biographies and CBS Eye on the People. She is the recipient of the Janie Moore Green Award, the Connor Award and the Albert P. D’Andrea Award. She is currently studying photography at City College/CUNY, and has had her work exhibited at Compton Gallery in New York City and Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois.