EDUCATION

Rizzhel is currently a Lecturer at San Diego City College in their Film, Journalism and Media Production Department.

My name is Rizzhel Javier—please feel free to call me Rizz. I am an artist, educator, and arts administrator based in San Diego, CA. As a student leader in predominantly white spaces, the few teachers of color I encountered had a profound impact on my education and my understanding of leadership. I am interested in exploring the role of power and privilege in education, and how I can use my positionality to help create the equity and justice I did not experience as a student. As a woman of color, I have often struggled to use and trust my voice, largely because I lacked mentorship and safe spaces to develop it. During my academic career, I learned from three teachers of color, and their influence affirmed for me that representation would be central to my own work as an educator.

I use photography and new media as tools for learning, archiving, and storytelling. My artistic practice has helped me develop an educational model centered on art production, with a strong emphasis on process. My personal experiences push me to continually observe and respond to the evolving needs of my students, particularly as photography, art, and media continue to change. Through my own practice, I experiment with contemporary tools and materials to better understand their potential in the classroom and to create new opportunities for learning. I advocate for my students by listening to their needs and leveraging my position to expand access to resources and spaces for growth.

My teaching philosophy is deeply shaped by the gaps in my own education. While I teach visual literacy within a canon that has historically centered white, male perspectives, my goal is to create space within it for my students’ voices and experiences. Over the past 10 years, working across more than 20 programs, I have developed community-specific art curricula for a wide range of students, including youth in juvenile detention, unhoused teens, Syrian refugees, college-bound students in Barrio Logan, ESL learners, and LGBTQ+ adults. I have mentored over 100 students from diverse backgrounds who have gone on to attend four-year colleges in the arts, win film festival awards, become educators and exhibiting artists, and launch their own zines and small businesses.

BRIDGE

EDUCATION OUTSIDE THE BOX. Addressing the social and emotional needs of the community through a series of public engagement workshops, events and lectures. The mission is to bridge the gap between education and community through unique partnerships and grant funding to provide free or low-cost workshops. Events activate community dialogue on topics on identity, culture, representation through the exploration of art-making materials.

REEL VOICES

EMPOWERING YOUTH ONE FILM AT A TIME. Teaching media, culture and community to San Diego youth since 2005. A Pacific Arts Movement production whose mission is to empower local high school students to learn the art of documentary filmmaking. Students learn how to operate video cameras, editing programs and produce their own documentary film.

www.reelvoicesSD.org

THE AJA PROJECT

PHOTO EDUCATION CAN CHANGE LIVES. The AjA Project is a compassionate space for young people, activists, visual artists and educators to engage critically with issues that affect our community and realize our collective liberation through participatory storytelling and the documentary arts.

www.theajaproject.org