L.O.V.E. Works!: Photojournalism by the Leave Out ViolencE Teens

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher-librarian in Winnipeg,
Manitoba.

Leave Out ViolencE Teens is a Montreal organization that helps young
people reject violence. “We had watched youth violence proliferate at
an alarming degree,” says its founder, “and we recognized that if we
didn’t deal with the root cause of this problem there would be many
more victims. We created projects that grew and began to have an amazing
effect for the good.” The project, L.O.V.E Works!, records through
photographs, stories, poetry, lyrics, and prose the feelings of young
people (ages 14 to 18) who are anxious “to inform people that violence
never was, never is and never will be the solution.”

The book is organized into four sections. In the first section,
“Welcome to L.OV.E,” a photograph of a lone person overlooking a
city is accompanied by the caption: “I’ve seen people dying ...
dying away from my heart.” “Brace Yourself” explores random and
shocking violence, poverty, racism, families, drug addiction, death,
betrayal, and gangs. “Shattered Dreams” repeats many of these
themes, emphasizing the fear, loneliness, lovelessness, and hopelessness
captured by the cry “I am lost in this forsakeable, lonely and
distraught world!” The final section, “I Can’t Wait for It to
Shine,” opens with a photograph of a young girl sitting at a table
doing homework. A beam of sunlight brightens the dark room, and the
caption (“Peace and love may be dead, but there is always hope”)
reflects the section’s focus on love, hope, friendship, recovery, and
support.

As first-hand testimony to the destructive power of violence, L.O.V.E.
Works! is a powerful collection. The fact that it expresses its
antiviolence message through graphic language and sometimes raw and
shocking images makes it suitable for mature adolescent readers only.
Recommended.