Fort Myers photo exhibit to benefit injured FGCU professor

PHOTO COURTESY CHIP HOFFMAN A shoe shine boy in Santiago, Dominican Republic in May 2007. A photo exhibit of the street children of the Dominican Republic by photographer Chip Hoffman intends to raise funds to benefit FGCU professor Ingrid Martinez-Rico who was seriously injured in an automobile accident.

Arts for ACT gallery in historic downtown Fort Myers will host the sale and exhibition of documentary photography taken during Martinez-Rico's service learning project to Santiago, Dominican Republic, in March 2007. The exhibit opening and reception takes place on Friday, July 18, from 7-9 p.m. The gallery is located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers.

Martinez-Rico and her husband Craig Heller have organized spring break service learning trips with FGCU students and faculty to the Dominican Republic for the last eight years. The purpose of the trip is to work with underprivileged children. The group spends nine days each March working with Accion Callejera, a Dominican non-profit organization that provides services to children who work and live in the streets. Some 436,000 children there are economically active and the International Labor Organization estimates that 80 percent are engaged in work that puts them at physical, psychological, or developmental risk.

Hoffman joined the FGCU group on the 2007 trip, in an effort to introduce photography to the community's children, while documenting the experience. Hoffman's photos portraying the conditions and surroundings in which these children live comprise the exhibit.

On her way to work at FGCU on the morning of Feb. 5, Martinez-Rico was severely injured in an automobile accident. She is currently undergoing intensive neurological rehabilitation. This project is an effort by her friends and family to alleviate some of the financial burden associated with this tragic event. A portion of all photographic sales will go to a fund established for Martinez- Rico. Contributions may also be made independent of purchases.

Hoffman's photography will be on display and available for purchase from July 18-30. Arts for ACT is reducing its usual fee for this special two-week engagement. Arts for ACT is owned and operated by Abuse Counseling and Treatment, Inc., the domestic violence and sexual assault center serving Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties.