The photos are from West Seattle High School teacher Michelle Sloan, taken during an art project connecting them with other students across thousands of miles. She explains:

Students at West Seattle High School in drawing and painting class have just sent off 18 portraits of children from an orphanage in Pakistan.

An organization called the Memory Project teamed up with Ms. Sloan’s art class and her students to go to Pakistan, take photos of children, and send them to West Seattle High School for the drawing students to create carefully rendered drawings to send back to Pakistan.

This is what the Memory Project team said regarding working with the Pakistani children:

“We are passionate about breaking barriers and uniting youth from different cultures. One of our Pakistani partners says, When many people think of our country (Pakistan) they think of terrorism, but it’s not like that! We are a very warm and welcoming people who are eager for friendship and cannot wait to see the special portraits you create for the children” These children living in orphanages, who have so few things to call their own, will be thrilled to receive the portraits that your students create just for them—to feel the love and kindness from a foreign world through the universal language of art.”

We asked the teacher how she and her students connected with The Memory Project. She explained she first contacted them last year and her students did a similar project for students in Haiti.