PHOTOVOICE
Participatory visual methods endeavor to confront the barriers between scholars and research subjects by disrupting hierarchical practice. They aim to empower and give voice to research subjects who may hitherto have been unseen and unheard in mainstream inquiry.
Photovoice is a method where photos taken by participants are subsequently used to elicit narratives and meaning through group dialogue. This practice gives the community agency to articulate their situated experiences and elaborate
on their lived worlds.
Photovoice often culminates in a community exhibition of photos and narratives that presents participants’ experiences and provides a forum for further discussion, between community audiences, artist-participants, and researchers.
The researcher–subject asymmetry will always be present to some degree, but this participatory method goes some way towards addressing this imbalance and giving voice to previously disempowered groups through an embodied and situated methodology.
For more information, see:
Photo: "A Girl Takes Photos" by Dick Thomas Johnson, licensed under CC BY 2.0
Participatory visual methods endeavor to confront the barriers between scholars and research subjects by disrupting hierarchical practice. They aim to empower and give voice to research subjects who may hitherto have been unseen and unheard in mainstream inquiry.
Photovoice is a method where photos taken by participants are subsequently used to elicit narratives and meaning through group dialogue. This practice gives the community agency to articulate their situated experiences and elaborate
on their lived worlds.
Photovoice often culminates in a community exhibition of photos and narratives that presents participants’ experiences and provides a forum for further discussion, between community audiences, artist-participants, and researchers.
The researcher–subject asymmetry will always be present to some degree, but this participatory method goes some way towards addressing this imbalance and giving voice to previously disempowered groups through an embodied and situated methodology.
For more information, see:
- Photovoice.org
- Sutton-Brown, C.A., 2014. Photovoice: A methodological guide. Photography and Culture, 7 (2), pp.169-185
Photo: "A Girl Takes Photos" by Dick Thomas Johnson, licensed under CC BY 2.0
