Research point Photovoice

PROJECT THE DOCUMENTARY PROJECT

RESEARCH POINT

Research the current activities of Photovoice (www.photovoice.org) and also look into archive projects such as New Londoners: Reflections on Home.

Briefly reflect on the documentary value and visual qualities of the work that you research. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:107)

A current project is Care leavers in Focus (CLiF)

a 3-year project exploring the perspectives of those leaving care. Through workshops using photography and storytelling as a tool for self-expression, care leavers can reflect on what they need from support services and other providers. These insights are then shared with local authorities and organisations to improve their responses. Participants make captioned images with advocacy stories and images to share at exhibitions:

A message for other care experienced people: Your seat at the table might be upside down but you’re capable of turning it around. A message for policy makers: Sit us down, and listen. Don’t hinder opportunities for care experienced people.

Moving into my flat wasn’t easy but it wasn’t hard. It was a rocky road knowing you’re going to start a whole new journey all over again. Especially knowing myself in the big world we live in. Moving was the light at the end of the tunnel.

Friendships: Friends can have a really positive impact when you’re having a hard time but It’slonger in care and live independently, it can be really lonely. I feel I could be better supported to meet new people and form friendships so that I have that support network.

(PhotoVoice, 2008)

The visuals here are thought provoking and have punctum which causes you to stop and look for meaning, even without the text.

Looking through the archive projects I found that generally the overseas projects show less interesting photography than the UK projects; by interesting I mean unusual visual perspective or a more conceptual viewpoint.

And We Shall Find Tales in the Shadows” project in Jordan in 2014.

An exception for me is this project. Here Photo voice worked with a group of 14–20-year-old Syrian refugees and their host community in Jordan.

(PhotoVoice, 2008)

Their work shares insights into the way I which their childhood has been snatched from them and they believed that “politicians would help change things & that if people listened to what they had to say, that the world might change and they may be able to one day, return home.”

The New Londoners project (2006-8)

was a project with young refugees aged of 16 to 23, from over 10 countries as they settled and began to integrate into the UK. The aim was to help young people see themselves not as ‘New Londoners’ rather than refugees. This work shows more of a variety of quality and in the work, which is probably representational of the photographic work form across the projects:

(PhotoVoice, 2008)

This work is more of a mixture of quality, some being blurry and some well shot as well as some interesting representation of aspects they want to share.