A FEW
OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS
a photovoice
exhibition by mothers from the Supported Learning Project
What Is Photovoice?
Photovoice uses photography as a means
of accessing other people's worlds and making those worlds accessible
to others.
It involves giving
people cameras and using the pictures they take to stimulate
a process of storytelling through which meaning is given to the
images by relating them to lived experience.
Photovoice puts
people in charge of how they represent themselves and how they
depict their lives.
Photovoice is all
about point-of-viewness: it sets out to capture and convey the
point of view of the person holding the camera. Photovoice invites
us to look at the world through the same lens as the photographer
and to share the story the picture holds for the person who clicked
the shutter.
The
Supported Learning Project
The Supported
Learning Project provided personal support and development
in self-advocacy to mothers with learning difficulties.
Why
Photovoice?
Photovoice offered
a new way of engaging with mothers in the Supported Learning
Project; one that enabled the mothers to define themselves in
terms of the things they most valued in their lives.
Photovoice as a
method elevates the mothers to the status of experts in the analysis
of their own lives instead of merely making their lives available
for analysis by an 'expert'.
Photovoice fitted
the self-advocacy aims of the Supported Learning Project by giving
priority to the mothers' views of what was most important to
them while, at the same time, challenging prejudicial views of
them as different mums.
Who
Took Part?
Sixteen mothers
volunteered to take part in the project. All were given a Kodak
disposable camera loaded with a 39-exposure colour film. Some
had never owned or used a camera before. Thirteen mothers returned
their films for developing. Of the remainder, one mother had
her photos developed herself but chose not to show them to anyone;
one said her camera had got broken but declined the offer of
a replacement; and one did not return to the group after taking
the camera.
Practicalities
All the mothers
were asked to photograph people, places and things that 'are
important to you'. No other guidance was given.
When they returned
their film for developing, each mother was asked if a duplicate
copy could be processed: one for them to keep and one for the
project. No-one refused.
The mothers were
given an opportunity to look through their photos on their own
first and to remove any that they did not wish anyone else to
see. The majority of mothers censored one or two (often snaps
that had not turned out well or, for some reason, photographs
of their partners).
Each mother's album
was discussed with her individually: to listen to the stories
behind the photographs, to learn why these particular shots had
been taken and to understand the significance they had for her.
The mothers were also invited to share their photographs with
the group as a basis for getting to know each other better and
learning more about the shared concerns and common threads that
characterised their lives.
Problems
The project took
longer than anticipated. The mothers set out with tremendous
enthusiasm fully expecting to return their films for developing
within a week or two. In the event, it was six months before
some of them finished their film. It now seems clear, with hindsight,
that 39 exposures are too many (certainly for this group of people).
The mothers found it difficult to use up the film quickly so
put the camera aside and then kept forgetting to go back to it
without regular prompting.
Once the films had
been developed, a Wednesday meeting of the Supported Learning
Project was set aside to share and discuss everyone's photographs.
The meeting was flagged well in advance. All mothers who had
taken part in the project were also sent personal letters reminding
them of the event and encouraging them to attend. On the day,
only 6 of the 13 mothers showed up. Having got their own photos,
and having talked about them one-to-one with the project facilitator,
many seemed not to have enough interest in viewing other people's
snaps to give time to the task.
The most serious
problem might perhaps have been foreseen. With this website in
mind, the mothers were asked if they would be willing to have
a selection of their chosen photographs posted on the Internet.
They declined. Whilst perfectly willing to show all their photographs
to other mothers and workers in the Supported Learning Project,
they did not wish to open up their lives to the scrutiny of strangers
or unknown others. A melange of unvoiced reasons lurks behind
this preference but a common link is the desire to avoid the
limelight.
There is no copyright
issue here. Ownership of the photographs was explicitly shared
between the mothers and the project through the tangible device
of producing duplicate copies. But there is an issue of good
faith. The project operated on the fundamental principle that
mothers' interests and wishes always came first. This non-negotiable
commitment has been honoured in putting together the photovoice
gallery: the mothers' anonymity has been the top priority.
Pseudonyms have been used. Only photographs without people in
them or without any identifiable link back to the mothers and
their families have been used. False trails have been laid where
necessary to break the connection between image and identity.
The result is less
intimate than it might have been had we been allowed to draw
on the full library of images the project produced. Even so,
the photovoice gallery still presents a visual challenge to the
stamp of otherness so often affixed to mothers with learning
difficulties.
A fuller discussion
of the photovoice project and a detailed analysis of the results
can be found in T. Booth and W. Booth, 'In
the frame: photovoice and mothers with learning difficulties',
Disability and Society, 18(4), June, 2003, pp. 431-442.
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