Eleventh International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Participatory photography projects engage a shared authorship model which aims for visual plurality within a body of work, often with the desired outcomes of elevating voices to invoke social understanding and change for an underrepresented group. This multiplicity of voices is one which challenges constructed stability around image creation, evolving a process which is highly negotiated, fluid and often unstable. This paper explores the co-designed, jointly captured and co-curated exhibition of photographs undertaken with residents of an aged care facility in Brisbane, Australia. Whilst the residents were never behind a camera itself, a process of negotiation between the researcher and the residents challenged hierarchical assumptions whilst at the same time requiring a constant negotiating and renegotiating of decisions around what to photograph, how to photograph, who to photograph, what to include, what not to include and so forth. The residents used images to examine narratives of identity, memory, life stories and time, drawing upon their collective experiences within the facility as well as their individual life experiences to create a body of images for display to peers, families and caregivers. This paper explores a methodology through which participatory art projects can be understood as themselves sites of discovery and understanding in addition to being agents of change, allowing participants to have transformative experiences within their daily lives.