Introduction
Good social work is built upon the strength of relationships and alliances with the people and communities we support through our work. We remember their stories, sometimes years after forgetting their names. Why then would we want to look at photographs? According to Vissers (2017, para. 11), âLooking at photographs kickstarts processes related to sensing, thinking, feeling and experiencingâ. Writing about the political practice of community photography, and drawing parallels with Paulo Freire âs critical consciousness raising, the late Jo Spence laments the âprofessionalismâ of commercial photography, suggesting an alternativeâcommunity action through radical photography practice. Of photography in the community space, Spence wrote:
Here photography can be explained to and used by lay people. This is done by starting with simple cameras or video, and then gradually working through to the more technically advanced equipment, linked to darkroom and printing skills. This puts photography into the hands of a lot of people who will eventually be able to dispense with the experts. The move has provoked some reaction from those who have fought for years to gain photography the status of a profession, elevating it out of the grasp of the majority of people. Such policy is entirely in keeping with our hierarchical class society. The middle class mystifies and refines knowledge; at the same time, it manages to rationalise its activity by convincing us that this is all in the interests of progress and economic growth. Photography as a tool is far removed from such attitudes because it negates elitism. (Spence, 1995a, p. 5)
Through her commitment to exploring class and gender oppression through photography, Spenceâs work demonstrated the power of placing a camera in the hands of âordinaryâ people as a political tool which can be used to challenge stereotypes, for self-expression and to build solidarity with others. It is upon this premise that the power of Photovoiceâthe use of participant created data in the form of photographs and accompanying narrativesâhas evolved. Photovoice can be a powerful tool to support people in sharing their experiences. This power is evident in how the combination of words and pictures destabilises the primary way that information is transmitted to convey complex ideas in memorable ways.
Whereas quantitative research methods are important in answering the question of âhow manyâ, qualitative research seeks an answer to the âwhyâ. Qualitative research methodologies draw upon a broad range of methods from one on one approaches like narrative inquiry (Chase, 2011) to feminist group approaches like Frigga Haugâs memory work (1987). Qualitative methods can be extended imaginatively by making use of arts-based approaches like dance, theatre, painting, creative writing, poetry, music, oral history and photography (Leavy, 2015).
Photovoice is a qualitative, community -based, participatory action research (PAR) method that employs participant created photography to highlight the experiences and insights of (often excluded or marginalised) people. What makes Photovoice transformative is that it is a research method where participants enjoy and learn from participating and have a sense of ownership over the knowledge they create. Although advances in technology have meant that having access to a camera is not an elite privilege anymore, the use of photography is fundamentally democratic because it does not require a lot of training or skill. One of the significant benefits of using Photovoice is that the data produced is likely to engage people outside of academia, people who would otherwise be unlikely to connect with academic research findings.
My Research
In my Photovoice research project, Radically Rethinking Imprisonment (Jarldorn, 2018), I set out wanting to learn from former prisoners about their post-release experiences. This built upon the work I did post-graduation in a gambling support programme run by an NGO that supported people who had come into contact with the criminal justice system. In that work, I soon learned that recidivism is a huge driver of the rising prison population. Recidivism is defined as committing a further crime after being caught and punished for a previous offence measured as a return to custody by a former prisoner. Breaches of parole significantly contribute to recidivism rates. In Australia, close to half of all people currently in prison have previously served a custodial sentence, with many people returning to prison within two years of release (ABS, 2017).
As I began the research, I found that much of the existing research with former prisoners, tended to focus almost exclusively on individualising deficits and was presented in ways that positioned participants as objects of research. Rarely did research seek to tap into former prisonersâ unique expertise brought about by their lived experiences. As a feminist social worker, I wanted to ensure that my research was grounded in the principles of social justice and creating social change. Being an âoutsiderâ, in that I have never served a prison sentence, meant that to do so, the research needed to be driven by participants, as I would not have known the right questions to ask. As privileged outsiders, what we might think a group of people want and need, may not be important to them at all (see, for example, Wadsworth, 2011).1 No matter how well-intentioned, without collaborating in truly participatory ways, we run the risk of (re)producing oppressive research.
Because social work is a human rights profession (AASW, 2010), social workers should be acutely aware of practising from a human rights perspective, including when we undertake research. Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states that being able to âseek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiersâ (United Nations, 1948) is a human right, yet is something rarely afforded to people with a criminal record, even after they complete custodial sentences. As I will argue in Chapter 2, Photovoice is a method that grounded in human rights.
Arts-based, PAR methods such as Photovoice are valuable mechanisms for facilitating engagement with people and communities and can bring benefits to participants, their communities and the researcher (Jarldorn, 2016a). PAR methods value diversity, are a collaborative process of action, reflection and adaptability which seek community solutions to community issues (Brydon-Miller, Kral, Maguire, Noffke, & Sabhlok, 2011, p. 387). PAR values stories because, as bell hooks (2010, pp. 55â56) explains, diverse personal stories can be âpowerful educatorsâ and are as valuable as âfactual informationâ.
This book is designed to be a practical resource for social workers and community groups contemplating or seeking participatory methods to bring their community together, to strengthen existing community relationships, to inform policy and to advocate for social change. I have provided links to freely available useful resources throughout this book to ensure that the method and ideas presented are accessible. Although focusing specifically on Photovoice, the principles and theoretical underpinnings of action research found throughout this book apply broadly to other arts-based and community-driven research. The information throughout is offered in ways which are intended to be practical, theoretically informed and grounded in the principles of PAR, building upon the lessons I continue to learn in researching, using and teaching about Photovoice. The central concern of this book is to bring together the practice and theory of radical social work enhanced by intersectional feminism and how Photovoice can be a useful tool in rendering visible peopleâs experiences of oppression , through the political act of PAR.
The theoretical approach taken throughout this book is one of radical social work enhanced with intersectional feminism . This does not mean that all Photovoice projects use a radical social work framework, but for social workers who consider challenging oppression as central to their practice and research perspectives, Photovoice can be a us...