PhotoVoice - Matt

Today’s world is suffused with visual media to a level unseen at any point in human history. The dramas and disasters of the world are graphically depicted on the covers of newspapers, glossy magazines, and on the television and computer screens that vie for our attention throughout every area of our lives. It seems that now, at last, we should have reached the stage when distance and cultural diversity need offer no barrier to understanding and empathy between human beings across the globe. Through the lens of the photographer and TV cameraman we are placed beside the affected and the afflicted and we see for ourselves the facts that might otherwise seem so sterile and theoretical in print.

A Usual Scene © Street Vision/ Hap Tien Long/ PhotoVoice (Photography by street children in Ho Chi Minh City) I scour the streets to fetch other exploited working and street children so that they can also join the shelter like me. To persuade them, I am determined to be better and make myself an example of reform. (Chau Quang Ha, aged 17)">

A Usual Scene. I scour the streets to fetch other exploited working and street children so that they can also join the shelter like me. To persuade them, I am determined to be better and make myself an example of reform. (Chau Quang Ha, aged 17)

The fact is, however, that we are now so accustomed to this visual saturation that it no longer affects us. A photo that once would have shocked us into a personal response to the plight of a people, and closer examination of a reported situation or issue, now swims in a sea of similarly shocking images that jostle for our attention and our emotional involvement. Naturally the result is that none affect us as deeply, and photos of a crisis or issue become to our minds predictable and necessary ingredients of the media rather than portals to a reality being reported by it. The iconic image is too often chosen over the personal, and in attempting to sum up the whole story in one image, the actual experience of a single involved person who we can relate to is too often overlooked. A mother weeping with her vulnerable baby in her arms is naturally an affecting image, however it is now too much of a motif – a journalistic device that our brain is too familiar with, and knowing the reaction expected of us we are no longer challenged by it. The photographer’s eye is too often that of an uninvolved observer – an extension of our own viewpoint into the midst of an alien culture. Although we are shown what is happening, we remain distanced by the separation between the observer and the observed, who remain the pitied victims - the other.

Collecting Water © Dhanapati / Children’s Forum / PhotoVoice (Photography by Bhutanese refugee youth living in Nepal) There is a saying that many drops of water together make an ocean. Like that we must share our good ideas to solve our refugee problem. (Aita Singh)">

Collecting Water. There is a saying that many drops of water together make an ocean. Like that we must share our good ideas to solve our refugee problem. (Aita Singh)

This is the situation that PhotoVoice, an award-winning international charity based in London, attempts to tackle. PhotoVoice empowers those who are traditionally the subject of photojournalism with the skills to take photos themselves, allowing them to document their situation from a personal perspective and take control of how they are portrayed and understood on the world stage. Through photography, participants in PhotoVoice projects find confidence in their voices and are enabled to speak out about their challenges, concerns, hopes and fears.

PhotoVoice was built on a partnership between directors Anna Blackman and Tiffany Fairey, which originated whilst both were studying for MAs in Social Anthropology at Edinburgh University. Both, with a background and interest in documentary photojournalism, integrated participatory photography into their MA dissertations, independently establishing the Street Vision project with street and working children in Vietnam, and the Rose Class project with young Bhutanese refugees in Nepal in 1998. These two projects became the two founding initiatives of the organization and continue to thrive under its supervision.

Baby and Legs  Moving Lives/ PhotoVoice (Photography by young unaccompanied refugees in London) Moving Lives is a photography and digital-storytelling project giving a voice to young refugees living in East London and helping them integrate into the UK. ‘This is my sister. I wanted to take a photo to represent the beginning of life.’ (Michael, refugee)">

Baby and Legs. ‘This is my sister. I wanted to take a photo to represent the beginning of life.’ (Michael, refugee)

PhotoVoice projects now span four continents, assisting refugees, street children, orphans, those affected and infected by HIV/ AIDS, and special needs groups. Internationally the organisation provides the platform for PhotoVoice groups to exhibit and market their work and to inspire change. It also provides long-term support for individuals to pursue careers in their local photographic industries.

PhotoVoice projects are run in partnership with local NGO's and community organisations with an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the local community and the marginalized or vulnerable group for whom the project is run. With practical support from partners in the field, PhotoVoice staff run a series of photojournalism workshops especially designed with the aims and issues of the participants in mind. In many cases PhotoVoice staff will work with local photographers who can continue to sustain the projects once PhotoVoice staff have left the field.

The benefits of participatory photography projects are varied and often far-reaching, and will depend very much on the aims and objectives of the participants. In some cases the major appeal of the project for the participants will be the opportunity it gives them to tackle prejudices and stigma that they face in everyday life, showing through their photographs that their lives and attitudes are not as the local or international community commonly assumes them to be. In other cases, the aim may be more that of gaining a practical tool which they can use to actively strive to improve their situation, advocating for change with photographs that demonstrate injustice or mistreatment of the group within their society, or highlighting their political situation when it has been sidelined by the government or ignored by the world media. In a more practical sense, many participants find that the new skill they learn through the project provides them with a means to earn a living, and in some cases with a therapeutic form of self-expression. PhotoVoice is leading the way in exploring and refining the ways in which participatory photography can be used to benefit marginalized and vulnerable groups, and forms the centre of an ever expanding support and communication network of facilitators, projects and organisations working in the field.

Still a relatively young organisation, PhotoVoice is still very much growing and evolving. Plans for the future include the development of a press archive of photos by grass roots photographers, furthering its aim of bringing into the mainstream media the voices of those directly involved in the cultures and issues being reported. PhotoVoice is also organising the first ever participatory photography conference, to be held in 2008, which will raise the profile of this important and powerful development tool, and provide a forum for the discussion of its future potential.

To stay informed of PhotoVoice projects, events and exhibitions, you can sign up for the quarterly e-newsletter using the form on the PhotoVoice website: www.photovoice.org

On the website you can also find more details of current PhotoVoice projects, upcoming events and volunteer vacancies, and browse our many image galleries. For information on purchasing PhotoVoice images, or on how you can hire a selection to exhibit in private buildings or at events, email your requirements or requests to info@photovoice.org.

Workshop in action  Save the Children/ PhotoVoice Taken from Making Waves, Sri Lanka: Photographs by young people living in Southern Sri Lanka, one year on from the Tsunami.">

Workshop in action. Taken from Making Waves, Sri Lanka: Photographs by young people living in Southern Sri Lanka, one year on from the Tsunami.

Ways to support PhotoVoice:

Become a Friend of PhotoVoice

From just £5 a month you can help PhotoVoice develop its work empowering some of the most disadvantaged groups in the world with photographic skills. You can even choose to support a particular project or area of our work. We will give you project updates, invitations to private views, talks and other events.

Silver Membership (includes a selection of PhotoVoice postcards) £5 a month can teach a young Bhutanese refugee in Nepal the skills of photography and journalism.

Gold Membership (includes PhotoVoice postcards and an 8''x10'' PhotoVoice print) £10 a month can support a Vietnamese street child through a three-month photography placement.

Platinum Membership (includes PhotoVoice postcards and a 10''x12'' PhotoVoice print) £15 a month will support a young refugee in East London through a digital story-telling course.

To become a Friend of PhotoVoice simply visit www.photovoice.org and set up a direct debit payment online, or email your address to info@photovoice.org with Become a Friend in the subject field to receive a form in the post.

Cameras for Charity

PhotoVoice's Cameras for Charity scheme can find a home for any working camera or useful piece of photographic equipment you no longer need.

This scheme has made an essential contribution to the work of PhotoVoice, and generous donations of equipment and film have enabled us to run participatory photography workshops around the world, at all levels from beginners to advanced.

PhotoVoice is delighted to accept equipment donations by post to PhotoVoice, 94 Leonard St, London EC2A 4RH. Please include your name and address to allow us to acknowledge receipt of your donation and send a letter of thanks. For further information or to discuss the delivery of larger equipment donations please email info@photovoice.org.