Track leaders:
Bettina Kolb & Michael Anranter
For the conference, “30 years of Photovoice: Past, present and future,” we asked our track leaders to share with us some of their expertise and experiences. This blog focuses on the conference track “Photovoice in architecture and urban design” with Bettina Kolb & Michael Anranter. To learn more about the conference visit our website: www.photovoiceconference.com.
Bettina Kolb
Bettina Kolb uses the participatory visual method “photo interview” in social science research for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary projects in planning for a sustainable future. As a member of Oikodrom – The Vienna Institute for Urban Sustainability, Bettina has used photo interview in projects in China (SUCCESS – Sustainability Process in Chinese Villages and their Sustainable Future), Vietnam and Mexico (NOPOOR, Enhancing Knowledge for Renewed Policies against Poverty) and Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and Syria (Hammam, the Turkish bath), and Belgium (Syncity). Bettina is a lecturer in sociology and visual sociology at the University of Vienna, Department of Social Science, where she is a member of the “Transdisciplinary Vienna Visual Studies” group. She also lectures at Carinthia University of Applied Sciences and University College of Teacher Education, Vienna. She is a founding member of the WieNGS – Vienna Network for Health Promoting Schools (wiengs.at).
What drove you to use photovoice or participatory photography and what motivated you to stay?
I learned about participatory photography as a young student of visual sociology, in a one-time lecture in a sociology course, I decided that visual sociology was a new focus of mine. At that time, I was also studying advertising, so learning about visual sociology was a wonderful opportunity to learn about visual observations in several fields of society.
The motivation to remain in the sphere of visual sociology and in social science work, and not advertising, was my interest in photography as a holistic approach to viewing and understanding the world. I value that photography and an analytical approach to understanding photos, in combination with a more intuitive approach to visuals, are fruitful resources for gaining new insights on research participants’ lives and perspectives and the forces affecting them. My master theses were in the field of advertising and my doctoral theses in health science.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone new to photovoice?
Have confidence in the ability of participants and their desire to report on life with photos and visuals. Trust in photography and its ability to be an impulse for memory or an expression of feelings, a specific way to the real world. In other words, let participants and their photographs do the talking!
What has been a favorite photovoice or participatory photography project of yours? Would you be able to share any project photos with us?
My favorite participatory photography project was the “hammam” project, which researched the present architectural, historical and socio cultural aspects of traditional Islamic baths in five Arabic countries and worked for its cultural heritage protection and its sustainable future (https://www.archnet.org/publications/5169). Several results are published in articles and photos are available.
What lessons have you learned throughout your career?
As a visual researcher I have learned to trust in visual material and participants’ photographs and through this material, patiently and openly get to know the participants’ points of view. With participatory photography, participants drive the direction and pace of the photo interview. This process requires the interviewer to let the photographer take the lead, which becomes easier with practice.
What are the most critical changes we need to make to photovoice and participatory photography to face the future effectively?
Two critical changes for researchers and others are to 1) accept the participants’ rights to and ownership of their photos, and 2) talk openly and in a dialog with participants about the ethical aspects of taking and sharing visual material. The growth of social media means that photos can be shared in ways that didn’t exist in the 1990s when photovoice was developed. It is important to discuss and consider with participants all the different media where photos are present and to learn about the photo-use of every generation, to gain a historical perspective on photo use by the average person and by people in power.
What are people’s common misconceptions about photovoice and participatory photography, and how can we combat them?
Unfortunately, one common misconception is to underestimate what a participant says about a particular visual or photo in present times. Another is to ignore or fail to interrogate the history of the cultural embeddedness of visual messages and reflect on them. We need to create greater awareness about the power of visual material and visual culture, and the negative stereotypes and information that visuals can perpetuate without careful observation and discussion of a photo and its messages.
Is there a specific way you’d like to see photovoice implemented that hasn’t been done before?
I would like to see photovoice connect the world and empower people around the globe by sharing experiences from different parts of the world and adding new layers and experiences to global perspectives.
When working on a photovoice or participatory photography project how do you ensure you are not speaking for or over the communities you are supporting?
I stay close to the material (photos, interviews) I have collected. In my analysis and reporting, I focus on a descriptive analysis, speak with participants’ photos and words, and respect participants’ intentions with their photos and captions. I try to avoid over-interpretation of their material.
How has COVID influenced the way you use Photovoice? Are there any new strategies you intend to keep?
I have begun to work with visuals and share them with participants using the screen of a computer. Online platforms such as Zoom allow participants to express their thoughts in a photo interview.
Michael Anranter
Michael Anranter is a PhD student at the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. He specializes in researching the connections of individuals and communities with the natural and built environment and grey infrastructure. Michael Anranter’s research relies on a combination of intensive participant observation and participatory photo interviews.
Together with Oikodrom – The Vienna Institute for Urban Sustainability, Michael Anranter has conducted participatory photo-interviews to research public infrastructure in settlements in Serbia, Bulgaria and Austria (DANUrB Danube Urban Brand; 2017-2018). As part of his university studies, Michael carried out photo-interviews with asylum seekers in Bolzano, Italy (2016) and with inhabitants of Vidin, Bulgaria (2019) At the University of Vienna, Michael is a member of the “Transdisciplinary Vienna Visual Studies” group.
What drove you to use photovoice or participatory photography and what motivated you to stay?
Having come to photography as a student through selling cameras, I first explored the richness of image corpora and image interpretation techniques in courses on documentary film, image interpretation and politically motivated iconoclasm. The obvious consequence for me was then to use visual methods for data collection. I started with participatory sketches and later with participatory photo interviews.
The motivation to keep using participatory photo interviews as a method over several years has two reasons. Firstly, I was immediately convinced by the wide range of areas of application. I could think about photovoice in the context of applied urban and regional planning, but also as a technique for mediation. Finally, of course I saw the many advantages of not just enriching but starting from visual data in research. Secondly, I was intrigued by the constantly evolving materiality of photography in general and participatory photography in particular. Over the years, I have worked with disposable and instant cameras, mobile phone photography, renderings and historical private and public photographs.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone new to photovoice?
During the photo interviews, I always had the feeling that my interviewees had taken photos on the topic they had been asked to talk about; however, in the conversations they often told me about completely different photos. These were often pictures of family members and formative life events. Sometimes also, my research participants were not the authors of the photos. Had I lost the thread? I don’t think so.
In order to contextualize research-relevant statements, I’d advise people applying photovoice for the first time, to leave plenty of space for photos and narratives that are not strictly connected to their actual research interest and to the photographic task shared with research participants. Switching between topics, motifs, and authorships might help you with meeting this task and better understand the relationship to visual representations in general.
What has been a favorite photovoice or participatory photography project of yours? Would you be able to share any project photos with us?
One of my favorite photovoice projects I’ve ever done is also the first one. The aim of that project was to research the perception of the urban space in Bolzano (Italy) through the eyes of newly arrived asylum seekers. The project took place in the summer of 2013 and formed the basis for my final thesis for my Master’s degree at the Institute of Cultural and Social Sciences at the University of Vienna. What made the project so particular for me, is that it could contribute to reducing at least a bit the waiting time of my interlocutors, a situation I did not come across too often in other research settings again. On the other hand, with the help of asylum seekers, I was able to get to know my home town for a second time – an experience and knowledge that touches me to this day.
What lessons have you learned throughout your career?
Over the years, photovoice and participatory photo interviews have taught me that methods in science are far less complete and detached than often conveyed in lectures and courses. Combining image, text, and material is the first stage. With greater understanding of the pros and cons of a research method, comes the realization that both qualitative and quantitative research designs can be expanded to include visual methods. This insight helped me to develop an approach to research that focuses on the quality of the congregated evidence rather than data extraction as such.
What are the most critical changes we need to make to photovoice and participatory photography to face the future effectively?
I have not done a photovoice project in the last 3 years. In this sense, I would find it presumptuous to name critical changes necessary for a photovoice transition into the future. What I can do is to focus on the role and act of photography as such. In the last decades we have surely seen a dramatic shift regarding peoples’ media literacy. While media literacy was the purview of experts years ago, today a lot of people (at least pretend, but many really are) are trained in the use of photography. They know much more about staging scenes, but also about the editing and processing of photos. There is also a new attitude towards sharing and talking about photographs. Compared to when people started to take photos with their mobile phones on a broader scale ten years ago, taking, but especially sharing photos and videos has become an integral part of daily life. Last but not least, with cell phone photography evolving and visual socials becoming ever more important, there is also a need to examine the new qualities of photographs. How can we deal with photos that are more extensions or distortions of realities rather than the realities we once aimed to talk about?
Is there a specific way you’d like to see photovoice implemented that hasn’t been done before?
We constantly see trends on social media that are shared by thousands of people. I would find it exciting to do a photovoice project that lives from the virality of the format and combines quantitative and qualitative parameters. The project would be fully virtual. While the image and text sequences collected under a certain hashtag are analyzed quantitatively for modifications and possibly visual and text segments, qualitative interviews would be conducted with selected participants.
The project would be useful to better understand under what conditions people are happy to share their pictures, including explanations. It would also help to understand a specific comparative condition and how this very condition is perceived differently around the world. For my own work, I’d be interested in human-environmental/infrastructural relationships. What is of course problematic with this idea: how to create trends or virality?
When working on a photovoice or participatory photography project how do you ensure you are not speaking for or over the communities you are supporting?
If speaking for a community, I think it is crucial to carefully mark-up authorship. It must be clear what comes from the community and what from the researcher or group interpretations. For me, this means a lot of careful work with original sounds. Stick to the formulations, the words your participants have been using!
Also, if requested by the authors of a photograph, be ready to remove it immediately and at no cost.
How has COVID influenced the way you use Photovoice? Are there any new strategies you intend to keep?
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was on a research stay of several months in Bulgaria. Methodologically, I was working with participant observation more than with photovoice back then. In order to stay in contact with my interlocutors during the hard lockdowns however, I increasingly began to use digital media to maintain acquaintances. Here, my experience and knowledge of working with visual material (more than photography) became helpful. Later, when lockdowns were over, I talked to my interlocutors about their experiences from the lockdown. In these conversations I would repeatedly start with photos shared and comments made. Sure, photos and statements had been shared for different purposes. Nevertheless though, whatever came with the reflection and interpretation of their former statements and photographs reminded me very much about the particular stages of participatory photo interviews.