Photovoice

I'm frazzled, and my frizzy hair - freed from its usual curly constraints by Winnipeg's summer humidity - only serves to highlight the fact that I could use a bit of down-time.  I just walked in the door, having wrapped up a Photovoice exhibition that has been three months in the making, with an additional six months of back-burner planning.  I now have 30+ pages of writing to finish off for that course, but hey... the presentation is finished.  If you don't count taking the exhibition on the road, as I now hear the church is interested in doing... c'est finit!  I could get on board with the travelling circus idea, roping the kids into it as well and giving them opportunities to advocate for their community... but I'd like a couple days to settle, eat watermelon, watch a movie, cry a little just to gain closure from this whole ordeal, go for a nice long run, go for supper and hang out with my 'family' in Point Douglas, wrap up a few more assignments, and immerse myself in my (paid) job.  I would like that... yeah...

I guess I should define Photovoice for you before I get too carried away...

"Photovoice researchers literally give their subjects a camera and ask them to photograph certain aspects of their lives" with the goal of "empowering and enabling people to reflect their personal and community concerns; to encourage a dialogue... about personal and community issues;" and to see issues from the unique grassroots perspective of those in the community and sharing these issues with policymakers, politicians, and professionals.

(Berg, B. L. 2009. Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (7th Ed.). Toronto: Allyn & Bacon, pp. 261-262.)

And later... I will put up some of the photo work of this group of extraordinary young people.  Soon.  Here's a teaser for the time being.  Taken by a 12 year-old.

This, my friends, is one of the things that has consumed and enriched my life for the last three months.  I love it.