The initial work of photographs in interfaith photovoice is to facilitate conversations among a diverse group of participants who are not yet acquainted with one another. As one participant remarked, “The photos were helpful in starting discussions.” Beginning interfaith conversations with photos helps people who do not know each other feel more comfortable in initial meetings.

Traditional interfaith dialogue tends toward the cerebral, and recent innovations such as Scriptural Reasoning may seem daunting because they require some level of expertise in theology or scriptural interpretation. Using photographs as a starting point, however, moves the conversation from concepts to narratives, from theology to embodied practices. Interfaith photovoice shifts the conversation from the doctrines one’s religion teaches to how people actually express and experience religion in everyday life.  

During the second photovoice meeting, when everyone brought photos of what their religion looks like in everyday life, Kyle recalled discussing photos about “things like food, exercise, children, the way we find spaces to serve our communities, and hopes and dreams for the ways things might change. I think these are really, really powerful connectors, that very immediately make you feel connected to the person across the table. It’s different than just sitting there talking about the Beatitudes in the Five Pillars of Islam. It takes it out of headspace.”

Kyle elaborated with the following example: 

Almost everybody around the table had some sort of picture involving exercise. Whether it was photos of yoga mats, the labyrinth, stories about the running track, or a walkway in nature, we had this moment where, all of a sudden, we were talking about what we have found in those exercise spaces. And it was like this kind of fun, weird, shared spirituality of physical-ness or kinesthetic presence. And I just remember that moment: the first time, the first moment the table laughs together. That’s . . . a game changer.