Enlarging Our Frame: Lessons Learned by a First-Time Photovoice Facilitator
This past spring, I had the opportunity to work under the leadership of Dr. Roman Williams and Jessica Reece of Interfaith Photovoice. This was the first time I heard about photovoice as an approach to research and engagement across differences. It immediately grabbed my attention, and I knew I wanted to participate in a photovoice dialogue journey of my own.
As a Kenyan international student in Holland, Michigan, I have found myself engaging in numerous conversations with people that look, think, and act differently from me. Many of these conversations have been new and challenging, while others have been similar to my own background and culture. Having enjoyed challenging conversations with people from different cultures, I eagerly sought to create a space with the means of photovoice for my fellow international students and Hope College peers.
Photo 1. Small group participants sharing the stories from each of their experiences that reflect the “Wheat and Weeds” of their international student experiences at Hope College.
For my senior research project in sociology, I utilized photovoice to encourage conversation over the great and not-so-great factors that come with being an international student in the United States of America: the Wheat and Weeds. 'Wheat' represented the areas of growth and good within their new environment, and 'Weeds' represented the areas of challenge intertwined in their experience. In doing so, the student participants were provided the opportunity for reflection and vulnerability with one another and eventually with a larger, broader audience. Each participant took a leap into photovoice and allowed the pictures of their personal experiences to tell about the nuances of their stories that may otherwise not be so noticeable.
This experience affirmed my passion for telling stories, connecting different people, and eating good food (yes, we enjoyed some fantastic meals during these meetings). As a result, I concluded the project with three main takeaways: (1) life is wonderfully complex, (2) we are all the same in different ways, and how beneficial it can be to (3) focus on the bigger picture. To explore these insights, I’d like you to consider the same photo three times.
1. Life is wonderfully complex.
Photo 2. Individual participants’ photos during the large group discussion.
During our third and final meeting, it was a joy to see the participants' pictures reveal recurring themes. The participants gathered all the photos from their small group discussions and taped them on a blackboard for the whole group to see.Working together, these international students from different countries organized the photos into themes and collectively agreed on which photos belonged to each theme. Some themes were summarized in one word, while others required clauses and multiple interpretations to capture the meanings the photos represented. This process allowed each person to get a view of the images that were in the other small groups and ask questions/dialogue. Interestingly, a few themes could be easily compared to a coin with its side of heads and tails, showing that experiences aren’t fully exclusive to being wonderful and challenging. And each theme could be named something entirely different depending on the setting. This all goes to show the lives we live and experience are not characterized in a straight line.
Even though we may not outwardly admit it, we often try to make things simple. Unfortunately, many times it can happen at the expense of others because we have already resolved on how a matter is simple, when in reality it is not. Personally, I can be a natural simplifier; I even went into this project thinking that having such a space will make things simple! But I was thrown aback, recognizing that life is complicated because life is made of complex people and people have complex interweavings. Now I recognize the importance of asking, “How do we skillfully navigate through the complexities of life?” As I am learning in my own attempt to answer this question, there are no simple answers. However, the posture one takes does make a world of a difference! When approached in humility, working through daily conversations and relationships can become an adventure worth delving into.
2. We are all the same, just in different ways.
Photo 3. Thematic layout of images set by participants as a group.
At first the phrase, ‘the same in different ways,’ felt like an oxymoron. Isn’t it our differences that distinguish that we cannot be the same? This project proved otherwise and it turned out to be an encouragement that I continue to carry with me. This particular image (Photo 3) is a zoomed out version of Photo 2. Do stay with me here as we track together. Yes, life is complicated, but many of us are going through the same things, just in different ways. Unfortunately, the expression of these differences is what we focus on and miss out on engaging in further conversation, which can help to drive us to the deeper point that our overall themes are the same.
Prior to having these images on the board arranged into themes, participants shared each of their personal images in small groups of 3-5. During one particular in-depth, small group discussion, one of the participants used their pictures to share about their transition to the United States. This student’s home country is Rwanda and the other two were from South Africa and Vietnam. Each had different backgrounds, cultural experiences, ways of thinking, but when the student from Rwanda shared his experience, everyone at the table resonated with all that was shared. A bond was formed because of how similar his experience was to their own, and the outward, noticeable differences seemed to instantaneously fade away.
Without the opportunity to share his story, we would not have had the benefit of learning from his perspective and may have drawn our own conclusions. By thoroughly listening, a deeper connection was formed because each participant felt affirmed and less alone in their transition journey. Referring back to this picture (Photo 3), all the images collectively communicated the same experience but in beautifully different ways – and that is worth celebrating!
3. Focus on the bigger picture.
Photo 4. Three participants viewing photos grouped by theme during the large group discussion.
This final image is a wider view of the two previous images. It points to the value of viewing and keeping the bigger picture in mind. How easily do we find ourselves getting caught up in the nitty gritty of life or lost in the details? There is certainly an importance in doing the small things well, but only when it is helping you piece together the overall goal. Having a big picture to continually refer to gives people momentum for forward movement, a cause to rally behind, and a purpose to build. The bigger picture keeps you grounded. But it also helps you realize the value of partnering with others. Large goals are seldom achieved alone as we cannot go through life alone. We need people around us who will choose to walk the same journey.
Lastly, a bigger picture makes things fun when the goal starts to feel mundane. Through this photovoice project, I found that keeping the bigger picture in mind helped accomplish the aforementioned goals (momentum, purpose, and solidarity). Our big picture to have a photovoice dialogue on the experiences of international students in the US yielded a good and transformative conversation that made a lasting impact on the participants and me.