One of the most striking photographs to come out of our work was composed during the final meeting of our project in Richmond, Virginia. As people worked together in small groups to select pictures for their photovoice exhibition, Michelle decided that a photo she had imagined needed to become a reality:

I’m sitting there on that last day and I’m watching people put up their pictures, and it’s like, “I want it up there . . . it needs to be up there.” So I saw all those kids at the table together. I was like, “They’ll be game.” And then I walked over there [and] I said, “Y’all, this is what I want to do.”

The people she recruited as the subjects of her photograph were all in their early twenties and included both Christians and Muslims. After a brief explanation, as Michelle recalled in an interview, “They knew. They got it. Instantly, they got it. . . . they understood what I was trying to do.”

What was Michelle “trying to do?” What did the people who agreed to pose for the photo “get?” And what was it that they “knew?” To answer these questions is found in what Michelle perceived to be missing from the story of the Richmond photovoice project. Before exploring this gap she saw, it is helpful to be reminded that during the final meeting participants work together to identify themes and photographs for an art exhibition. They sit in mixed Christian-Muslim groups, deliberate over themes, and puzzle over images. As they make selections, they use photos and written descriptions to anchor their photos in their own contents and meanings.  

After participants complete a selection and mockup, they use painter’s tape (a mild adhesive tape that is easy to remove) to ‘hang’ their composition on the wall. Over the course of the meeting, photographs populate the walls and participants eventually browse the collection, rearrange images into groups by theme, and reason together about which ones should be included in the exhibition. Eventually, the photographer will use the mockup and feedback from deliberations to draft a title and caption for photos selected for exhibition.

Part way through the evening, at an early stage of work being hung on the wall, Michelle perceived an absence, one that she sensed others would also recognize. If willingness to participate, interest in how the photo turned out, and effort exerted in co-creating the title and caption are any gauge of “getting it,” then it would seem that Michelle was correct. These young adults were not passive models for a staged photograph. Instead, they worked collaboratively with the photographer, which meant snapping multiple photographs and repositioning their bodies so that Muslims’ and Christians’ hands alternated. My camera recorded their smiles and laughter as this episode unfolded. 

Throughout the photovoice project, participants in Richmond made hundreds of photos and told myriad stories about them. Their work uncovered shared beliefs, concerns, and values. The photos that eventually ended up on the wall that night echoed participants’ conversations about how the brokenness of the world challenges their faith, religious and spiritual practices in everyday life, and the internal struggles they face as they wrestle with the teachings of their faith. A few photos included a participant (e.g., “selfies”), but none included fellow participants to represent the experience or outcome of interfaith photovoice. Michelle’s photo made it possible to tell the story behind her experience and the sense of purpose she shared with her collaborators.

Activity  12

As you consider your experiences with your conversation partner(s), are there any photographs that might be missing from the collection? What photo would you compose to fill that gap or to describe what you learned through Interfaith Photovoice?