Critical Reflections on Participatory Photography and Visual Literacy with Young Women Mediated Through Screen

Conducting participant-led research and running a socially engaged collaborative photography project requires a lot of planning which includes thinking deeply and critically about ethics and design as well as recruitment, delivery, analysis and dissemination. However, how would these considerations critically apply to a participatory photography project that is mediated through a screen and conducted entirely remotely and online? This research will present some of Kallina Brailsford's key reflections and learning from running a series of participatory photography workshops online with young women not in full time employment or education. The project involved a series of workshops delivered entirely online which included visual literacy activities and critical reflections on identity, self-representation and social media, as well as photographic prompts related to barriers to employment and ultimately aimed to produce alternative critical visual narratives. Building a positive group dynamic and raising questions related to authorship, power and representation, as well as ensuring that projects are not extractive but equally produce relevant and meaningful outputs which honour the participants and their input, are some of the key critical considerations that will be presented through the learning and practice of this research project.   

 

Kallina Brailsford is an artist, educator and a PhD candidate in Photography at NTU, funded by Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership. Her practice primarily focuses on socially engaged collaborative photography and she has extensive experience with running participatory photography projects. Kallina is also an educator in the charitable sector and an associate lecturer in photography both in the UK and in her native Bulgaria. Her practice-based PhD research focuses on the use of collaborative practices and participatory photography delivered online with young women not in full time employment or education. 

The talk will take place online via Teams (link to access) on 23 March 2022, Wednesday, 13:00-14:00.