What is the photovoices project?
tpearson June 12th, 2008
At the end of March, Amos Disasa introduced Central Carolina Community Foundation to Dr. Bret Kloos, a professor at the University of South Carolina, and three of his Ph.D. candidate students, Greg Townley, David Asiamah, and Dorian Lamis. This group wanted to tell us about a project that grew out of a course they were taking.
Because of that meeting, the Community Foundation committed its support for the photovoice project. In this posting, Greg Townley and Dr. Bret Kloos talk about how it all got started.
Q: Where did the idea for the project come from?
Kloos: I teach a doctoral level community intervention course in the Department of Psychology at USC. We have designed the course to give students practical experience working with local agencies and organizations to promote mental health or other aspects of adaptive functioning. In the past, we have worked with the Midlands Area Consortium for the Homeless and many other organizations around the area. As we were preparing for the course again last summer, the Midlands Interfaith Homelessness Action Council (MIHAC) was forming. This seemed like another opportunity to become more directly involved with how Columbia and the Midlands address homelessness issues. MIHAC welcomed us in discussions and supported the idea of a photovoice project.
Much of my work has been related to the issue of homelessness, so I was familiar with various organizations and initiatives in Columbia. We did not want to duplicate efforts that were on-going. In reviewing past efforts, we noted that those who are homeless rarely had opportunities for their perspectives to be included in public debate about how to respond to housing and homelessness issues in Columbia. We decided that the photovoice method used in Public Health provided an opportunity for homeless individuals in Columbia to document their experience and to have their voices be part of the dialogue about how our communities can respond.
The project also has personal interest for me. I have worked on issues related to housing and homelessness in several communities over the past 12 years. My research at USC has focused on understanding how of housing and neighborhood factors can impact mental health, but I have not been as actively involved in addressing local conditions as I have in the past. I have worked with members of my congregation interested in addressing housing and homelessness issues in Columbia, but I thought that I could do more professionally. MIHAC’s efforts provided a calling and opportunity to harness some of the resources of the university to support local efforts to address homelessness.
Q: How did the project work?
Townley: In September 2007, we started attending regular meetings of MIHAC. The first major homelessness event we took part in was Homeless for the Homeless in mid-November, sponsored by the Midtown Fellowship. Soon after this event and into 2008, we started regularly visiting the Emergency Winter Shelter. We decided that the best way to start the photovoice project was to build relationships with homeless individuals staying at the shelter. We went to the shelter once or twice a week, engaged people in conversations ranging from homelessness to college basketball, and started recruiting interested individuals for the project.
With assistance from the MIHAC, we purchased 50 cameras in early February and conducted a pilot run of the photovoice project with 10 individuals. At first, camera returns were frustratingly slow. Out of the first 10 cameras, I think we got maybe two back. However, with persistence and continued relationship building, the camera returns increased. I fondly remember the excitement I felt after our first batch of photographs was developed.
The photographs surpassed my expectations, and it was extremely rewarding to return the pictures to the photographers and hear the stories behind them. As the project continued to unfold we realized that we could potentially make a strong contribution to increasing awareness of homeless individuals’ experiences in Columbia. We are appreciative that the Columbia Museum of Art is willing to provide a venue for us to share the culmination of this collaborative effort.
Q: What are the desired outcomes of the project?
Townley: When we set out to do this project, we had a 10-page document outlining the various tasks we wanted to undertake to help improve the homeless situation in Columbia. We soon realized that it would be impossible to undertake all of the proposed tasks, so we had to narrow our focus. One common theme emerged across each of our various goals-changing community attitudes toward homelessness. We wanted to do a project that would help to combat stereotypes and stigma often assigned to the homeless population. We wanted to show community members both the challenges faced by homeless people in Columbia and the resilience that allows them to survive in the face of adversity.
I genuinely believe that individuals who view the exhibit will be moved by what they see. The pictures do show the harsh realities of being homeless, but I think what really stands out is the humanity in the photographs. Stereotypes persist because humans tend to assign global characteristics to all members of a group rather than seeing group members as unique individuals. Therefore, one of the most effective ways we can challenge stereotypes and biases is by having community members see and hear photographs and stories from individual members of the homeless population.
We also hope to achieve broader outcomes. Specifically, we hope that the exhibit will appeal to local politicians and policy makers who can have more of a direct impact on the large-scale changes that must occur in this city. These changes include increased funding allocation to existing homeless service centers/ providers, increased numbers of affordable housing units being built and housing vouchers being assigned, and most importantly, a permanent shelter capable of providing temporary housing and comprehensive services to homeless men, women, and children.
Kloos: I know that many of the artists participating in the exhibit found the process of documenting their experience and presenting their viewpoints to be empowering. I expect that the exhibit will promote greater community-based interest in how we respond collectively to challenges presented by homelessness. I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to work together more effectively than in the past. Maybe this exhibit can play a small part in promoting more dialogue.
Q: What have you learned from doing this?
Townley: This project has contributed to both my personal and professional growth. I think my biggest growth has come in building and cultivating relationships-both with the individual homeless photographers and also with various individuals and organizations in the community that address homelessness. One of the things we aim to do in community work is to mobilize community members around important issues.
At first, I was skeptical as to how much buy-in and support we would be able to obtain from the community. I remember in one of the MIHAC meetings, [board member] Moss Blachman suggested that rather than purchase 100 cameras, we should purchase 50 cameras and then reach out to the community to help provide us with the remaining cameras. I had doubts about how successful this would be. However, within a month we had support from Walgreens to help develop the photos, and we received over 30 disposable cameras from local congregations. I was extremely encouraged by the positive responses we received for the project, and it has strengthened my confidence in the ability of communities to work together to address important societal issues.
Side note: Moss Blachman is assistant dean for continuing medical education and faculty development at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. He recently received the United Way of the Midlands’ Alyce Kemp DeWitt Award, which recognizes a volunteer whose creativity and passion have had a measurable impact on the community.
Kloos: [Personally,] it has renewed my faith in the human spirit. The photographers really live by the first portion of our state motto, “While I Breathe, I hope”. So many had plans for jobs, houses, reuniting with family. They recognize many challenges and are looking for opportunities to work toward these goals.
At the same time, the response to the show from individuals and organizations has been very encouraging. The Columbia Museum of Art has been tremendous in supporting this exhibit like any other show of artists. Both MIHAC and the Community Foundation are committed to promoting dialogue and promoting the well-being of our entire community. The many individual responses have been similarly encouraging. The second portion of South Carolina’s state motto observes that we are “ready in soul and resource”. Recent development has lead me to believe that the broader community is embracing this portion of the motto as we make decisions about how to respond better to challenges of homelessness.
Q: Has it changed any particular point of view you had prior to the project?
Townley: This project helped me challenge my own stereotypes about homelessness. The stories I heard from the homeless photographers helped me see that homelessness takes many different forms and is caused by many different factors. Before doing the project, my knowledge of homelessness came primarily from news media, popular culture and academic articles. I am thankful that my knowledge of homelessness now also includes the actual life experiences of homeless individuals who worked with us on the project.
Kloos: I am more optimistic about the prospects for members of our communities coming together to act. The response to help those who survived Hurricane Katrina was very impressive. It made me proud to be a Columbian.
[But,] I have wondered why we couldn’t do something similar for our own persons without homes. I’m hopeful that current developments will lead to a coordinated, sustained and community-wide response to homelessness in the Midlands.
- Homelessness
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