Abstract
Community and participatory peace photography emerges when ordinary
people whose lives are directly affected by conflict take charge of the camera and produce their own imagery. This photography is used as a means, either implicitly or explicitly, to resist and disrupt violence and division, to build resilience, to foster peace, to heal and to nurture dialogue and relationships. Community and participatory photography makes up a significant component of the emerging genre of peace photography because of the distinct ways it works to support, amplify and visibilize grassroots peace. This chapter examines how two distinct examples of community and participatory peace photography – a historical community photography initiative from Peru and a contemporary photovoice project from Colombia – operate as peace photography in contexts where conflict or the threat of
violence is ongoing. A consideration of community and participatory photography expands conceptions of peace photography beyond a narrow focus on professional image production. It demonstrates how the peace potentialities of photography lie not only in the images themselves but are contingent on the quality of the image-making processes for communities and the actions and dialogue they catalyse. Such processes carve spaces for ordinary people to communicate the coexistence of peace and conflict and highlight the existence of peace despite and in spite of violence.
people whose lives are directly affected by conflict take charge of the camera and produce their own imagery. This photography is used as a means, either implicitly or explicitly, to resist and disrupt violence and division, to build resilience, to foster peace, to heal and to nurture dialogue and relationships. Community and participatory photography makes up a significant component of the emerging genre of peace photography because of the distinct ways it works to support, amplify and visibilize grassroots peace. This chapter examines how two distinct examples of community and participatory peace photography – a historical community photography initiative from Peru and a contemporary photovoice project from Colombia – operate as peace photography in contexts where conflict or the threat of
violence is ongoing. A consideration of community and participatory photography expands conceptions of peace photography beyond a narrow focus on professional image production. It demonstrates how the peace potentialities of photography lie not only in the images themselves but are contingent on the quality of the image-making processes for communities and the actions and dialogue they catalyse. Such processes carve spaces for ordinary people to communicate the coexistence of peace and conflict and highlight the existence of peace despite and in spite of violence.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Picturing Peace: photography, conflict transformation and peacebuilding |
| Editors | Tom Allbeson, Pippa Oldfield, Jolyon Mitchell |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781350258877 |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Dec 2024 |
Keywords
- peace photography
- photography
- peace
- conflict transformation
- Peacebuilding