Visual Expressions of Connection
Seniors’ Creative Show & Tell
The photographs that follow represent the work of participants involved in a community-based participatory research creation.
This collaborative project is a community-university partnership between Debra Pentecost, faculty in the Department of Media Studies at Vancouver Island University, and the Nanaimo-based collective impact project, "Seniors Connect," in particular, Lynne Henshaw and Penny MacCourt.
Participants photographed over a four-week period, producing photographs expressing their life experiences and views of social inclusion and isolation; giving visual representation to social elements influencing their lives, encompassing aspects of community, health, and well-being.
Gloria Jorg
Darryl Knowles
Joan McMahon
Cristina Crovara
Lori Wanhill
Lynda Simons
Louise Bélanger
Kim Clark
Wendy Brazeau
Christel Martin
"It was an absolute pleasure working with all of the participants for this project. In the late summer and early fall of 2018 I was honoured to be able to facilitate this group project. We shared some heartfelt moments, lots of laughter, lively discussions, and respectful honouring of each other's experiences.
Thank you to Lynne Henshaw and Penny MacCourt for their interest in the project and for their active recruitment of participants.
I want to extend a big thank you to the following VIU Media Studies students who worked as research assistants.
Early formative help was provided by Megan Johnson-Barr and Calleigh Lim during the initial planning phase of the project. Evelina Lamu facilitated the group meetings and skillfully and graciously aided in the audio recording, transcribing, and photographing of session proceedings. Finch Hilton came in as a wicked photo book compiler and web designer, demonstrating true tech savvy."
— Debra Pentecost
Funding for "Visual Expressions of Connection" was provided by an Asper Media Studies Endowment grant.
“Visual Expressions of Connection” is indebted to the photovoice research project Imagining Inclusion: My Health, Well-Being and Community. The overall design of the study, in addition to various forms included in the project’s “Digital Storytelling Protocol” were adapted for use in this project.
The photographs that follow encompass themes of:
Barriers; Community; Isolation & Solitude; and Joy & Contentment.
The Process
Each week participants were tasked with the challenge of giving photographic expression to four central themes.
The following week we gathered Photograph Sharing and Group Reflection sessions. Guided by individual reflection worksheets, participants selected two photographs to share and discuss with the gathered group. Included could be their reasons for taking the images; filling us in on unseen stories not necessarily revealed by the images; highlighting how the photograph related to their lives; in addition to sharing feelings and emotions experienced while presenting their work to the rest of us.
The Photograph Sharing and Group Reflection sessions were audio-recorded. Participants were later provided with written descriptions for each of their photographs, created through a synthesis of their written description and verbal explanation of each image.
The written text that accompanies each of the following photographs is the result of this truly collaborative process, where several iterations might have been needed before reaching agreement on the final form one reads below. The aim was to give full expression to the voices of participants.
Barriers
What does a barrier look like?
What does a barrier feel like?
Community
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Isolation & Solitude
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Joy & Contentment
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