Feeling the Cut

Abstract

We are interested in exploring the use of visual arts in teaching relationality and difference within social work education. Our current research is based on the examination of photographic works on the subject of asylum seeking. In this article, we report on our findings from an analysis of the exhibit Leave to Remain. Leave to Remain is an installation of large format photographic prints, accompanied by individual testimonies. Beginning in 2002, photographer Diane Matar interviewed and photographed over 100 politically displaced people living in Britain. Her exhibit functions as a visual and oral history of how life in Britain is for people seeking asylum. In this article, we analyse Matar's work using contemporary visual methodology, and present segments of our conversation with one another that provide the texture of this methodology. We conclude that relationality and difference are imbued in questions about vulnerability and what Judith Butler (2004: 28) calls 'the fundamental sociality of embodied life' -that we are each 'implicated in lives that are not our own'. KEY WORDS: asylum Diana Matar vulnerability visual methodologies social work education ARTICLE

“I Just Don't Think There's any other Image that Tells the Story like [This] Picture Does”: Researcher and Participant Reflections on the Use of Participant-Employed Photography in Social Research

“…In some cases, visual methods are the main source of data generation, while at other times images are incorporated as an additional layer that allows for triangulation with other data (Stanczak, 2007). Despite previous utilization of visual data by sociologists and anthropologists based on its perceived objectivity, many researchers now recognize that visual data is subjective in nature (Hansen-Ketchum & Myrick, 2008;Phillips & Belanger, 2011;Prosser & Schwartz, 1998); specifically, the subject and meaning of an image depends on the context from which it has emerged. Therefore, contemporary visual approaches are often based on a relativist position that visual data are not reflections of reality, but instead have meanings that are constructed by the producer of the image and those who view it (Harper, 1998;Phillips & Belanger, 2011).…”

“…Despite previous utilization of visual data by sociologists and anthropologists based on its perceived objectivity, many researchers now recognize that visual data is subjective in nature (Hansen-Ketchum & Myrick, 2008;Phillips & Belanger, 2011;Prosser & Schwartz, 1998); specifically, the subject and meaning of an image depends on the context from which it has emerged. Therefore, contemporary visual approaches are often based on a relativist position that visual data are not reflections of reality, but instead have meanings that are constructed by the producer of the image and those who view it (Harper, 1998;Phillips & Belanger, 2011). Accordingly, contemporary visual methodologies are founded on the recognition that visual data will be interpreted differently by individuals with varying social backgrounds and also within different settings (Harper, 1998).…”

Photography in social work research: Using visual image to humanize findings

“…(2010) used photographs as documentation to expose racism and social justice. Finally, Phillips and Bellinger (2011) explored the use of testimonials combined with photography in teaching social work students about relationality and difference. Ultimately, photographs as research data, collected with the intention of humanizing the research process itself and adding meaning to participant experience, can play ‘a highly instrumental role by providing visual evidence as an innovative way of seeing and analyzing social problems’ (Szto, 2008: 91).…”

‘It was kinda like D.I.Y closure’. Using Photovoice to capture the experiences of final year social work students graduating amidst the pandemic

“…Bowers (2017) used Photovoice as a method of engaging social work students in critical reflection and found that using Photovoice allowed students to reflexively analyse and develop their professional identities and consider what that meant for their practice. In addition to Bowers (2017) study, I identified 7 other studies that utilised Photovoice with social work students with various research aims (Bailey-McHale et al, 2019; Bowers, 2017; Bromfield and Capous-Desyllas, 2017; Byrne et al, 2009; Chonody, 2018; Morley et al, 2017; Phillips and Bellinger, 2010; Walsh et al, 2015). Other studies identified in initial scoping reviews of the topic utilised similar photo-elicitation methods but with a sample of university or college students from other subjects; all indicated in their findings that photography based research methods were more effective than traditional methods, such as observation or interviews at engaging student participation (Anderson, 2016; Patka et al, 2017).…”