Photo-Novella

The resulting book, which will be a source of pride for participants, can be used as educational or intervention material. In order for the process of collective work to be enjoyable and effective, it is useful to combine a democratic facilitation approach with rigorous planning of the implementation steps.

Context of use

This work aimed to answer the following research questions: (a) how do seniors with disabilities perceive their participation in society? (b) what practices do they develop to experience this participation?

In terms of process, the project had two main objectives: to provide participants with a space to share their stories, concerns, and desires about participation in society, and to make their voices heard by the various audiences concerned (public authorities, social movements, public and community service networks). Over the three years of the project, producing the photo-novella project Entre vous et nous required about thirty working meetings and the contribution of various artists (photographer, caricaturist, author), in addition to the support of a facilitator, of the director of Carrefour, and of a volunteer (Émilie Raymond), a doctoral student at the time.

Derived benefits

For the participants, it was stimulating to develop the narrative framework of stories to be told in the photo-novella. Together, they discussed their stories of social participation, invented scenarios, decided which words and images would reflect what they wanted to share with readers. For all of them, this shared project turned out to be engaging and rewarding.

Potential challenges

Certain challenges may arise when creating a photo-novella. First, since this is a collective work project, it can be difficult to agree on the stories that are most worth telling. To facilitate the process, it can be useful to establish a democratic working environment and consensus-based governance. The availability of material resources can also be a challenge; depending on the nature of the project, resources must be provided, for example, to hire professional technical resources, to print several copies of the photo-novella, to use a camera and photo editing software. It may therefore be appropriate to include costs related to these budget items in a grant application if it is a tool developed as part of a research project. Another challenge is the logistics of filming (accessibility of public places, weather conditions during filming, presence of passers-by, etc.). To avoid problems in this area, it is useful to plan extra days for redoing photoshoots in case of bad weather and to ensure the group is well-prepared.

Ethical issues related to the method

It is useful to ask the following ethics questions when using the photo-novella method:

• Have all the members of the group had the opportunity to share their stories and what they would like to see incorporate into the photo-novella?
• Is the group atmosphere favourable to this sharing?
• Do some stories take up “too much space” compared to others?
• What to do if stories are controversial within the group?
• What to do if passers-by are present in the photos? (Waiver forms)
• Who makes the editorial choices when there is artistic direction?
• Who has the final say in the editing process?
• Which names are listed as authors of the photo-novella and in what order? (Researcher, organization, participants, actors)
• Who will take care of distribution?