Photovoice - Young People in Huddersfield share their stories with the world.

It gives me great joy to welcome you to our blog! In today’s post we’re featuring a recent Photovoice project that we delivered in partnership with our good friends at Employability Solutions who are an alternative education provider in Huddersfield. They work with young people who thrive in a smaller, more nurturing setting than mainstream education can be provide. It has been a huge privilege to work with this organisation and the young people they support.

Over the course of ten weeks we invited this group of ten 16-18 year olds to take photographs on their camera phones, exploring themselves and their surroundings in response to questions such as “How do I see myself”? and “How do I think others see me”?

We consdered how photographs can have different meanings to different people and that there is no right way to ‘read’ an image. We also looked at the role images play in story telling and how through the use of abstraction we can create photographs which tell a story or represent our thoughts, feelings and emotions in a particular way.

Photovoice is a really powerful way for people to creatively explore their situation - it can assist in the expression of emotions and shine a light on things that may be difficult to talk about. Photographs allow people to show rather than tell how they feel.

The photographs and narratives created by these young people reflected their thoughts and feelings on some very powerful topics - exploring themes around their hopes, passions and interests, family, identity and relationships as well as depression and bereavement.

The opportunity to create and be creative can be a fulfilling experience, and this Photovoice project provided a means for the young people to have a voice without requiring them to stand up and speak in public.

Every step involves decision making – they first have to think about what they want to focus on, then what to photograph, then how to photograph it, then which images to use and finally decide on what to say about the image.

Friends and family were invited to share in the experience by attending the exhibition hosted at Can-Teen and we invited people to share their thoughts and reflections with us too - judging by some of the comments we received clearly other people were just as moved by the work created by these young people as we were!

What struck you about the photographs and narratives that you've seen today?

“…The creativity & bravery of the students in sharing their stories…”

“….so powerful, I felt very emotional reading the captions and imagining the emotions behind each photo…”

What did you like most about the exhibition?

“…the pride the artists had in their work, especially when showing their friends and family…”

“…how each student managed to express their own personality through their work…”

Name one thing that you learned from the exhibition

“…How one photograph can express so much emotion…”

“…That photography can be so inclusive…a picture speaks a thousand words…”

Charlie Lee, Deputy Head at Employability Solutions said “For many in the group it is their last year in education and they have all faced challenges in their journey so far. They are a diverse and loving group who look after each other and treat each other like family. This was a fantastic opportunity to express themselves and their own personal journey through a creative outlet.” 

In our next blog we’ll take a closer look at the images created during this project and invite the young photographers to share their thoughts on how they feel about their work and the Photovoice project as a whole.

Our huge thanks to everyone at Employability Solutions and Can-Teen for being such amazing hosts and partners in this project and likewise huge thanks to the young people for how they’ve engaged!