What is your Why?
Recently someone asked me “Why are you doing this? What are you trying to achieve? What’s the end game”? Three rapid fire powerful questions!!
I’ll admit that I was caught ever so slightly off guard by these questions - but in a good way! They prompted an interesting conversation at the time and some deeper reflections after the fact. In fact I liked the questions so much that they form the basis of this blog!
As a Social Enterprise we have some aims which spell out the change we’re seeking to create in the world:
- Help those who are often unheard gain a voice
- Encourage critical conversations that bring about change
- Support health & wellbeing through creative expression
But I have a little annoying voice on my shoulder saying, “That’s all lovely but… WHY”? So, let’s lean into that a little…
The question of WHY is informed by my past experiences in Community Development over the last 20 years. I’ve played many roles during that time, starting out as an activist in my community running a social enterprise recording studio, I then spent 10 years in Local Government followed by 5 years working across the UK and internationally delivering Community Development training.
When I think back on those experiences, I notice that:
- People in communities are often dealing with things that can be difficult to describe in words. When words are found to describe these situations, they are almost always in the language of outsiders and not the words that the people themselves would naturally use (yes, I’m looking at you ‘disadvantaged’ ‘NEET’ et al) Why should people be defined by the labels and language that outsiders place on them?
- Community Development has become (or maybe always has been) overly professionalised - accessible only to an enlightened few who are often more interested in pushing the agenda of the institution that employs them rather than understanding what is important to the communities that they are meant to serve.
- Creativity is a powerful catalyst for change - the very act of creating something, whether it’s a piece of music, a photograph or a connection or whatever, is a political act.
I’ve worked in many different places across the UK and while the accents and geography might change - the fact remains that there is often a disconnect between people in communities and the services and organisations that are seeking to be helpful in that space. A lot of energy is expended in trying to bridge these gaps and in trying to ‘explain’ what is actually going on.
I believe that photography can disrupt the over reliance on words and bring a more visual aspect to dialogue - it allows people to show rather than tell what is going on. Seeing what someone else sees is more powerful than being told about it.
That’s not to say that words aren’t important - far from it. We spend a good deal of time looking at the relationship between words and images, but we always start with the image and people choose their own words. It’s about power, authorship, and control. But it’s also about creation.
Creativity is not a pursuit for a select privileged few. It is a fundamental right. I have seen time and again how people who are often labelled and pushed to the margins in society have their life choices diminished especially when it comes to the act of creativity “this isn’t for you” and if they hear that kind of thing long enough, they start to believe it themselves “that’s not for me”. I call BS.
Creativity is for everyone. It’s a powerful and primary means of non verbal communication that allows people to express what might be difficult to put into words. Why should people have to translate their lived experiences into the alien language of bureaucrats to convince them that they are worth listening to and have meaningful contributions to make? Why don’t you come and see how I feel about things? Why don’t you come and see what the world looks like from my perspective? Let me show you rather than tell you.
Photography is a means of communication which doesn’t require people to stand up and speak in public or fill in forms and images can be understood regardless of language, culture, or other factors.
The very act of taking photographs can powerfully transform how someone sees themselves. When others see these images, they too are changed via the act of viewing and a dialogue is created.
Our Creative Connection is just coming up to its 1st birthday as I write these words and to be sure, the question of WHY remains a driving force. This blog is a thought experiment for myself to foreground WHY in my mind and perhaps as an invitation to you dear reader to do the same in your practice (unless everyone else already does this and it was just me that needed the kick up the rear)!
So, my question to you is “What is your Why”?