Flinders University - Photovoice Exhibition

Coming Together A SOCIAL PRESCRIBING PHOTOVOICE EXHIBITION These images come from a photovoice study about community, care, and connection. Community members, service providers, and health practitioners were invited to photograph what helps people feel connected to their communities and what gets in the way. Each picture is a small witness. Together they map how community exists in everyday places. Photovoice is a research method that hands the camera to participants so they can show, rather than simply tell, their experience. The photographs were discussed in interviews. Researchers then analysed these stories to identify common themes across many voices. Alongside each photograph you will find a short poem or piece of prose written by researcher and writer Dr Simon-Peter Telford. These writings are a type of research called “creative analytical practice”. After the interviews were thematically analysed, the writing was created to communicate a collective story. Creative writing allows research findings to be felt as well as understood, translating research evidence into human experience. This exhibition is a part of a social prescribing project, which explores how health and wellbeing are shaped not only by medical care but by connection: groups, creativity, shared spaces, and relationships. The photographs show the conditions that make these connections possible, and the barriers that need to be overcome – collectively. You are invited to enjoy slowly; feel, don’t just think. Read the words beside the images. Notice which scenes feel familiar. Reflect on your own experience. The research asks a simple question with a complicated answer: What helps a person feel part of a community? Every image here is part of that answer. Dr Simon-Peter Telford