Visual representations of minority groups, activism and the everyday
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Portsmouth
Department Name: Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Abstract
Specific research questions:
What is the best way to document the misrepresentation of minority groups in visual data?
How can we progress our knowledge of how to produce theoretically informed visual data with/about minority groups?
To what extent can we create and utilise visual data from qualitative fieldwork in order to challenge misrepresentations of minority groups in the public sphere?
How best can we draw from a range of academic disciplines to help understand image-use both on social media and images drawn from research?
Background and rationale: There have been profound changes in the opportunities people have to take part in political expression and participation that are most obvious on social media, but have also become a part of our everyday lives. Thanks to digital mediums and media, such participation in the public sphere utilises images to an extent and degree that has not been seen before. The over-arching aim of this project is to advance academic knowledge on communities considered outside of mainstream society (for examples Roma minorities, political activists, LGBT communities) in order to challenge and change practices that keep certain (often problematic or misrepresentative) visual representations in circulation.
What is the best way to document the misrepresentation of minority groups in visual data?
How can we progress our knowledge of how to produce theoretically informed visual data with/about minority groups?
To what extent can we create and utilise visual data from qualitative fieldwork in order to challenge misrepresentations of minority groups in the public sphere?
How best can we draw from a range of academic disciplines to help understand image-use both on social media and images drawn from research?
Background and rationale: There have been profound changes in the opportunities people have to take part in political expression and participation that are most obvious on social media, but have also become a part of our everyday lives. Thanks to digital mediums and media, such participation in the public sphere utilises images to an extent and degree that has not been seen before. The over-arching aim of this project is to advance academic knowledge on communities considered outside of mainstream society (for examples Roma minorities, political activists, LGBT communities) in order to challenge and change practices that keep certain (often problematic or misrepresentative) visual representations in circulation.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Pauline Leonard (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Beatrice Tura (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000673/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 1956453 | Studentship | ES/P000673/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/07/2022 | Beatrice Tura |
| Title | Caribbean West London |
| Description | The exhibited images in the show Caribbean West London were products of the photo-elicitation endeavour undertaken by research participants who partook in my Master in Social Research Methods dissertation project. This was entitled "Caribbean Older People Negotiating Place in an Age of Gentrification". Photo-elicitation is a research method by which research participants are encouraged to take and share photographs pertinent to a research project. My project aimed at exploring traces of Caribbean settlement in certain areas of West London and, through photo-elicitation interviews, it found that 'place' is both made and negotiated through certain artistic and cultural practices. Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, have been home to one of the largest Caribbean communities in London since the late 1950s and have a special symbolic significance for it. This is due to different reasons, including battles fought against racism there (riots in 1958, 1970 and 1976) and the famous Notting Hill carnival - a celebration of Caribbean unity and strength (Cohen 1993: 3). Caribbean creative practices and artistic forms, deployed in the area over the years, manifest individual and collective agencies that continue to fuel a politics of resistance and community consolidation. The exhibition, through the visual works of research participants, highlighted some of these practices and the sites in which they happen, with a focus on calypso music, carnival arts and individual photographic activities. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | Participants started a conversation about their different responses to the study, hence to their negotiating place, by looking at the images that were displayed. The rest of the audience learnt about the existence of Caribbean cultural sties in the area that survived gentrification and considered going to support Caribbean cultural activities. |
| Title | Poetic photo album - "Latino and Caribbean Londoners negotiating place and engaging with urban regenreation" |
| Description | A handmade photo album with images resulting from photo-elicitation interviews conducted with Caribbean and Latin American participants in Notting Hill-Ladbroke Grove and Elephant and Castle, respectively. Each image was accompanied by a poetic caption, similar to the Japanese haiku, generated by myself using the text from the interviews transcripts. Each caption was approved by the apposite participants. The point of this artefact was to render research data palpable to a wider audience using a creative approach. It was presented at the Research Methods Festival organised by the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership in November 2019. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | The artefact was greatly appreciated by research participants who felt "I had translated their feelings and experiences in a simple and effective manner". It also aroused the interest of a series of academics, who thought "it might be an effective way to ensure attention from audiences". |
| Title | The Elephant in the Room |
| Description | This is a photography exhibition that will take place in August or September 2020 in Elephant and Castle, London. The images displayed are the results of my fieldwork in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre (which is due to be dismantled in July 2020). The exhibition is to be held in the spaces that Latin American traders, who now run stores at the shopping centre, will occupy once relocated. They represent everyday life in the (then) late shopping centre and the traders's old stores. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | The points of the exhibition are: to commemorate the spaces that Latin American traders used to run for years prior to their urban regeneration-induced displacements, to inaugurate the new spaces, as well as invite viewers to engage with their commercial activities. |
| Description | Postcolonial Heritage Research Group seminar series - Decolonising institutions |
| Organisation | Goldsmiths, University of London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Co-organising a seminar series with the Postcolonial Heritage Research Group to be held at Goldsmiths College (University of London) in spring 2020. It will consists of a series of panels and a workshop around the themes of 'Decolonisation of Institutions and Obstacles to it". I am contributing by organising a visual workshop around the Goldsmiths campus and by helping run one of the panels, focusing on the themes of visualisations and exhibitions . |
| Collaborator Contribution | I am organising an interactive workshop closing the seminar series to explore the tensions surrounding decolonisation in institutional settings. It consists of a photo walk during which participants are encouraged to walk around the Goldsmiths campus and immortalise what they think constitute obstacles to its decolonisation and/or its decolonisation successes. It is leaderless and people are free to explore individually, in pairs or groups. The walk poses itself as an aesthetic exercise in - and to reflect on - an institutional setting which aspires to its decolonisation, yet is entangled in power relations that threaten this aim. A discussion follows the walk, during which participants are encouraged to share and compare their images and thoughts. This will be moderated by a visual sociologist/a scholar of decolonisation who will weave into the moderation his/her expert knowledge. |
| Impact | This in interdisciplinary collaboration between PhD students in Art History, History, Anthropology and Area Studies. Its impacts are expected to be of a cultural and academic type. In fact, this collaboration aims to augment the conversation about decolonisation within institutional settings, including universities and museums, and between intellectuals and arts practitioners. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Photography exhibition, Primary school students workshops, Music performance |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The event "Caribbean West London", comprising of workshops, music performances and a photography exhibition, was held on the 31st of October 2018 (the last day of Black History Month). It was one of the results of my MSRM (Master in Social Research Methods - part of my studentship) dissertation, entitled "Caribbean Older People Negotiating Place in an Era of Gentrification". It was held in a local international school which, for the occasion, in the evening opened its doors to the general public. The objectives of the event were: augmenting exchange between academia and wider society, sharing complex concepts about long term residents of the area with a young audience, and finally, providing a space for research participants to share the experience of their involvement in the project and discuss issues they raised individually in a group. During the day, different activities took place, which imparted knowledge on Caribbean cultural practices in west London to a young and varied community, aged 5 to 12. These included interactive Calypso music performances, carnival masks making and a workshop especially designed to explore the concepts of migration and diaspora - involving a large world map and felt-tip pens. In the evening, research participants, members of the Caribbean community and beyond were invited to see a photography exhibition and a live Calypso performance by a local artist. The exhibited images were products of the photo-elicitation endeavour undertaken by research participants as part of the project. Photo-elicitation is a research method by which research participants are encouraged to take and share photographs pertinent to a research project. My project aimed at exploring traces of Caribbean settlement in certain areas of West London and, through photo-elicitation interviews, it found that 'place' is both made and negotiated through certain artistic and cultural practices. Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, have been home to one of the largest Caribbean communities in London since the late 1950s and have a special symbolic significance for it. This is due to different reasons, including battles fought against racism there (riots in 1958, 1970 and 1976) and the famous Notting Hill carnival - a celebration of Caribbean unity and strength (Cohen 1993: 3). Caribbean creative practices and artistic forms, deployed in the area over the years, manifest individual and collective agencies that continue to fuel a politics of resistance and community consolidation. The exhibition, through the visual works of research participants, highlighted some of these practices and the sites in which they happen, with a focus on calypso music, carnival arts and individual photographic activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |