Interfaith Photovoice founder Roman Williams will facilitate a photovoice workshop in which participants use their own photographs to have conversations about how their beliefs, practices and values show up in everyday life in Walla Walla and on campus.

What is photovoice?

Our visual storytelling approach involves people from various backgrounds using their own photos to share stories about what their beliefs, practices, and values look like in everyday life. Participants share and discuss their pictures and find a shared vision for the common good as conversations unfold. Along the way, they open up about the experiences and commitments they share, and the barriers they encounter as people of faith navigating a pluralistic world. Photovoice projects identify needs, raise awareness, and encourage change. 

Do I need to be a (good) photographer?

These days everyone is a photographer. If you used your mobile phone to snap a photo in the last week, you have the experience needed to participate. You just need to be willing to use your smartphone or camera to tell your story.

How do I prepare?

In preparation for the workshop, you’ll need to compose a series of photos in response to the following prompt: What do your beliefs and values look like in everyday life? Snap 3-5 photos and email them to photos@interfaithphotovoice.org by the end of the day Wednesday, April 29 and show up, bring your best self, and be ready to talk about them on Friday, May 1. The photos should be photos you personally composed. If you didn’t send your photos ahead of time, no worries. Just show up with your photos on your smartphone.

Interfaith Photovoice?

Interfaith Photovoice employs a tried-and-true technique called photovoice, which combines amateur photography and structured dialogue, to help individuals, organizations, and communities to see deeply, bridge divides, and instigate change. Photovoice has been around since the 1990s. The process uses photographs to give voice to people and their concerns: participants identify needs, raise awareness, and pursue change. Our process invites people to use their smartphone cameras to compose photos of their everyday lives and then to share their stories with people from different religious, spiritual, and secular backgrounds. Through this process participants develop relationships across difference, religious literacy, empathy, and a common vision for the common good.