Anatomy of the before and after: photovoice for (en)during weight loss

In this essay, I situate the body as a visual storytelling device and explore photovoice as a technology of the self, giving (visual)voice to my embodied sensemaking. Photovoice boldly embraces subjective lived experience as the catalyst for action and advocacy through the incorporation of photography (self- or other-focused) into the research process. These (auto)ethno-(photo)graphic endeavors fit within the wider spectrum of performance- and arts-based research, which are guided by aesthetics. Through reflexive, critical analysis of my conflicting experiences with identity and weight, I situate the body as a site where meaning is both imbued and embedded. I argue that photography, employed as a critically reflexive practice, provides multilayered storied (in)visibility. I hope to inspire others to utilize photovoice as a pedestrian mechanism of sensemaking with great utility for interrogating epistemological standpoints, sensemaking, and identity, ultimately telling our visual stories in ways that aural- or text-centric mechanisms alone cannot convey, particularly for narratives of progress.

在本研究论述中，笔者将身体视为视觉叙事载体，并将摄影发声法（photovoice）作为一种自我技术展开探究，为自身的具身化意义建构赋予（视觉）话语权。摄影发声法大胆地将主观亲历经验作为行动与倡导的催化剂，通过将（聚焦自我或他人的）摄影手段融入研究流程，实现相关目标。此类（自动）民族志摄影类研究实践，隶属于以美学为导向的表演与艺术导向研究的广阔范畴。通过对自身在身份认同与体重层面的矛盾经历开展反思性批判性分析，笔者将身体定位为意义被赋予与嵌入的场域。笔者提出，作为批判性反思实践的摄影方法，能够提供兼具叙事性的多层级可见与不可见表达。笔者期望启发他人将摄影发声法作为日常化的意义建构工具，该工具在拷问认识论立场、意义建构与身份认同方面具备极高效用，最终以仅靠听觉或文本为中心的手段无法达成的方式，讲述我们的视觉故事——尤其在进步叙事的表达场景中。