Elaborated images as decolonial praxis

Abstract

Among lens-based artists and educators, the generative potential of annotating photographs, especially in participatory contexts, is commonly understood. Responding to a lack of cohesive labelling and description of these practices in the literature, the authors identify them as elaborated images and categorise how the method operates. Elaborated images unsettle the authoritative perspective of the photographer, since, by layering their reactions directly atop the photograph, participants actively disrupt static notions of meaning. We argue that elaborated images as a visual method can enable researchers to emphasise polyphony, honour refusal, support truth-telling, contribute to the restoration of relationships, and imagine alternative futures. We draw on the participatory art practices of a growing number of social documentary photographers and consider what their approaches could bring to visual research.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laurence Butet-Roch

Laurence Butet-Roch is a photographer, writer and PhD candidate in Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto. Her research unsettles mainstream representation of environmental contamination in Canada through participatory visual discourse analysis and collaborative photographic approaches. It is supported by a Joseph Armand-Bombardier SSHRC award, the Sylff Foundation, and the Susan Mann dissertation scholarship.

Deanna Del Vecchio

Deanna Del Vecchio is a doctoral candidate in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Her research, supported by awards including a Jackman Humanities Institute Graduate Fellowship and a Mexican government scholarship for international students, explores the use of participatory photography methodology in social movements in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.