I want to share a little what I have been doing these days in Moscow, participating in the Arts Therapies Conference.
In broad terms, developed in one lecture, one workshop and one master class, I had tried to reflect on the very chance that photography could bring (and actually does) to psycho-social spaces. For developing this idea, trough main strength of photography and main references about the field (involving clinical and social applications of photography), I had wanted to open participants to the possibilities that photography can bring to psycho-social arena, either therapeutically or not.
In this regard, I have based my analysis in three different cases I have worked with in recent years, but first I had tried to establish the importance of the photographic image in our society, and prepared few possibilities for using photographs in the professional setting.
We live in a visual society. The images are used in all types of media and formats for myriad uses. All these uses have a great function: communication.
We live in a society that is undergoing a cultural revolution in which the interaction of speed and amplitude of information are crucial factors, and this new society can grow in this direction largely thanks to images.
Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, tweeter , + google , youtube, and whatsapp , are based on images . Images are on all channels used for communication. Images are instantaneous, direct , and are used mainly to say ” I was there ” or ” I like it “; or to use humor, to make visual jokes, to use irony, to express emotions… in short , we use images to communicate: to communicate more quickly and widely than in words.
We so long know about this idea but we still must be concerned about this to ensure the implications it really have.
The images are used in virtually all social spaces. So if people routinely use images to communicate, how we won’ t use it in areas of health promotion? Although the question now consist rather to focus on how to use this language. Beyond the use of conventional photographs to achieve communication with participants (clients), what is the primary use of images in therapy is facilitation. Photography is used as facilitator channel in psycho-social environments, not only to communicate (which means put in common), but to facilitate the therapeutic or not therapeutic objectives developed by professionals.
So this is the main idea I have developed these days in Moscow and will share next days in other conferences in Spain. Hope of your interest.