The pictorial meaning-making in a community project in Helsinki. Freirean interpretations of a dialogical process

The participation in the public discourse belongs to the democratic citizenship. A part of population, however, is excluded from the common discussion. This paper describes how the photography group Camera Obs., which principally contained unemployed people in Helsinki, through a dialogical process creates pictorial voice from their own everyday life and brings it visible also to other people. The research focuses on the process from the beginning of the project to its first exhibition during the years 2004–2006. As a theoretical background, Paulo Freire’s ideas of dialogue and voice creation, combined by Vygotsky’s and Mezirow’s concept of meaning-making, have been applied. The research is conducted by participatory action research approach. The material consists of observations, interviews and photos taken by the participants. In describing the advance of the meaning-making, the method of narrative change accounting is used. The paper concludes that the group, through reflective dialogue, created a pictorial voice about its member’s lifeworlds. The photo exhibition of Camera Obs. conveyed the message about loneliness and isolation, which reached the spectators of the exhibition. To the participants of the group, the successful common photography working, the reciprocity with the audience and the publicity, gave experience and courage for the civic activity.