This contribution aims to reflect, starting from a narrative literature review (Bourhis,2017) on the potential and critical issues offered by photography as a research tool with children. In the field of research with children in recent decades, the UNCRC has pioneered what can be conceptualised as a rights-based approach to the study of children (Garcia-Quiroga, M., & Agoglia,2020), in which participatory approaches should be applied (Bradbury-Jones, 2014;). This has led to a recognition of children as social actors in their own right (O’Hara&Higgins, 2019). In particular, General Comment No. 12 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2009), mentions the need, when referring especially to young children, to value non-verbal forms of communication – that allow children to express their choices, preferences and demonstrate understanding – including use of artistic languages.
Visual images have played a role in different disciplinary fields, from drawings in early medical books to photographs in visual anthropology ( Collier&Collier, 1986). In the field of education, photography has been widely used as a visual archive (Holm,2014: 382) concerning spaces (Grosvenor et Al, 2004), schools, and the marginalised (Devlieger et Al., 2008). Over the last few decades, however, there has been a gradual increase in the use of this tool, particularly in research with children (Clark, 2005; Prosser&Burke,2008). It is possible to distinguish three types of materials in research using photography: photographs taken by the researcher, photographs taken by the participants and the use of existing photographs (Holm, 2014).
This contribution is part of a larger doctoral project, a qualitative research that intends to explore the lived experience of children in alternative care, in inhabiting the spaces of residential care homes.
It will primarily focus on what is identified in the literature as "Participant photography". Participatory photography (Clover, 2006; Daniels, 2003) is a visual method in which research participants are encouraged, using photography, to visually document their social landscapes (Allen,2012: 443). Photography provides the basis to reflect and generate personal narratives. This technique can be particularly powerful for human populations whose voice has been historically marginalised (Wang, 2003). Furthermore, children in alternative care are more likely to be excluded from participatory projects. Other relevant examples are Photovoice (Wang,2003;), Photo Elicitation Interview (Collier, 1957; Harper, 2002) and Mosaic Approach (Clark,2005), a multimodal approach that also allows photography.
Children, in producing visual material, and thus representations, become co-participants in the production of knowledge, and promote a sense of ownership to the study, also balancing the power between participants and researchers (O’Hara et Al., 2019). This can lead to the "overturning" of more traditional research approaches - focused on verbal and text form - and characterised by an adult-centred perspective (Semec, 2018).
Photography can help to capture the everyday and lived experience of childhood or adolescence, often promoting children and young people as the subjects at the centre of research (O'Hara&Higgins, 2019). It represents a potentially flexible and inclusive process for their expression, meeting a variety of needs such as language barriers and disabilities (Hergenrather, K. et Al, 2009). Photographs are not only a window into children's lives but are a specific cultural construction (Kinnunen&Puroila, 2016). Caine (2010), describes photography as a process of composing who we are and as a way of expressing our individual experiences. It is also a strategy to encourage discussion of experience and abstract concepts (O’Hara et Al.,2019) and is also used to promote social justice (Luttrell,2010).
