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Abstract
This article responds most directly to projects of visual art making (digital stories, participatory videos, cellphilms, photography) where either virtual or physical exhibitions are seen to be central to reaching audiences, particularly community leaders and other policy makers, as part of the process of social change. For social science researchers working in the area of participatory visual research, the idea of the exhibition has increasingly come to be regarded as an essential component of such projects. Flowever, the role of exhibiting and engaging audiences is, to date, an understudied area in social research. Flow can exhibiting be seen as central to the work and not just an afterthought? Building on the literature of vernacular photography, and using one case of multiple showings of a travelling exhibition, the article addresses the politics, procedures, and pedagogy of exhibiting and curating in visual research in educational settings.
Keywords: Educational setting, exhibition, participatory visual research, pedagogy, social change
Introduction
I begin this article on the politics and pedagogy of exhibiting visual images to various audiences in community-based research by reflecting on an experience involving the Research Ethics Board (REB) of my university. As a researcher working in the area of participatory visual research to address sensitive issues such as gender-based violence and stigma in HIV and AIDS, I am used to addressing what often seems the trickiness of working with visual data, and the challenge of doing most good and least harm (see Mitchell, 2011; Mitchell, de Lange, & Nguyen, in press; Moletsane, Mitchell, Smith, & Chisholm, 2008). This ranges from ensuring that the rights of those who might be photographed are respected (and hence, the establishment of strategies such as a "no faces" protocol), to ensuring that the rights of the photographers themselves are respected, especially in relation to ownership of the photos and in terms of determining which photos might be exhibited and where. Both these concerns were central to an ethics application where I was proposing to carry out a participatory visual research study involving two groups of participants: girls and young women producing visual productions such as photos (and photo exhibitions) in relation to gender based violence, and a group of policy makers and community members who would be viewing these visual productions....