On Collaborative Photography and Anthony Luvera

Fig. 1: Luvera 2016. Collaboration in Research and Artistic Practice.

In a round table edition of Photoworks Annual,  Ben Burbridge notes that collaborative photography, or sometimes termed community photography, is continually growing in greater interest.  And the lines between creators, subjects and audiences are becoming blurred together (Burbridge et. all 2014). 

I am interested in exploring this form of photography since I hope to experiment with it in a workshop I am hoping to hold in August.  However the thought of this is somewhat terrifying for me since I have never done anything like this in photography before, and definitely consider it out of my comfort zone. 

Anthony Luvera, was a guest speaker at Falmouth University on June 25th 2019, and I found myself taking some fast and furious notes on the subject! (I didn't catch it live- since it was 4am my time - apparently my true love for photography has its limits!- but I was able to watch the taping of it later on).  Good timing since collaboration was the theme for this weeks activities in Surfaces and Strategies. 

Anthony has worked many years as subjects as participants, with a variety in range from metal health, addictions, homelessness, at-risk kids, LGBTQ etc. 

Some of the terms associated with his work are:
Participatory
Collaborative
Socially Engaged

Luvera (and I have heard Wendy Ewald stress this as well) emphasized the importance of the process as much as the end result.  (Wendy goes a step further to include the viewing of the final project,  in their community as just as an important process of the project as well).

This is what I find interesting - Luvera mentioned that participatory art appears enabled and unmediated, but in reality it just asserts the subject more directly into the artists interpretation of the subject themselves.  This resonates as truth to me and is how I have been feeling about the whole participatory project (projects where authenticity is invoked but also questioned).  If the subject and the author explore the process over a period of time, and pedagogy is involved, the subject may still be heavily influenced by the photographer or director and 'led' in a direction.  If the photographer or leader works together to create the final product; the what, how, where, and when, then their mark is left in that area as well.  I've observed that this is why the term 'in degrees' is used often when talking about the control of the project. 


Later for me:

Its really got me thinking- what will be my technical, methodological, strategical, and conceptual ideas?  How will it best be facilitated and contextualized?  And how will authorship come into play?

What kind of specific activity or activities can I facilitate to cultivate the contribution of my participants- what will be my methodology?  Since this is just a trial run the methodology won't be spread out over much time, but will be condensed into one setting.  Hopefully there will still be insight.

Children often use art and imagination to process the world around them, and art (usually in the form of drawing) to express it. I hope to add photography as a useful medium in there desire to do so. 

Who will I partnership with?

Can collaboration with the 'mindfulness' exercises for children be beneficial?

My collaborative project and images won't really be about power or social justice.  But focusing (more similarly with Wendy Ewalds work) on how children view and communicate through imagery, and how they can use photography to understand, express, and process the world around them. 


Figure 1: Luvera 2016. Collaboration in Research and Artistic Practice. Available at: http://www.luvera.com/ [accessed online June 29 2019].

BURBRIDGE, BEN; LUVERA, ANTHONY; DAW, MATT; DEWDNEY, ANDREW; STACEY, NONI; DOLBERG, EUGENIE. 2014. 'Roundtable: Community Photography, Now and Then.' Photoworks Annual.  Issue 21, p126-150. Available at: https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=f54a72f3-1788-42f8-8b95-5a6cb0877e01%40sessionmgr102

LUVERA, A. 2019. Guest Lecture with Anthony Luvera. Falmouth Universtiy. Available (with login) at: https://falmouthflexible.instructure.com/courses/249/conferences