Center for Women´s Health and Wellness
Through the Eyes of a Survivor - Using Photovoice to help formerly battered women
When you look at a blank wall, what is the first thing that you think about? You may think that the wall is barren and needs pictures or that you do not like the color. This is not what one woman saw after being abused by her husband. For her, the blank wall holds memories, memories of food being thrown at the wall and at her. Memories of when her arm was broken because she did not "cook dinner right" for the 1000th time. To her that wall is just not a wall, but memories of her ex-husband and the abuse she suffered at his hands. Thus, the old adage that a "picture is worth 1,000 words" holds true for her.
In order to help women disrupt revictimization and move forward beyond domestic violence, Beth Haymore, a recent graduate from Public Health Education and graduate assistant in CWHW implemented a study entitled Through the Eyes of a Survivor. The study used a concept known as photovoice, whereby people, in this case, formerly battered women, took photographs and wrote narratives about them. This process empowered them to define for themselves their experiences and find ways to explain it to others.
Collectively, the images and words have the potential to provide a powerful way for a community to learn about the tragedy of domestic violence, and hopefully, work for change. Through the Eyes of a Survivor was a 10-week program, which was implemented in partnership with a domestic violence agency in rural North Carolina. The participants met regularly in a safe place to share their photographs and narratives with each other.
The project served as Beth's Capstone experience for her Master's program. The program concluded with a focus group to examine the extent to which participants believed that Photovoice helped them to process their experiences and move beyond re-victimization and how it could be used as a tool for community action.
Data from this project was analyzed and currently, Beth and Dr. Smith are working to produce a manuscript as well as write a grant to help expand and further evaluate the effectiveness of this program in rural areas. The following is a short video, which is a compilation of the participant's pictures.