Photovoice Project

The Images of Incoming exhibition is the result of a project which engaged with some 70 women from Northern Ireland and Canada.  The Northern Ireland -Canadian project emerged from an initial partnership between Queen’s University Belfast’s Open Learning (Adult Education) Programme and the University of Fraser Valley, British Columbia’s Adult Education Department.  The University of Atypical for Arts and Disability, Northern Ireland’s lead organisation on arts and disability, later joined the partnership to curate an exhibition of photographs from participants, facilitate the creation of an accessible website and make a documentary film – recognising the importance of accessible dissemination and impact.

The project participants were women from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures, from Africa to China to Indian and Pakistan, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Kosovo, Kurdistan, East Timor and Mauritius.  The women took photographs to express their sense of exclusion and belonging in their new country and came together through a series of online workshops to discuss their images.  The Northern Irish participants were able to gain Open Learning credits for their participation.

The rich insights of the project will help inform all those working with incomer people, including policy makers about what are the key issues and how they can be addressed.

The Queen’s University Belfast’s Open Learning (Adult Education) Department offers our thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the Images of Incoming project and we are privileged  that the participants have given so freely of their time and shared their experiences with us.