What is Photovoice?
Photovoice = Community Participatory Action Research + Photography
Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR) is a method of research that encourages the participation of community members in order to solve issues within the community related to public health, disparities, social justice, and more. PhotoVoice is a method of CPAR that elicits community participation through the use of photography and reflective captioning to depict the relevant community issue (Candace I.J. Nykiforuk, 2011).

Healthy Archuleta partnered with Goal High School to implement the Photovoice project with their students. Photovoice gave these youth the opportunity to learn about the local food system, identify the issues and opportunities in their community related to food system/ food equity, and express themselves in an artistic way.

Each week, students took several pictures independently and came to group to share their voices on the topic ending with the selection of their favorite image at the end of each session.  Another important aspect of the project was to caption their selected photo in a meaningful and analytical way.

Gallery Day

In January 2023, the Photovoice project ended up with a beautiful gallery to celebrate the youth’s work. The Students displayed their most meaningful photo & caption at the gallery. Parents, teachers, and a few members of the community attended the gallery and had a chance to talk with the youth and learn their perspective. It was a wonderful experience to see youth involved in a project like this, to see their growth, and learning process. We are excited to see what the future brings for these young people and are grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from them! ​

Students Photos and Captions