Photolanguage: Philippines

How Group Media Works

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A Douse of Inspiration

Photolanguage is a technique that utilizes evocative and symbolic

pictures for self-expression, communications and group
development.
The term was coined in France in the mid-1960s by the religious audio-visual thinkers
Pierre Babin, Will, and Claire Belisle and their colleagues at the Centre Recherche et
Communication/Audio Visuel Expression de lajoi (CREC-AVEX) in Lyons, France. They
developed a method and published several sets of Photolanguage which, in turn,
inspired other collections around the world.

The challenge of creating a photolanguage for the Philippines was tackled by Jesuit
Father Ibarra (oNimil) Gonzalez, who worked with a team from Sonolux Asia to take the
photographs and test them with various groups. Out of 2000 photos, he retained 225
which proved most useful because of their suggestive power, their capacity of
projection, their aesthetic and symbolic value.

The result, Photolauguage Philippines is a series of four photo collections (Self,

Relationship, Celebration of Life andTo Build a World) plus a facilitator's manual that
provides a methodology and process for effective use. Three types of users were
identified by the author:

• Catechists who want the Gospel message translated in today's human realities
• Social workers who want to document human realities and understand their
dynamics
• Artists who see reality in a more sensitive way than others and who want to
participate in recreating these human realities according to the noble urgings of
their own souls breathed into them by their creator.

When the pictures and the manual are used for a photo-language session, the hoped
for result is a group of people with renewed self-awareness and a new sense of dignity,
people who can initiate change and help themselves transform their own world.

Read an interview with the author of Photolanguage: Philippines.

A Sample Exercise

You are a facilitator or animator or group leader, whatever term you like to use. Spread
the pictures on the floor. What do you want? You want to know your participants? Who
they really are? What makes them tick? Their problems? Give them the following
instructions:

"Here are 50 pictures spread on the floor. I want you to select one and only one picture
that represents you moot. All of you, the inside and the outside. Study the pictures well;
the lines, shapes, forts, the symbols, the meaning evoked by the pictures. And select
that one picture that is you, here and now. We will go around the pictures in silence...

"Now, decide on a picture which represents you most. Don't worry if two of you select
the same picture. Just remember where your picture is. The pictures not selected, put
them away, so you won't be distracted by the-. Sit don Lu a circle, so that everyone
sees you and you see everyone. And we will now share your picture."

These are the usual beginnings of a photolanguage session. Now watch and listen,
observe how every one reveals themselves to the group. You have begun the process
of evangelization and development.

On Asian Culture...

In spite of the fact that Asians are exonomically underdeveloped, we, as a people are
culturally developed and rich. Asians are generally considered sensitive. They are
perceptive in reading faces, body gestures, voice and the whole range of non-verbal
messages. Asians are also oriented visually and are keen observers. This skill, as Asian
quality, can be capitalized on and used as s tool for human development.

The LOCUS of interaction in photolanguage is the small group. This involves person-to-
person communication for change. Photolanguage sessions are also the methodologies
of group dynamics and social interactions. With the use of pictures, our often sensitive
and explosive Asian non-verbal communications can be standardized.

Breaking Dependency on the West

Another area of underdevelopment is our hang-up on "white-man's superiority." Our

educational system and educational materials are very dependent on the West. Even
our visual orientations carry western taste. Our concept of beauty is very aucasian, and
our fads and fashions are western. Our image of a good life is "American." We are
suffering from a lack of indigenized educational materials, inexpensive if possible, even
for rural areas.
Levels of Analysis

Here is the process for an in-depth analysis of one picture that results from a group
process of selecting and narrowing choices in response to a Task Question, like 'For
you, how would you picture the present situation of the Church in Asia?" There are three
levels of analysis:

• Descriptive analysis
Who is in the picture?
What are they doing?
What are their actions/reactions to what is happening?
What do they have in common? Why are they there? (Should they be there? for
what? What occasions require this type of action?)
For whom are they doing this?
What benefits can be gotten from such actions?
Should it be this way? How did this happen?
Summarize.
• Relational Analysis
What are the relationships of the elements or answers found in the first level
analysis? Negative, positive, dependent, independent relationships?
Are the elements (answers) discovered within the picture or outside the picture?
Are the elements identifiable? Are there dominant, determinant elements, cause
and effect elements?
Are there identifiable "root" causes?
Are there patterns of relationships? Combinations? Structures clear?
Give a summary of the discussion.
• Symbolic Analysis
How does the above analysis match with my warehouse of personal
experiences?
What are new or old experiences to me? Why? How come?
What is my response to the picture analysis?
What is the degree of certainty or truth of my response?
What is the level of my response: non-verbal, verbal, action response, individual,
group?

A summary of the proceedings from the 1st to the 3rd level of analysis is kept. The
group at this stage has created its own dynamism or in terms of our objective, has
started "the process of development."