Everyday life on the mountainsides of China remains largely undocumented and
inaccessible. What little information we do have about the lives and work of
Chinese peasant women is filtered through the eyes of anthropologists or
photojournalists from other places and cultures. The photovoice project Village
Works: Photographs by Women in China's Yunnan Province shows the lives of these
women through their own photographs and stories.
Photovoice was developed by Caroline Wang (School of Public Health) as a public health methodology. "Photovoice embraces the basic principles that images teach, pictures can influence policy, and community people ought to create the images and text that inspire healthful public policy," says Wang. The participants first discuss power, ethics, and the use of cameras. They are introduced to the photovoice concept and method, and meet regularly to discuss their photographs, codifying the issues, themes, or theories that arise from them. Finally, they share their recommendations and insights with policy makers, journalists, and the broader community through venues that include public forums, newspaper spreads, exhibitions, and slide shows.
In 1992, Wang joined the Ford Foundation-supported Women's Reproductive Health and Development Program, and drew on her experience in documentary photography and community health education to originate the photovoice method. Wang and her Chinese counterparts focused on enabling Yunnan rural women to accomplish three goals: to photograph their health and work realities; to increase their collective knowledge about their living environment and health status; and to inform policymakers about the health and community issues of the greatest concern to rural women.
Sixty-two women, representing over 50 villages, received training in the techniques and process of photovoice. The women ranged in age from 18-57 years; their educational level varied from pre-literate to senior high school graduate; and they came from four ethnic groups-Hmong, Yi, Hui, and Han. Through their group discussions about the content of their visual images, these farmers voiced the need for specific changes in their townships and counties. As a result of the farmers' advocacy and participation, new programs and policies arose, including cooperative-style day care for children, midwifery training for indigenous women, need-blind scholarships for girls, health literacy for adults, biogas tanks for families, and pig raising for income generation.
The women told rich stories about their photographs, but not all of them were able to read or write. In order to preserve their verbal accounts so that they could be communicated in exhibitions, the women were interviewed, and the words accompanying the women's photographs were taken from these conversations.
The photographic works of these farmers exceeded their own expectations as well as those of hundreds of cadres from the provincial, county, and township organizations that facilitated the project. The youngest participant, then 17-year-old Tao Lili of Caoge Village, said, "I never dreamed our hands could produce pictures that would be on exhibition and published, because I thought our hands could only cook and plant."
These farmers, who are also village mothers and daughters, are rarely seen and heard, despite their extraordinary contribution to the labor force. As this exhibition bears witness, the village works.
Selections from the project will be on display at Lane Hall, the International Institute, the Institute for the Humanities, and the School of Public Health.
The photovoice collaborators are grateful to The Ford Foundation, the Dr. Babette Becker Asian Studies Fund, Sandra Cohen and David Bakalar Fund for Art, Kathryn Wasserman Davis '28 Fund for World Cultures and Leadership, E. Franklin Robbins Charitable Trust, The Helena Rubinstein Foundation, The Henry Luce Foundation, and Wellesley College Friends of Art for generously supporting the development of Village Works.
Lucy Flint-Gohlke of the Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, lent invaluable leadership to curating the Village Works exhibition.
More information is available at www.photovoice.com