Generative Picturing: The Impact of Photographic Praxis in Situations of Cultural Difference

(Generative Bildarbeit. Die Wirksamkeit fotografischer Praxis in Situationen kultureller Differenz)
In my presentation, I consider photography as a form of action, dialogue and reflection. Referring to Paulo Freire’s work, I approach it as a generative praxis and assume the following theses: As soon as people use photography as a form of praxis, they enter a field of tension characterized by the relationships people involved have both to each other and to their respective living environments. When participants in this photographic field of tension are not fixated on only one role, but rather become equally active as photographers, motives and observers, then photography can serve as a field of mutual learning and research in order to better handle situations of cultural difference. Building on this idea, I present the methodological framework of generative picturing. This is a systematization of photographic praxis in order to make its impact useful for interactive work in situations of cultural difference.