Emotional Cartography of Everyday Heritage via Photography

Abstract

This paper presented the results of a heritage education intervention in a non-formal context via a collective photographic exhibition organised by a cultural association. In accordance with the Faro Convention on the value of cultural heritage for society, people’s role in the construction and sustaining of their identity is recognised, and the fostering of shared responsibility towards the environment was sought. A mixed methodology was employed in order to evaluate the effects of participation in this project on the perception of heritage, to analyse what relationship there was between this conception and the photographic output, and to explain to what extent participation in a collective exhibition had an influence on the emotional resignification of everyday heritage. The results showed that the participants modified their traditional conception of heritage towards a symbolic-identity type, consciously questioned their relationship and commitment with everyday places, and rediscovered their environment by way of a contextualised learning sequence.