Inhabiting the image: photography, therapy and re-enactment phototherapy

Abstract

Photography, this ubiquitous medium that most people use and that has the potential to be democratic, too often ends up as a repetition of conventional iconic images. However, photographs offer up the possibilities of a slippery surface of meanings and potential narratives for the viewer, which are the rich veins that phototherapy explores. Therapeutic work with found images and alternative visual diaries is discussed. The traditional family album as a repository of partially explored memories is contrasted with its role in constructing a mythology of an ideal. The evolution of re-enactment phototherapy, the creation of new photographic representations through performative re-enactments within the therapeutic relationship, is described. Since the gaze is fundamental to a photographic exchange, theories of the gaze and identity formation are briefly mapped. The therapeutic gaze, the performativity within the re-enactment phototherapy session and the importance of embodiment and transformation are discussed, and the notion of the process as a form of creative adult play. A case study is included to illustrate the methodology. Why and how these new photographs can be used within the therapeutic process is explored. The questions arising when this work moves from process to product are considered.