Introduction

This exercise can be combined with an exercise pairing old and new photos (during the same session or as a different, continuation workshop).

This exercise is for working and examining old photos in a group setting. It is facilitated discussion about the photos and memories, experiences or feelings associated within them. The group size for this exercise shouldn't be too big (4–7 is ideal) but with larger groups you have an option to divide them into smaller ones to make listening and sharing, asking and answering easier.

This is a great exercise to use that is not very dependent on the heritage type that is being approached, but needs some relevant photo material gathered beforehand. This exercise was used in the HEART project to explore villagehood thematics. The exercise was used with an older group of people and with old photos specifically, but same type of exercise could also be used with younger age groups with old photos (think and discuss how and why this photo is connected to intangible cultural heritage?) or with newer photos (what kind of intangible cultural heritage is connected or has led to the contents of this photo?). 

Overall working with photographs in this style of a workshop format is quite an open method and it can be fitted to suit your needs depending on your target group and set of photos available. "Let go of the state of knowing and allow yourself into the state of not-knowing, allow yourself also to learn."

Dialogue with the old photos

The purpose and aim(s) of this exercise

• To examine old photos
• To have a dialogue about the things seen in the photos, the memories, the experiences, the feelings

How/why does this exercise enable transformative learning?

• The dialogue is free and open, and participants bring to the table the things that they find interesting.
• When someone talks about a memory or experience, different views are shared.
• Open dialogue creates a space of trust where participants can feel safe to share and learn.
• Dialogue is a sphere of listening and sharing, asking and answering, thinking and reconsidering, ideas and imagination

The ideal number of participants

• For a fluent conversation and feeling of trust and participation, the number of participants shouldn’t be too big.
• 4–7 active participants would be ideal.
• If you have more participants, you can share the participants in smaller groups with their own materials

Duration

• If you have lots of photos and material, it’s good to examine them in shorter periods.
• An effective duration could be 1–1.5 hours.
• Sense the atmosphere, and take enough short breaks, participating in an active dialogue can be very energy consuming

Materials required

• Old photos.
• It could be also other older pictures, like clippings from magazines.
• Recording equipment to record the dialogue to be used afterwards if you wish to use it for texts or to capture the dialect or speech in some way.
• If you like, you can also make notes with paper and pen during the exercise, this can be made by the art educator, or you can agree together if some of the participants would like to do it.

Description of the exercise step by step

• Gather the participants together, for example around a table is a good set so that everyone can see and hear eachother.
• Spread the photos on the table.
• Start a dialogue, you can do this by asking something about the photos or a single photo.
• Let people talk about the photos and themes that they find interesting.
• Reinforce the dialogue and participation, listen, ask, be interested, involve everyone.
• If needed, you can guide the dialogue with questions – you can use ready material e.g. the questions from the Spinner of Living Heritage (Tool to discuss living heritage from the perspective of sustainable development, made by Finnish Heritage Agency in collaboration with the Association of Cultural Heritage Education in Finland).
• Find together the themes of heritage that resonate with you.
• Sum up the exercise by making notes of the themes and photos that you have chosen together to work with.

Other essential things

• The photos and pictures need to be printed and good enough quality for an easy examination.
• You can utilize already collected and ready material, e.g. Finna archives. (Finna is a finnish search service for finding material from archives, libraries, museums and other organisations. Keep in mind that archived material may be under copyright!)
• This exercise could also be made more personal by asking the participants to bring their own old photos and share the stories behind them.

Tips to the instructor (what must be considered when doing this exercise)

• You are the instructor, but you can also consider yourself as one of the participants.
• Let go of the state of knowing, trust the process and and allow yourself to learn.
• Let yourself also be part of the process and dialogue and share your own thoughts about the themes.
• It’s easy to also forget yourself in the process — remember to keep in mind both the focus and aim of the exercise.