Michael Anranter 

Michael Anranter is a PhD student at the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. He specializes in researching the connections of individuals and communities with the natural and built environment and grey infrastructure. Michael Anranter's research relies on a combination of intensive participant observation and participatory photo interviews. 

Together with Oikodrom - The Vienna Institute for Urban Sustainability, Michael Anranter has conducted participatory photo-interviews to research public infrastructure in settlements in Serbia, Bulgaria and Austria (DANUrB Danube Urban Brand; 2017-2018). As part of his university studies, Michael carried out photo-interviews with asylum seekers in Bolzano, Italy (2016) and with inhabitants of Vidin, Bulgaria (2019) At the University of Vienna, Michael is a member of the “Transdisciplinary Vienna Visual Studies” group. 

What drove you to use photovoice or participatory photography and what motivated you to stay?   

Having come to photography as a student through selling cameras, I first explored the richness of image corpora and image interpretation techniques in courses on documentary film, image interpretation and politically motivated iconoclasm. The obvious consequence for me was then to use visual methods for data collection. I started with participatory sketches and later with participatory photo interviews. 

The motivation to keep using participatory photo interviews as a method over several years has two reasons. Firstly, I was immediately convinced by the wide range of areas of application. I could think about photovoice in the context of applied urban and regional planning, but also as a technique for mediation. Finally, of course I saw the many advantages of not just enriching but starting from visual data in research. Secondly, I was intrigued by the constantly evolving materiality of photography in general and participatory photography in particular. Over the years, I have worked with disposable and instant cameras, mobile phone photography, renderings and historical private and public photographs. 

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone new to photovoice?  

During the photo interviews, I always had the feeling that my interviewees had taken photos on the topic they had been asked to talk about; however, in the conversations they often told me about completely different photos. These were often pictures of family members and formative life events. Sometimes also, my research participants were not the authors of the photos. Had I lost the thread? I don't think so. 

In order to contextualize research-relevant statements, I'd advise people applying photovoice for the first time, to leave plenty of space for photos and narratives that are not strictly connected to their actual research interest and to the photographic task shared with research participants. Switching between topics, motifs, and authorships might help you with meeting this task and better understand the relationship to visual representations in general. 

What has been a favorite photovoice or participatory photography project of yours? Would you be able to share any project photos with us? 

One of my favorite photovoice projects I've ever done is also the first one. The aim of that project was to research the perception of the urban space in Bolzano (Italy) through the eyes of newly arrived asylum seekers. The project took place in the summer of 2013 and formed the basis for my final thesis for my Master's degree at the Institute of Cultural and Social Sciences at the University of Vienna. What made the project so particular for me, is that it could contribute to reducing at least a bit the waiting time of my interlocutors, a situation I did not come across too often in other research settings again. On the other hand, with the help of asylum seekers, I was able to get to know my home town for a second time - an experience and knowledge that touches me to this day. 

What lessons have you learned throughout your career?   

Over the years, photovoice and participatory photo interviews have taught me that methods in science are far less complete and detached than often conveyed in lectures and courses. Combining image, text, and material is the first stage. With greater understanding of the pros and cons of a research method, comes the realization that both qualitative and quantitative research designs can be expanded to include visual methods. This insight helped me to develop an approach to research that focuses on the quality of the congregated evidence rather than data extraction as such.  

What are the most critical changes we need to make to photovoice and participatory photography to face the future effectively?   

I have not done a photovoice project in the last 3 years. In this sense, I would find it presumptuous to name critical changes necessary for a photovoice transition into the future. What I can do is to focus on the role and act of photography as such. In the last decades we have surely seen a dramatic shift regarding peoples’ media literacy. While media literacy was the purview of experts years ago, today a lot of people (at least pretend, but many really are) are trained in the use of photography. They know much more about staging scenes, but also about the editing and processing of photos. There is also a new attitude towards sharing and talking about photographs. Compared to when people started to take photos with their mobile phones on a broader scale ten years ago, taking, but especially sharing photos and videos has become an integral part of daily life.  Last but not least, with cell phone photography evolving and visual socials becoming ever more important, there is also a need to examine the new qualities of photographs. How can we deal with photos that are more extensions or distortions of realities rather than the realities we once aimed to talk about? 

Is there a specific way you’d like to see photovoice implemented that hasn’t been done before?  

We constantly see trends on social media that are shared by thousands of people. I would find it exciting to do a photovoice project that lives from the virality of the format and combines quantitative and qualitative parameters. The project would be fully virtual. While the image and text sequences collected under a certain hashtag are analyzed quantitatively for modifications and possibly visual and text segments, qualitative interviews would be conducted with selected participants. 

The project would be useful to better understand under what conditions people are happy to share their pictures, including explanations. It would also help to understand a specific comparative condition and how this very condition is perceived differently around the world. For my own work, I’d be interested in human-environmental/infrastructural relationships. What is of course problematic with this idea: how to create trends or virality?  

When working on a photovoice or participatory photography project how do you ensure you are not speaking for or over the communities you are supporting?  

If speaking for a community, I think it is crucial to carefully mark-up authorship. It must be clear what comes from the community and what from the researcher or group interpretations. For me, this means a lot of careful work with original sounds. Stick to the formulations, the words your participants have been using! 

Also, if requested by the authors of a photograph, be ready to remove it immediately and at no cost. 

How has COVID influenced the way you use Photovoice? Are there any new strategies you intend to keep?  

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was on a research stay of several months in Bulgaria. Methodologically, I was working with participant observation more than with photovoice back then. In order to stay in contact with my interlocutors during the hard lockdowns however, I increasingly began to use digital media to maintain acquaintances. Here, my experience and knowledge of working with visual material (more than photography) became helpful. Later, when lockdowns were over, I talked to my interlocutors about their experiences from the lockdown. In these conversations I would repeatedly start with photos shared and comments made. Sure, photos and statements had been shared for different purposes. Nevertheless though, whatever came with the reflection and interpretation of their former statements and photographs reminded me very much about the particular stages of participatory photo interviews.