Free “Mozambique” Film Screening at the Egyptian Theatre for 7th Artivist Film Festival

We are happy to announce that a documentary short by teenager Alcides Soares, a participant in Venice Arts’ project in Mozambique, The House Is Small But The Welcome Is Big, will screen at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood as part of the 7th Artivist Film Festival on Saturday, Dec. 4. The film, titled “Mozambique,” is about finding home and family after losing both parents to AIDS. The film will screen along with “Coexist” and “Maasai at the Crossroads.” Please spread the word to your friends and we hope to see you there!

Read more

Photovoice Research: Examining The Transition to Manhood For Young Black Men in Los Angeles

Photovoice is a participatory photography and digital storytelling methodology proposed by Caroline C. Wang and Mary Ann Burris 1994. They described it as a process that “entrusts cameras to the hands of people to enable them to act as recorders, and potential catalysts for change, in their own communities,” in their 1997 essay Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment.

In practice, photovoice is often used by public health researchers, exclusively or in tandem with other methodologies, to develop qualitative data. Pictures taken by respondents are used as a tool to help them describe their lives and health concerns to researchers.

While still considered an avant-garde research technique, photovoice is an emerging tool in the medical field. It presents a new way to gather data but, at the same time, raises ethical questions for some researchers. UCLA health services PhD candidate Nazleen Bharmal, M.D., recently completed a photovoice project that examines the turbulent transition to manhood young black men face in Los Angeles. [LINK] Click on to read more about her experience with photovoice.