Digital Portraits: Photo-sharing After Domestic Violence

Digital Portraits: Photo-sharing After Domestic Violence Rachel Clarke, Peter Wright, Madeline Balaam

Culture Lab, School of Computing Science, Newcastle University

Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK {r.clarke, p.c.wright, madeline.balaam}@ncl.ac.uk

John McCarthy Department of Applied Psychology

University College Cork Cork, Ireland

[email protected]

ABSTRACT This paper explores the potential role of photography in re-building of lives after domestic violence. We worked in the context of a women’s centre where women are accessing support after leaving abusive relationships. The paper contributes a feminist participatory arts action research approach to studying photo-sharing practices and helps to frame an understanding of the ongoing tensions in the construction of self with others that the women experience. We argue that the affirmation of new bonds, control in sharing the process of ‘moving on’, and supporting discursive negotiations of privacy are important considerations for design focused on interpersonal social processes around the use of digital technology.

Author Keywords Photo-sharing; domestic violence; privacy; participation; feminism; action research

ACM Classification Keywords H5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI): Miscellaneous.

INTRODUCTION Recent studies on what have been described as ‘life disruptions’ have contributed nuanced understandings of technology use in difficult circumstances [20, 21, 24, 25]. Life disruptions can be defined as adverse changes in circumstance leading to breakdowns in family or personal relationships (e.g. homelessness, bereavement). One connected area that has so far received little attention within the HCI community is domestic violence. Many women globally experience intimate partner or domestic violence [5, 34] and recent research recognises that it is an important consideration in health and well-being [8, 29]. Despite its long-term societal impacts, there are few studies within HCI that consider the role technology plays in this domain. What research there is highlights the fact that communication technology can be double-edged. Mobile phones for example, can support a sense of security, yet they can also be used to facilitate the continued control associated with abuse [10, 24, 28, 30].

Our current work with an international women’s centre, is exploring how technology might best support women who are re-building their lives after leaving abusive relationships. Our aim with this paper is to outline the design, delivery and findings of an exploratory qualitative study, to understand how photo-sharing practices might be supported. We start with a review of literature and describe the design of a workshop process developed through a feminist participatory art action research approach and adapted from cultural probes and narrative inquiry. The approach emphasises the particularities of relationships and individual experiences as told through photographs and stories shared in the workshops. We finally discuss potential directions for future research.

The paper contributes a detailed account of respectfully negotiating and engaging with sensitive groups in the early stages of longitudinal participatory research. The research extends the current practice of feminist [2] and action research [18] approaches within HCI highlighting the importance of understanding the process of engaging with photography as a socio-technical creative practice supporting the re-construction of self and new relations. The contribution extends the work of [10] in particular by focusing on the longitudinal use of technology to support the women, rather than exclusively on communication through crisis after a disruption. We argue that the affirmation of new bonds, control in sharing the process of ‘moving on’, and supporting discursive negotiations of privacy are important considerations for design focused on interpersonal social processes around digital technology. In doing so we aim to open up discussion on a previously underexplored, but relevant area of HCI research around the social, supportive and creative potential of technology in sensitive groups of adult women leaving abusive relationships.

BACKGROUND Domestic violence is defined as an incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between adults who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members. It can include a range of psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional impediments that impact on an individual’s self esteem and longer-term familial and social relationships. It can cut across class, age, religion, ethnic groups, genders and sexualities. It is however widely recognised that the vast majority of serious and recurring violence is perpetuated by men towards women [5, 19, 34].

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Session: Crime and Conflicts CHI 2013, Changing Perspectives, Paris, France

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People experiencing domestic violence often face a number of complex communication challenges in their day-to-day lives. While these challenges are particular to every individual they might include disguising the violence, and feelings associated with it, from neighbours, friends and other non-involved family [1]. The abuser might control communication and emotional support mechanisms such as access to transport, phones and the internet [30]. Those who are technologically well connected can experience continuing threatening behaviour on their phones or through cyberstalking both whilst in the relationship and upon leaving it [28]. These combined effects not only impact on a person’s ability to distance themselves from the partner and safely move away from the situation, but also women describe the hidden effects such as shame, loss of confidence, integrity, sense of self and identity [1, 19].

Taking a feminist HCI perspective, recent research has outlined how communication technologies, while can be problematic in such situations are also important for maintaining bonds with their existing support networks at emotionally difficult times [10]. Here women creatively circumnavigate the usual socio-technical practices of keeping in touch with people to make it work for them. Tactics include creating secret messaging services, abandoning existing phones and creating new online identities through pseudonyms. This means women can keep in touch with their friends and family while avoiding their abuser.

Recent studies of ‘life disruptions’ [24], have further highlighted the impact technology can have on social relations in particular. While there is a recognition that studying the specific contexts of disruption (such as abuse, bereavement or homelessness) underlines the nuanced role technology plays in these particular situations, such studies also collectively identify three important considerations for future design, to mitigate some of the harm technology can prompt in these emotionally difficult times. These include paying attention to the dynamics of changing relations over time, being aware of the disruption of existing channels of emotional support and the necessity of managing the ubiquity of mobile communication to uphold privacy, safety and dignity in such circumstances.

[24] recognise that disruption is part of our daily lives; things don’t always go to plan. Other disciplines have also acknowledged the impact of changes prompted by illness which require ‘reworking understandings of the self and the world, redefining the disruption and life itself’ [3]. In the case of domestic violence, this becomes highly significant, where people need support from others around them, yet those closest are the ones causing harm. Reworking understandings of the self here requires more positive and nurturing settings to support changes within these times of transition. Yet this can also present many challenges. Longitudinal research points to the ongoing emotional difficulties of building and maintaining relationships after

abuse and have highlighted the impact this has on women’s longer term well-being [1, 19, 34]. Feelings of loneliness and isolation after staying in a refuge are particularly common, however, the friendships here, based on support, shared experiences and drawing strength from one another are highly valued once women leave. Women can be referred to counseling and therapy, but more informal contact and supportive group sessions are also considered valuable in re-building trust and confidence [1, 19].

We chose to explore the process of re-building new lives with an international women’s centre, where women have experiences of domestic violence. We focused on the practice of photo-sharing, as a particular kind of digital media sharing that supports face-to-face social interaction across a number of flexible formats; tangibly through prints, digitally on screens and storied through creating video sequences. Photographic sharing has been well documented as being socially enriching ‘deepening personal and community relationships’ [13]. Co-present photo-sharing, in particular, supports aspects of reminiscence and storytelling that both enable a recollection of shared experience and communication of experiences to others [23]. Furthermore, others have highlighted the importance of photography in constructing identity and relationships through acts of storytelling, while sharing photographs within the family and in group settings [16, 32, 35]. In the case of domestic violence however, photographs can also be emotionally very challenging. If most people regularly take photographs of their families and personal lives [17] viewing such pictures after difficult experiences might prompt a range of complicated emotions.

Feminist artists such [31] have used photography to de-construct and re-construct images of self and the family as therapeutic, creative, visual and performative acts. Participatory projects in areas of criminal justice and community services, have also successfully used photography with vulnerable women to raise issues of concern for political change [7, 12]. Drawing from traditions in feminist participatory action research to foster social justice agendas, sessions are developed in supportive informal groups. These take place over many months and sometimes years and focus on photographic representations of the women’s experiences, for both private use and public presentation and exhibition. These long-term workshop processes have not yet been explored within HCI, yet understanding these practices could highlight the potential benefits and challenges of technology use in sensitive settings, beyond the immediate crisis of a life disruption when people are re-building their lives as proposed by [24].

We asked; how can existing photographic practices support women who have left abusive relationships and are re-building their lives and how could technology further support these practices in the future?


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DESIGNING THE RESEARCH We positioned our work in the context of recent feminist HCI research developing a mixed-method approach, epistemologically suitable to areas of societal concern considered on the margins [2, 10]. Positioning the work as participatory action research (PAR) we committed to developing a practice-based understanding of the lived experience and knowledge of those involved [18, 26, 37]. This involved the day-to-day working and social practices, including the personal and relational aspects of women’s access to services. Taking a feminist perspective highlighted that whoever we worked with, despite the fact they might share some common experiences, these experiences would potentially differ from one another [14]. This underlined the importance of respecting diversity the women themselves would bring through their backgrounds and how these would differ from us as white middle-class researchers with limited experiences of domestic violence. Furthermore this meant reflexively acknowledging our positions in relation to power and ethics; who we are is not value neutral and being transparent about this position when approaching potential partners and participants was important in building relationships and trust. This included being explicit about the first author’s background as a creative practitioner working within similar community contexts and our interest in creative uses of technology.

Working with a centre We worked with a grass-roots international charity in the UK that supports women’s independence through education, volunteering and employment. As part of a national initiative [19] the charity has supported women and their children in leaving abusive relationships. Communication services such as new SIM cards and free internet are provided, alongside counseling services, social events, workshops and trips. These services are valued as helping to build skills and knowledge but also independent and supportive social networks amongst the women. We worked with the centre co-ordinator and outreach worker who outlined tensions around women building new relationships with others, women could often be suspicious of authorities and new people. Different cultural and religious backgrounds also impacted on expectations around marriage and divorce and a concern for being

judged by others. Staff pointed to the importance of women needing time to build trust and confidence to come to sessions and the importance of developing an approach that was sensitive to women’s different situations. A three-month period of volunteering was arranged for the first author researcher to get to know staff and some of the women to inform the most appropriate research questions and design for the context. This involved shadowing staff and volunteers in cooking, arts and digital storytelling workshops that formed part of the centre’s informal social and learning sessions [6]. After this initial phase, staff and researchers worked together to design participatory photography workshops.

Digital Portrait Workshops In developing these sessions we drew from areas of participatory photographic and arts practice that has previously intersected with areas of domestic violence and feminist action research and was familiar to our first author [7, 12, 31]. The emphasis here is on open and long-term workshop engagement towards the individual collection and display of photographic images that can be worked with in multiple ways; printed, displayed on screens, incorporated into videos. This approach is more long-term focusing on social justice agendas and group discussion contrasting with the more usual approaches of short-term participatory photographic techniques such as photo-elicitation as used by [20] or probes within HCI research where the emphasis is on the gathering of information or insights for design [4, 15] or participatory design with an emphasis on designed artefacts [18]. While a more open approach was initially proposed, the previous experience of staff running creative projects with women at the centre, suggested this might be too open and a tighter focus to start the process was considered more appropriate.

We looked towards probes as a way of structuring open questions and reflections [15] while giving the group a focus that could be re-interpreted and flexible over a period of several months. However while staff and researchers believed that designed probes as prompts for reflection would be beneficial as outlined in the artistic practices described by [37], the terminology ‘probe’ was considered unsuitable for the context as it suggested a scientific or

Figure 1. Inspiration tokens with portrait pack and collage of photographs created by Huma, one of the women in the workshops.


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medical institutional tone that the women might not appreciate. In line with previous research that highlights the challenges of relationship building and sense of self after experiences of abuse [1], we chose instead to position the ‘probes’ as ‘portraits’, emphasizing the process of working with photography as presentations of self to be shared as part of a workshop process and aligned more closely with the practice of artists such as [31].

We designed a pack as part of a workshop process that both drew from aspects of previous probe design and use, but used them as part of a longer-term engagement that structured individual and group reflection (Fig.1). As outlined by [37] we designed the pack to encourage reflection on the things in the women’s lives they valued as forming parts of themselves. The pack combined a digital camera, sound recorder a portrait frame and set of inspiration tokens that was put together in a velvet bag with instructions that invited the women to photograph or sound record aspects of their lives they valued. The pack was designed so women could store the contents alongside photographs taken and keep them private where necessary. The designed tokens were based around four main areas the women could respond to; people, sensory experiences, places and objects.

In moving away from typical probe use we underlined how the women should only show what they felt comfortable sharing in the context of workshops at the centre foregrounding the presentation aspects of the portrait. In addition staff discussions and the first author’s shadowing of early workshops suggested that making something concrete that could be taken away, shared in the workshops and at home was important for the women to build confidence, feel a sense of achievement and assert their agency in the process. This included creating multiple different responses in different formats through printed photographs, collages, and a video. This supported a flexible and accessible approach enabling both informal and more formal facilitated sharing to take place.

Recruitment & Delivery Recruitment took place via a leaflet that was distributed in fortnightly sessions that the women attended as part of an informal social weekend group, two months prior to workshops taking place. If women showed an interest in taking part, they were given information sheets and were encouraged to discuss any concerns with centre staff. Workshops began in November 2011 and finished in February 2012.

We worked with a self-selected group of 6 South Asian women who were aged between 25-38 and had been separated or divorced for between 1 - 6 years. Their research names were changed to Zahrah, Saeeda, Huzna, Nazlee, Faleeha and Huma. Two of the women were still living in a refuge and the others had their own houses. 5 of the women had between 1-5 children aged between 2 – 18 years. 3 of the women already owned a digital camera and

some of the women had also previously been involved in arts and digital storytelling sessions and were volunteering with the centre to try and find work or regularly attending courses. Only 1 of the women regularly shared images on social networking sites.

We ran 10 sessions of 2 hours per week between November and February with breaks for Christmas and school holidays to fit the sessions around other commitments the group had. The women actively expressed a preference for working in a group rather than in pairs and could not always attend every session. The centre ensured counseling or outreach worker support was available during and after every session if women had any concerns arising from the sessions.

In the first session the first author researcher explained the aim of the research and the group asked questions. Each woman was given a portrait pack, which was opened and explored. More questions were asked about using the tokens, the cameras and sound recorders. The second week consisted of discussions on what the women wanted to focus on and the following week the group informally brought their photographs and shared their images with each other on the cameras or brought a selection of pictures they had already taken. In the third week digital photographs were transferred, or printed photographs were scanned onto a computer to share on a bigger screen. In the weeks that followed we printed the photographs, created collages and discussed different ways to present them, placing them in sequences, adding words and sounds from sound recordings and downloads. While we initially encouraged independent video editing, this was practically difficult due to diverse expertise, interests and attendance alongside other complex events happening in the women’s lives. A compromise was made with the time available for the women directing a researcher to edit the videos with sound. A final screening of the videos was shown and discussed within the group. In this session the consent forms originally signed were reviewed again and discussed in relation to issues of anonymity and what the women were happy to share with others as part of the research [36].

In delivering the workshops we used everyday digital tools; laptops, projectors, speakers, printers, scanners, microphones, so women could use kit they were familiar with as and when they needed to. We also tried to create a relaxing, trusting and convivial atmosphere away from the hustle and bustle of the main centre activity where possible. This sometimes included turning rooms into pretend cinema spaces, sharing printed and digital photos with technology on our laps, while eating food and chatting. We paid for travel expenses and provided lunches for each session.

Documentation and Analysis We wanted to understand the process we had engaged in from multiple perspectives from the women and the centre staff. We chose to do this working with a narrative inquiry approach to document and reflect on the process as an embodied and situated experiential practice. Narrative


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inquiry is an ethnographically informed approach often used in education to provide longitudinal, situated and interpersonal insights. Researchers work with the everyday practice of stories and study the narratives that individuals use to interact both with them as researchers and with other participants within the narrative of the institution. Researchers are reflexively positioned as both participants in the ongoing action of the context, while also actively changing that same context through prompting reflection and discussion throughout the process [9, 17, 37]. This means moving away from positioning the researcher as objective observer to positioning her as socially and responsibly engaged in the context of the inquiry. This approach aligned well with the feminist PAR approach and was of interest to centre staff.

While it had been our initial intention to video and audio record some of the sessions the group were uncomfortable with this. We therefore felt that the sensitive nature of the work required different approaches that we needed to respect. Documentation of the process therefore took place through researcher’s 10 days of anonymised written fieldnotes after each session. 3, 40-60 minute interviews with two centre staff, the outreach worker Samiya and centre co-ordinator, Rosalyn were recorded, anonymised and transcribed after the workshops were complete. A 60 minute group discussion was also facilitated and recorded by the first author with the women in response to a group sharing of the final videos to discuss additional comments, how the group felt about sharing the videos with others in the centre and how the researcher should respectfully anonymise the photographs for research purposes.

A narrative analysis was conducted across the visual and written materials created by the women, plus the interviews and field-notes. Working with a timeline we took emotional, ethical and aesthetic moments expressed by women, staff and the first author as starting points to articulate different perspectives of the sessions relating to fulfilling or challenging experiences around the women’s photo-sharing practices. Working narratively we focused on stories that were told, in response to the particularities of the situation where meaning was being made, how and to whom. In this sense the stories created were understood as interpersonal and performative acts that existed within a particular moment in time and was individual in its very nature. The story is therefore not a generalisable entity that is produced and then de-contexualised. Rather the story is a situated and embodied response from a particular person to the unfolding situation [26, 33]. In our analysis we paid particular attention to how individuals interacted with one another around different configurations of photo-sharing while also paying attention to the chronology, that is what came before and what came after. Initial findings from this analysis were brought together with the group for a further 60 minute facilitated and recorded discussion around the workshop process.

FINDINGS The group brought photographs both from their own existing collections plus new photographs taken with the digital cameras we gave them. Photographs were brought to the sessions at different stages over the course of the workshops depending on how the women responded individually, what prior skills and knowledge they had of working with digital cameras and how ideas developed over the sessions. Photographs were of their children, nature, time at the centre, time with friends, self, home and their wider families. They brought between 23-135 photographs each to the sessions and chose between 14-30 photographs each to form part of their digital portraits, although two of the women chose to work together on a portrait about their friendship together. The rest of the women produced their portraits about birds, their children, sadness and personal life histories.

The women articulated some agency in the different themes they chose to focus on. However their use of the technology wasn’t consistent and equal across the group and highlighted tensions, challenges, frustrations and sometimes disinterest. Our emphasis as researchers had been on the creative potential of technology and this brought into dialogue different understandings, expectations and interests, which both expanded the centre and the women’s experiences of technology and our appreciation of the complexity of a diverse set of social practices. We will now present three qualities around the sociality of photo-sharing that emerged through the process; embodied expressions of relationships, balancing coming-together-ness and independence and negotiated sharing practices.

Embodied expressions of relationships Taking photographs can be considered both a self-conscious presentation of self and an unconscious enactment of social norms for an audience [35]. This is particularly significant for women whose bodies and image has been the target of physical and psychological abuse. The camera here can be a powerful medium used to re-construct a different version of an alternative self and relations with others [31]. Photographs brought to the sessions were both independently and collectively used as a way of articulating, affirming and strengthening self and new relationships highlighting particular embodied expressions. For example Zahrah and Saeeda wanted to make their digital portrait about their friendship. They each brought identical photo albums with photographs of their time together on days out with the centre and their children. The photographs showed slightly different perspectives of the same trips where each of the women carefully posed for the camera. In some of the photographs they were wearing the same outfits. They selected 25 photographs of 3 trips, to the beach, to a country garden and to the countryside. They described how they wanted to write some words to accompany the photographs, but did not want to describe what was in each photograph. After a discussion with the


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first author they wrote the following in one of the workshop sessions:

‘We met in (refuge name) 2 years ago and felt freedom for the first time in our lives. When we first got there we were in the same condition. We sat and shared our problems.

Saeeda is very loving and helpful and I (Zahrah) can talk to her any time I have a problem. I would feel lonely and quiet without Saeeda being around and feel she is special in every way. She is always there when I need her.

Zahrah is a very supportive friend for me (Saeeda). She makes me feel strong when we are together. If I’m in a difficult situation I share it with her and when I lose my confidence, Zahrah is there to pick me up and tell me it’s OK.’

Saeeda and Zahrah used the photographs here to illustrate how they felt about their relationship with one another from both joint and individual perspectives. Rather than provide a descriptive account of what was happening in each photograph as a form of reminiscence, they described their relationship in terms of the strength and support they gave one another and their commonality in sharing the same experiences. The photographs here were used collectively to illustrate an ongoing commitment to what they felt was important to them, their friendship as a reflection of self. In addition to the written account, the photographs themselves highlight an embodied enactment of the women’s similar experiences and their reciprocity through the act of photography as an illustration of the important value they placed on the commonalities within their friendship.

Figure 2. An image from Saeeda and Zahrah’s selected

collection showing identical dresses that they purchased and decided to wear on the same day out together. Image cropped to

preserve anonymity.

Balancing coming-together-ness with independence Five out of the six women had developed and maintained strong supportive relationships while staying in a refuge. These relationships had continued through face-to-face social networks, courses, trips and days out with the centre. The women described how they valued the time in the workshops as extending this more informal social time together providing time to relax. Samiya, the outreach worker also commented on the group supporting one another in the workshops through the commonality of their past experiences a recognition that ‘we’re all survivors’. Photo-sharing in this context then provided opportunities for further ‘coming-together-ness’ [23] as a group, that Samiya saw as a therapeutic process. However specific to each of the women was an opportunity to reflect on and

share a process of moving on and taking action in becoming more independent. For example Huzna created a sequence she called her ‘Life Journey’. She used existing printed photographs from her photo collection and added new digital photographs. The photographs consisted of family and friends when she was young, pictures of the refuge she had stayed at, her new home, her children and her sewing. She used the images and the sequences to describe to others that she was preparing for the future. She described her life journey to Samiya as follows:

‘When I left my home, I started my life here (in the refuge). I looked after my children and myself and felt more independent. I have good memories here and I made some good friends. I got my own house near the refuge and when I get the bus each day I see it (the refuge) as I go past and happy memories come back. I decorated this room (in my house) for my children. I saved money and my children like it. It makes them feel comfortable and if my children are happy then I am happy. This is my sewing machine and I love it. I like to sew and in the future I want to teach other people who don’t know how to.’

In sharing the DVD in the final session her photographs sparked questions and shared reminiscences from the others who also recognised photographs of the refuge. She also shared printed copies with others outside of the group which further asserted her independence when she was described as a ‘strong woman’ by one of her friends, now she had left the refuge and had her own house. Samiya also described how some women also used photos and DVDs to explain to their children how they were moving on.

For some there was also a strong sense of independence expressed in working with photography and technology. This was explicitly articulated in the second of the workshops where some of the women described how they did not want to use the portrait packs, but rather they wanted to focus on particular themes of their choice. This was most clearly expressed by Zahrah and Saeeda who described how they wanted to make a video about their friendship together and described how they didn’t want to work on something ‘about the past’, but more about ‘moving on’. The need to work independently was something Saeeda in particular expressed in the final viewing session. She described how she enjoyed working in groups with photography but felt ‘…sometimes we want to work independently because sometimes our minds are different…Sometimes everybody needs advice. I want to make decisions myself, but asking for help is OK.’ For Saeeda this independent use of technology specifically related to her desire to learn more skills on the computer and was born from frustration of not having full control over the video editing process due to time and other commitments she had around childcare and work. A compromise was met for Saeeda to direct a researcher to edit the video for her and Zahrah, but highlighted expectations of being able to quickly master complex skills or having the time or space to finish things at home was difficult to realise.


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Negotiated sharing practices Sharing photographs through mobile phones and social networking sites is commonly perceived as an important and beneficial feature of technology to connect people and maintain relationships. But previous research on life disruptions such as domestic violence, has shown the ease in which digital content can be shared can become a form of continued control [24]. [10] suggests this more specifically in the case of female domestic violence where women require support in managing their digital devices and online activity to uphold their safe location away from the abuser. In the context of the women’s centre we found there were additional concerns in the sharing of photographs that point to longitudinal issues relating to building and maintaining trusting relationships as outlined by [1].

Photographs that some of the women had originally taken to bring to the workshops were not initially considered problematic to share within the group, but when the women brought them together in a sequence, the content and theme they had chosen sometimes made them feel self-conscious to share with others. Huma made a video she titled, the ‘Last Leaf of Hope’, where she used photographs of a leafless tree with an animated falling leaf as a metaphor for her feelings of sadness. Huma frequently expressed her frustration at the situation she was in, staying in a refuge without a job. Initially she didn’t want to share any photographs with the rest of the group because she felt the other women might not understand the emotional nature of her photographs and felt she might be judged and mocked. She preferred working privately in the sessions and only shared her photographs with our first author after four sessions. Here she commented how she felt our researcher was different to the group and members of staff as being more understanding. However once she had completed the video, she added more images to create a sequence that suggested a more hopeful perspective. She wrote the following in week 7 of the sessions to accompany the photographs.

‘When I’m in darkness, it’s very hard to manage life. There is the last leaf of hope, everything will be OK. When it falls down we are also broke. But the new horizon of hope is alive in us. All joys of life will come.’

In the final workshop where the videos were shared in the group our first author asked why she had changed the content in this way. She described how she was feeling more hopeful for the future. For Huma she found that sharing more positive feelings digitally was easier than sharing the more negative emotional feelings of sadness in this particular context and that she related her sharing to how she was feeling at that particular time. This further highlighted a temporal situated negotiation of sharing practices that was not only personally contingent as described by [11] but also emotionally contingent relating to situated feelings of trust and what she felt was appropriate to share in the group [26].

Photographs of the women, their families, personal places and objects were shared in the sessions, albeit through an edited and sometimes carefully curated process. There were however particular tensions articulated about how the women might individually navigate anonymity in the context of the research and in the wider context of the centre. Our first author and staff had assumed the women would prefer similar levels of anonymity, but the diversity of content produced meant different concerns and types of anonymity were required [36]. Huma wanted to put her video online so she could access it whenever she wanted, but did not necessarily want it to be traceable back to her. She chose to give herself a pseudonym and write this on the video and the first author put the video online giving Huma a link so she could connect to it when she wanted. Saeeda and Zahrah were happy for their video to be used by the centre for future conferences as an advocacy tool, but did not want their faces to be shown as part of the research. Faleeha and Nazlee produced videos that were already anonymised through the choice of content and so were happy for these to be shared with other women at the centre and for the purposes of research, but wanted a pseudonym.

DISCUSSION AND FUTURE WORK Technology research on its role in supporting people leaving abusive relationships has primarily focused on the need for safety and protection. Taking a feminist HCI and participatory arts action research perspective on one area of life disruption, that of domestic violence, highlighted how longer-term engagements underline the social contingencies surrounding technology use in potentially supportive environments beyond safety and protection from the abuser. This widens the scope of participatory approaches away from primarily gaining insights for design but on the inclusion of social practices with and around technology use. Looking beyond the role of technology as a communication tool in these complex environments opens up potential to consider a more generative role other than information transfer and exchange. Photography and the creative practice of sharing here pointed to moments of transition and tension rather than a static homogonous group identity offering alternative ways of conceiving of and designing for more situated use.

Important here is how our first author researcher existed in a contradictory position as a ‘friendly outsider’ [18]; both part of the social process and conceptual framing of the research, but also perceived as different, and therefore outside of the process. This contradiction was navigated through a dynamically changing engagement with the context and required a constant situated re-negotiation of goals and aspirations by all those involved. This created challenges for managing expectation and what was achievable in the timescale and competencies available despite engaging in a longitudinal iterative process. However these challenges also usefully contrasted different perspectives on the technology and the social dynamic of the centre. We characterize this dynamic here as two


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interconnected tensions: coming together to move on and control, empowerment and privacy.

Coming Together to Move On Experiences of domestic violence de-stabilise an individual’s perception of a stable home and personal life [1]. Some have described the process after people are moving on as an attempt to find the new ‘normal’ [24]. The sessions structured a process that pointed to future intentions where unsurprisingly photo-sharing here only rarely served as a focus for shared reminiscence, although sometimes this did take place. Positioning photo-sharing through a feminist participatory arts workshop framework in this instance pointed to how the women were moving on and exploring aspects of their lives that were personally important to them. For some this was about the value of their friendships, for others it was the home and their children or just about expressing a feeling.

Moving on from what was described by the staff as the women’s survival then provided a collective narrative that fitted with the overall intentions of the centre to provide support for the women’s ongoing journey to independence. This highlighted the new ‘normal’ that the women were striving towards could often set them apart from other women in their communities who had not necessarily had the same difficult experiences. These differences prompted tensions and underlined complex and contingent relationships when taking and sharing photographs that emerged in the group. The photographs and stories shared here highlighted both positive and negative feelings. Feelings of freedom and independence as experienced when coming to the refuge and finding a new home, but also feelings of vulnerability, sadness and uncertainty. The collective narrative of the photographs and the stories from the group correspond with other photo-sharing practices in communities where photos act to support membership, shared histories and rites of passage [32]. Collective membership as articulated through the portraits for the women however pointed to movement and transition, rather than the maintenance of a collective and static group identity. This was highlighted in how the women described their photographs as collections of journeys rather than consistently supporting memories.

The use of technology, in particular video editing to structure linear stories of experience supported notions of ‘moving on’ through the use of a time-based sequencing of images, words and sounds. Furthermore the use of multiple technologies that supported different formats to encourage reflection on changes and transitions over time was perceived by staff as part of a longitudinal process of bringing the women together as a therapeutic act. For some of the women they saw the use of technology as a way of gaining new skills. But for others the technology receded into the background providing a chance to try something new and for the group to further socialize. For our researchers the women’s use of different technology to

support different making (photo-taking, collage, video) and viewing (computer screens, projectors, DVD) practices was perceived as creative and political through the ways we felt it catered for individual meaning making the women developed from a collective sense of moving on.

Control, Empowerment and Privacy While this sense of ‘moving on’ collectively resonated with the aims of the centre, the women and our research agenda, there were also challenges. Previous work on domestic violence and technology has outlined more generalized approaches to supporting women leaving abusive relationships [28, 30]. In taking a feminist action research approach as also proposed by [10] we shifted the focus of inquiry to the longitudinal and subtler often hidden impacts of domestic violence. These include the challenge posed by a reworking of understandings of self and other relationships [1, 3, 31]. Using photography enabled a visual and verbal presentation of aspects of public and private self and other to be discussed and negotiated within a safe environment. Our researchers and staff, hoped this might empower women to recognise and validate these personal experiences within the group as with similar approaches outlined by [12]. But this approach also made visible different tensions around empowerment and control through the intersection between the context, interpersonal relations, the process, technology and the women’s individual competencies and interests. This was most clearly articulated through the use of our portrait pack, the editing of videos and through the process of navigating privacy and anonymisation of photographs and names.

The portrait pack was rejected by half of the women in the second session who explained they already had a clear idea of what they wanted to make. At the same time this pack and the long-term engagement created an opportunity for such rejection to take place, thus supporting a clearer expression of what the women wanted to focus on and what they felt was important to them in the context of the workshops. For the rest of the women the portrait packs served to provide a focus for discussion between all those involved and further reflection at home. Rather than creating a set of tasks that asked for a response to every token, the group responded more flexibly over several weeks as a starting rather than an end point. This differed from previous probe design and use that often focus on a series of specific questions and associated tasks to provide design inspiration [4, 15]. These rejections and flexible appropriations of the packs highlighted how the workshops supported multiple ways of working where the women asserted individual control over the content produced.

The video editing process however created unresolved tensions around control and empowerment in the women’s own perceived capabilities. While 3 of the women were interested in trying out digital cameras and sound recorders they were less interested in using the computer to edit their sequences together and so directed a researcher to do this


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with them. This was perceived by staff as an empowering supportive social process the women would not have ordinarily been able to do independently. The rest of the group however wanted more independent control over the editing process but demands on their time due to external factors such as children, work, counseling, meetings with social services or court appearances made this difficult. Despite a compromise being made to direct a researcher to do the editing with them, this created a contradiction in how these women perceived the sessions as offering further opportunities towards their continued independence and the development of skills. This stressed the sometimes contradictory effects of empowering agendas surrounding technology that can surface [22] especially when there are conflicting external demands on people’s lives.

Research on bereavement [25] and women in a shelter [21] highlight the importance of managing privacy to preserve dignity. Design work in the shelter focused on communication so women didn’t need to receive information from face-to-face contact with centre staff. In the context of domestic violence and in the centre we worked with, face-to-face contact with support workers, but especially between other women was highly valued. Privacy, however, was still an issue and while most of the women carefully curated a selection of photographs for the workshops, some women wanted to be both part of the group but work privately with their photographs. Privacy here highlighted the continued perceived risks associated with the disclosure of personal details beyond protection from the abuser. This further underlined the importance of privacy in the women’s relationships with people and place [16, 27] illustrating the continued relational challenges [1]. While sharing photographs with people is one way of building and maintaining relationships with others [13, 35], what photographs show, explicitly and implicitly, is important in how private a photograph might feel, how someone might feel about it at the time and how it might be shared with others. Similarly in the process of engaging with the group in ensuring their material was safely anonymised, multiple configurations took place. This highlighted enriched understandings of the emotional and dynamic aspects of privacy associated with photography in the context of the centre.

Future Work Working with technology in a supportive context such as the centre provided a safe space for the women to come together. The workshop process points to the potential of different configurations of photography and how this could support the re-working and re-building of new lives in the context of domestic violence. Engaging in a long-term feminist arts and action research process that emphasised the multiple contingent socio-technical practices involved in such workshops highlights the opportunities and challenges of working in such contexts. The therapeutic and empowering aspects of participatory engagements that emerged underlined the care and attention needed when

working with individuals as part of a collective and would benefit from further research in sensitive settings.

Our research highlights that existing everyday technology does not necessarily fit the context and experiences we found were important for the women. Focusing on the creative and mutable improvisatory potential rather than on ways in which media is managed to share with others as proposed by [35] could offer more generative potential here. Laptops and desktops in part are still designed to manage and store information associated with a more work-based sensibility. Online and offline communication via such technology can also be fraught with complexity of controlling multiple privacy settings and ways of managing identities. Considering the performative potential of technology as opposed to its role as a management tool could be more suitable here. Furthermore, the particular control people might want to share in relation to their concerns on maintaining privacy over content could be configured around a more embodied practice as highlighted through the use of photography. For example we use our bodies in particular ways to physically show how we feel or conceal particular things we don’t want others to see or know about. We also use our bodies to relate to others and build stronger relationships in very tacit and physical ways. The body also has an important role to play in research on violence and abuse [10] and has further resonance in feminist discourses on embodiment [2, 12, 31], which could be explored further.

CONCLUSION Technology design in the context of life disruptions, such as domestic violence, cannot necessarily rely on previous associations with stable family or personal life. Engaging with feminist participatory arts action research to support photo-sharing in the context of a women’s centre underlined a process of moving on for women who had left abusive relationships. A long-term approach provided a structure to explore what was valuable in the women’s lives, moving beyond the management of communication and information in times of crisis where women were seeking to socially connect with others. Photo-sharing, and associated technology, became part of a complex and dynamic socio-technical practice supporting a process of re-building and re-constituting relationships that were meaningful for the individual woman and associated family. While tensions and challenges emerged, potential in understanding participation and interaction that could support more individual, embodied, therapeutic and reflective use of photography in supportive group settings would be valuable for future research in similar sensitive contexts.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research has been funded by the EPSRC and was part of the RCUK Digital Economy Research Hub on Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy (SiDE). Many thanks to women and centre staff who shared their time and


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experiences. Also thanks to Ann Light, Roisin McNaney, Anja Thieme, John Vines and Jayne Wallace for discussions and advice on early versions of the paper.

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Digital Portraits: Photo-sharing After Domestic Violence

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