The visionaries of Kigali project was a community peace-building participatory photography project working with 12 young people at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, seeking to use photography as a catalyst for communication, expression, discussion and social change. Through a process of co-production the young people set the agenda for the project, working towards and exhibition at the annual ‘Ubumuntu’ arts festival, a celebration of arts and culture that marks the end of the 100 days of commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
The project formed the basis of a wider research investigation into how participatory projects can be used as a tool to push back against globally entranced power relationships, specifically in the NGO and development sector.
As a practitioner I have observed that participatory methods are often pulled away from their emancipatory motive into an increasingly complex political relationship. In this project I explore a set of methods which attempt to reconnect the participatory process with its roots in the work of educational theorist Paul Freire.
This project was run in collaboration with the Aegis Trust and The University Of Lincoln.
Martin and Martin 