Picturing the Wheatbelt: Exploring and expressing place identity through photography

Research Report

This 2014 article uses CAN’s Voices of the Wheatbelt project to demonstrate how photography and photo elicitation can be used to engage people in the construction of meaning about place.

The Voices of the Wheatbelt project had been running for 5 years at the time of writing. The aim of the project was to beginning people together and amplify the individual and collective perspectives that inform local identity. Young First Nations and non-Aboriginal people and adults from Wheatbelt towns were offered opportunities to learn how to tell stories about their lives within their communities via music and photography.


The article analyses the outcomes of the project in great detail. Amongst the many conclusions drawn, the authors note how the photographic elements of the project provided insights into place identity, and how the creative outcomes of the project fostered a sense of pride in that identity, and celebration of community.

Source: Sonn, C., Quayle, A.F., & Kasat, P. (2015). Picturing the Wheatbelt: Exploring and expressing place identity through photography. American Journal of Community Psychology, 55(1-2), 89-101. doi: 10.1007/s10464-014-9686-7

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