I had only a vague idea of ‘phototherapy,’ so it was helpful to spend some time looking at the Martin (1999) video and getting a sense not only of the concept but also how it might play out in practice. The broad idea is that a therapist will ask a client to review snapshots that “could be pictures taken of the client, taken by the client, or simply pictures selected by the client. The theory is that both the photographs themselves and the ideas that the client projects into the images while discussing them allow access to their repressed unconscious anxieties and desires, aiding the therapeutic process” (Bull 2010, 94).
I think what is most interesting about this approach is that all of us bring an interpretive framework to bear when we look at images, and that some (much? all?) of this framework will be coloured by subconscious attitudes, biases, associations and memories. I can see how this could be an effective tool in the hands of a trained therapist. For the untrained (me, for example, along with most people), our reaction and interpretation of images may still provide insight into the functioning of our minds and emotions. I expect that this is all the more true when we are looking at pictures drawn from a family album: Why did I respond that way? Why do I associate X with picture Y? What is revealed in the pictures about relationships, family dynamics, social situation? What do I remember of the situation of when that picture was taken? Is my memory reliable?
Reference
Bull, S. (2010) Photography. London ; New York: Routledge.
Rosy Martin ‘Too Close to Home’, 1999, 8 min (1999) At: https://vimeo.com/98644806 (Accessed 07/09/2021).
The Self and the Other 