Picturing Peace:

Local and Universal Symbols in Three Cultures

Robert J. Beck, Lawrence University

Jonathan Cummins, University of Ulster

Jasmine Yep, Lawrence University

Abbas Ali

Accepted for publication in Journal of Learning through the Arts (2005)

Overview

The Picturing Peace program is an ArtsBridge collaboration in which college visual arts majors in one semester programs help middle school students learn to use digital cameras in order to communicate their feelings and ideas about peace. From 2002-2005, Picturing Peace programs have been offered in nine local schools in Southern California, Belfast, Northern Ireland and Appleton, Wisconsin. The primary purposes of the program are to develop students’ visual thinking, creative photography, digital camera technology skill, and to expand their feelings and understandings of peace. The program employed a concept-oriented pedagogy in which learning is associated with the construction of particulars from abstract ideas (Davydov, 1972; Vygotsky, 1986; Kozulin, 1990; Shotter, 1995). Using the word, peace, and other associated ideas, such as friendship, harmony, and balance as prompts, the students were guided to take photographs visualizing and concretizing the various concepts. But the program also intended to engage young people in the cause of peace and motivate them to use photography to heighten consciousness of peace. The interests of the investigators embraced all of these objectives, but also included conceptual aims in developing models and curricular approaches for concept-based instruction and analyzing the impact of cultural-geographic settings and curricular programs on the form and content of the students’ photographs. It was expected that the three geographic regions and their associated cultures and physical landscapes would undoubtedly influence the look and likely meanings of the pictures. But it was also anticipated that all three cultures would share some common imagery and meaning to communicate students’ feelings and ideas about peace. The role of individual sources of meaning in photographs was also a focus. From an analysis of these pre-adolescent photographs among the three cultures, we propose to derive a preliminary model of culturally-specific and universally shared categories of meanings of peace in this age group. The model should be useful in adapting the Picturing Peace program to the instruction of new student cultures and individual photographers.

History

The Picturing Peace program began in the Department of Education at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in 2002 as part of a federally funded research project, “Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology” (PT3), Robert Beck, Principal Investigator, to develop computer based curricula for teachers. The initial program was called “Look Again” and involved one 4 th grade and two 7 th grade classrooms in Orange County, California. Under the rubric of ArtsBridge America, visual arts majors from UCI taught photography in the schools and used a curriculum developed by Beck in the Department of Education at UCI. In 2003 the program expanded significantly to include two 4 th grade classrooms in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as well as two new 4 th grade classrooms in California. At this juncture the curriculum was further developed through the efforts of Jonathan Cummins, Lecturer of Time-Based Media in the School of Art and Design at the University of Ulster, and undergraduate ArtsBridge scholars in conjunction with Beck and scholars at UCI. In 2004 the headquarters of the Picturing Peace program was relocated to Lawrence University where Beck is Visiting Professor in the Department of Education and Jasmine Yep is Director of ArtsBridge. During that academic year, Picturing Peace was given in three classes in Appleton, Wisconsin (5 th, 6 th, and mixed high school), where the curriculum was further expanded to include poems about peace with the collaboration of Ellen Kort, the former Poet Laureate of Wisconsin.

To date, there have been three exhibitions of Picturing Peace: in the Beall Center at UCI, June 9-13, 2003; at the Belfast City Hall, April 11-17, 2005; and at the Paper Discovery Center in Appleton, April 19-May 1, 2005. A web site: http://www.lawrence.edu/library/peace/ has been established at Lawrence University on which there is access to photographs from all participating schools to date.

A Model for Teaching and Learning the Concept of Peace

Soviet psychology achieved early prominence in formulating models of concept development in education. Davydov (1972) offered this practical theory of concept generalization: “Such an activity should guide students from the abstract to the concrete, that is from the most general relationship characteristic of the given educational subject to its concrete empirical manifestations” (Kozulin, 259). This is precisely the educational program of Picturing Peace, to create concrete photographic images of peace, an abstract idea.

For Vygostsky (1986), in order to direct concept formation, word meaning is created through the functional use of words, in which the learner’s attention is focused, and distinctive features are selected for analysis and synthesis. In Picturing Peace, the concept of peace is made functional through photographs of social scenes in which peaceful functions take place. The distinctive features are selected by differentiating the functions of the concept of peace: how it is a feeling; a value and an action; and how it is both social and associated with nature. The program begins by asking students to picture peace as a general concept and then uses follow up activities in which their attention is directed to select distinctive features concerning related synonymic concepts, such as friendship and harmony.

Davydov also proposed that students would understand concepts by “constructing its ideal form and to be able to experiment with it” (see Kozulin, 1990, 258). He suggested that to understand concepts one must experiment: “the task of educators and psychologists is to design special scenarios of learning activity that can lead to theoretical reasoning” (259). In Picturing Peace, students are guided to design “special scenarios” to visualize peace. These scenarios are experimental, because peace is visualized by using different genres of photography, such as portraits, landscapes and abstracts, and by experimentally staging different body positions and gestures at both human and miniature scale to organize dramatic scenes of peace. From these images, the investigators would be able, potentially, to construct an ideal form of peace, at least for these populations, by analyzing students’ experiments in representing peace.

But how do we know that the students’ experimental photographs of peace are meaningful and represent valid and adequate examples of the concept? Gergen (1992) suggested that meaning in language is achieved through social consensus and is context dependent. He argued, therefore, that social agreement is the only source of truth concerning meaning, and agreements are dependent on particular sociohistorical circumstances. Student “knowledge” of peace in this sense would constitute some form of meaningful representation of peace. However, a relevant community needs to agree that the visual representation is indeed meaningful. In the current context, this would require that other viewers, the ArtsBridge scholar and peers, for example, of the local community and those who share sociohistorical circumstances, would find a particular representation meaningful. The relevant community includes the student-artist, whose privileged explanations may also compete for validity.

The problem of knowledge meaningfulness in this context is made more difficult by the polysemic character of the concept of peace and by its many possible visual representations. Therefore, there can be no absolute standard independent of the community cultural norms by which a student’s photograph might be judged. Nevertheless, the authors of this paper, not by dint of their authority, but by their access to the entire collection of photographs taken of peace in these diverse cultures and curricula, might be capable of judging the meaningfulness of particular photographs, either by typifying the pictures as sharing characteristics of peace comparable to others within a culture, or selecting those photographs that are universally shared across the cultural communities of this study.

Curriculum

The Picturing Peace curriculum has evolved during the course of its history from the involvement of different university curriculum designers and mentors, ArtsBridge scholars and teachers. Beginning in the first year with the simple use of a variety of words to prompt conceptual photography, students have been progressively scaffolded and oriented more and more to the centrality of peace as a cognitive and motivational subject in subsequent years. In the first iteration of the program, peace was not central but simply one of the word concepts that were used to prompt photographs. Thus, in the year one California curriculum, students were first introduced to ArtsBridge scholars, Janelle Eagle, Amber Kandarian, and Stacey Sobelman, and trained in the use of digital cameras with the support of classroom teachers, Linda Erickson, Beniy Waisanen, and Tyra Demateis (The cameras had been generously donated by the Hewlett-Packard Corporation.) Students then used cameras to take a series of preliminary photographs with subjects of their own choosing within or outside the campus boundaries. Pupils, teachers, and scholars discussed the photos and subjects.

Initially the words were taken from Roget’s Thesaurus. These categories of words included those signifying: Space and Form­, such as balance/unbalance, symmetry/asymmetry and open/closed; Qualities, such as beautiful, busy, and harmonious; Emotions, such as happy, peace, and conflict; and, People/Social, such as diversity, community and tolerance. Next, these words were explored as to their definitions and visual implications in whole class discussion. In each class, these terms and others were used to prompt photographs during several two-week cycles during the semester-length program. Most student photographic images were discussed in class, as to how well the definition was captured and the aesthetic merits of the photographs were judged. During each cycle, the ArtsBridge Scholars introduced ideas about capturing digital images and occasionally showed works by well known photographers and visual artists. For example, the scholars shared a book of Andy Goldsworthy’s work with students. They encouraged pupils to experiment with subject matter, however, and only to adapt or expand upon the scholar’s ideas and expert works. It was stressed to students that originality in their photographs was intrinsic to art practice.

In the course of examining the students’ photographs, we discovered that the word peace had been used particularly effectively. It became apparent that the concept of peace was exceptional and should be more central to the program. The peace pictures were featured in the first exhibition in June, 2003 in the Beall Center, which was supported by ArtsBridge and the PT3 grant. Goya Prizes for the peace pictures were awarded by the Citizen Peacebuilding Program. John Graham, Professor of Marketing in the Graduate School of Management at UCI, was one of a multidisciplinary group of university and community members who had formed the Citizen Peacebuilding Program, a peace promoting organization that worked in Belfast and other conflict ridden places. Graham became aware that elementary school children were working on a photographic project involving peace. Jill Beck, the founder and director of the national network of ArtsBridge America, then Dean of the Arts at UCI, and more recently the President of Lawrence University, provided Graham with a CD containing a compilation of images from California classrooms. The connection to Northern Ireland was facilitated by the Citizen Peacebuilding Program in coordination with Seeds of Hope, an organization founded by Anne Gallagher devoted to promoting peace in Northern Ireland. Seeds of Hope uses the arts as a means of bringing people together to discuss and resolve conflict.

Graham expressed that the Citizen Peacebuilding Program would be interested in bringing the photography program to two primary schools in Belfast, Northern Ireland, one Protestant and one Catholic, with whom his group had been working. Would it be possible to use the same ArtsBridge model in Belfast and enable children on two continents to exchange their images of peace through the Internet? Both Graham and Gallagher were interested not only in fostering exchange between American and Irish children, but between the two Belfast schools. Despite their close proximity, separated by only 200 yards in the same part of Belfast, the schoolchildren had had little contact, a fact of life generally operative in the divided city. Graham and Gallagher felt that these children would benefit from the program by exploring their hopes and conflicts about peace emerging from the civil strife of Belfast. Graham, in particular, was not hesitant about advocating the use of children’s photographs of peace as a marketing tool on behalf of peace and the peace process. Might not children’s visions stimulate adults to value peace also?

In Summer 2003, a group of educators from California and Northern Ireland met at UCI to formally plan an ArtsBridge project whose goal was to help children express their feelings and ideas about peace through digital photography. John Graham had already recruited Jonathan Cummins, a Lecturer in the School of Art and Design at the University of Ulster, who would serve as the faculty director and supervise two undergraduate students in visual communication: Leanne Lowe, who had strong technology design skills; and Chris Barr, who was already a published photographer. This team would teach a digital photography and literacy program in two 4 th level primary classes. Present were the teachers of these classes, Sara Raine of Ligoniel Primary School and Patricia Campbell of St. Vincent de Paul Primary School who were eager to learn about the program.

Next to them were the teachers and ArtsBridge scholars who would be going into 4 th grade classrooms in Orange County, California. Carol Smith was the teacher at the high achieving Turtle Rock Elementary School near the UCI campus, while Linda Metzger-Campbell taught at the Lowell Elementary School, an ELL and low-performing school in a disadvantaged district of Santa Ana. The ArtsBridge scholars from UCI were also in attendance and divided between technology and the arts. John Bauche had designed web sites, and Amber Kandarian, who had already had professional art shows, was the only scholar who provided continuity from the first iteration of the project. She would work on the U.S. side of the new international emphasis.

The group was there to develop the initial program of digital photography into a more comprehensive curriculum in which peace was the specific objective. To begin, Robert Beck presented the concept and curriculum of the “Look Again” project. He proposed to evolve the program conceptually to include several synonyms of peace that would be used to guide the students’ photography. The group then brainstormed on which words would be used to communicate peace. Again, the broad categories were taken from Roget’s Thesaurus and included qualities, spatial terms, social words, and emotions. There was consensus in the group that there might be a logical sequence to the unfolding of these various categories of peace words. Basic spatial words, such as balance, symmetry, etc., which were frequently employed in early photography training, seemed like a good place to start.

Jonathan Cummins then proposed an innovative vision of how to teach Picturing Peace. He imagined the classroom as a professional photography studio with the teachers bringing in props, sets and other paraphernalia of the studio. Chris Barr and others suggested that one could arrange a miniature set with boxes and lighting, as well as small props and figures.

In Year 3 of the program, it was decided to synthesize several successful aspects of the previous iterations of the curriculum and to introduce poetry as an additional art activity. This new version of the program was taught by ArtsBridge Scholars from Lawrence University in the three Appleton, Wisconsin classrooms in Winter-Spring 2005. The program team included Robert Beck, Jasmine Yep, ArtsBridge Scholars Natasha Quesnell-Theno, Myer Nore, Reid Stratton, and Jamie Valerius, and teachers Debra Moreland, Michael Pekarske, and Courtney Rude, all of the Appleton Area School District. The three Appleton classes were different from previous conventional classrooms that had participated in Picturing Peace in that they were either classified as Gifted and Talented (5 th and 6 th grade Odyssey students) or were part of a performing arts high school class.

Peace, of course, remained the central concept of interest. As in Belfast, students were encouraged to generate synonyms of peace to help them picture peace and to imagine scenes to photograph. During this program, however, a greater emphasis was placed on the use of the photographs as part of a “children’s campaign for peace,” where images might be taken to support the cause of peace, both in the local school context – to heal divisions between “gifted and talented” and other public school students at the same school – and in the global context. Furthermore, the curriculum was informed by an explicit model of peace that built upon the previous categories of words and introduced new methods to stimulate student imagination.

Model of the Peace Concept

A more formal model of peace was developed to help structure the program in Appleton, Wisconsin. It was assumed that, while peace is a multidimensional concept, it is primarily a socialfeeling and a value. Peace as a feeling had been originally suggested by including it in the “feeling” category of words in the earlier Southern California and Belfast programs. Friendship, for example, had been a commonly employed image of social feeling in previous programs. The positive value of peace, of course, had been and would be pervasive in any Picturing Peace program, not least of which was the intended use of the images to promote the cause of peace. Peace is also a state or condition: formerly at war, we are in a state of peace. The investigators thought that the concept of the state of peace might be too abstract for middle-school students and hoped its photographic representations would emerge spontaneously (which they did.). They also conceptualized peace as a sensory and spiritual manifestation, such as the use of light to indicate peace. Peace may also characterize an environment, i.e., a peaceful place. Finally, peace may be represented as a spatial abstraction, such as through the concepts of open, balance, and harmony. Therefore, students in Appleton were now encouraged to use photography to communicate their peaceful feelings, sensory impressions, spiritual dimensions, places and spatial abstractions as part of value messages supporting peace.

Rather than use the word peace, or its synonyms, alone, to prompt photographs of social dimensions of peace in the studio, students in Appleton were also asked to develop peace scenarios and situations on a stage that would dramatize peace. This approach had been used in Year 2, but with less success. In these new, more dramatic scenarios, the photographer was asked to assume a role in which he or she was to direct other students to assume body positions, make gestures and otherwise act out scenes signifying peace. The photographers were asked to take the leadership for organizing the various paraphernalia of the scene including costumes, props, backdrops and lighting, to communicate the complexity of peace. In this iteration, there is then a blending of studio-based curriculum elements, first used in the joint UCI-Ulster project, and an increased emphasis on the studio as a stage in which dramatic enactments are photographed.

Two other general orientations were used to help students imagine and dramatize their scenes. First, they were reminded that peace was not only a feeling, but also a value that they were trying to get across to potential viewers. In this regard, the techniques of advertising were suggested as comparable to the present activity. It was explained that in advertising it was often the case that logos and mascots (animal or human) were employed. Thus, examples were provided of Apple Computer, using an Apple as their logo, and Exxon, using a cartoon tiger to communicate the idea that their gasoline was powerful.

In addition, because peace often remained such an abstract idea, these students were encouraged to imagine the character(s) in their scenarios as representing or personifying peace. This character was referred to generically as the “Spirit of Peace”:

“The Spirit of Peace is a fantasy entity that has the power to cause others to make peace and to make them feel peaceful and secure. The spirit can be a human-like figure or figures or the landscape itself. The Spirit appears and communicates to others to persuade them to make peace. The Spirit keeps the peace but also inspires others to live peacefully” (Curriculum Notes, 2005).

Next, to plan how to use the Spirit in organizing their scenes, students were asked to brainstorm through writing about the Spirit. The following questions were used to scaffold their imagination of the Spirit of Peace: “What does the Spirit of Peace look like? What is the Spirit doing? What is the Spirit wearing? Describe any object that the Spirit is holding. Where is the Spirit - - where do you imagine this scene to take place?” Students were then free to organize dramatic situations in the studio/theater using other members of their group as actors. But, the Spirit of Peace was also modeled through miniature installations.

Analysis of students’ photographs in Southern California, Belfast and Appleton:
Influences of cultural environments and curricula

The plan of analysis of the photographs had several phases. First of all, the pool of nearly 2500 pictures in the nine classrooms was reduced to those that had been exhibited. Various procedures were used in the selection process. In the “Look Again” project, the process was relatively formal with eight judges rating pictures for quality in different categories, including peace. In general, in the other programs, the authors of the study, the Scholars, and teachers selected photographs that were admired and considered suitable to exhibit to parents and the public. Part of their selection was undoubtedly purely aesthetic, i.e., the pictures that were selected were judged beautiful and interesting, with distinctive content still important in selecting exhibition photos.

Next, we examined this reduced pool of 100 selected photographs for the purpose of revealing the particular influence of the local cultural environment and curriculum. The process consisted of multiple informal reviews of the collection of photographs leading to selection of examples of different types of peace symbols. We arrived at these types of photographs through induction from the exhibited collection as a whole. This was followed by a search of the collection to validate or falsify a claim that something belonged to a given type. If the initial hypothesis that a given type of photograph was unique to culture A, for example, subsequent reviews sought to find any comparable examples in culture B and/or C that might falsify the claim that it was unique to culture A. In this way, we found such unique peace symbol types as peaceful places in California, signs of conflict in Belfast, and portrayals of children and innocence in Appleton.

And, if our hypothesis was that we had found a universally photographed symbol, we subsequently reviewed the collection for evidence of its representation in each culture. The ubiquity of pictures of hands to communicate peace in all cultures was found in this manner. Having laid out what the research procedures were, we cannot claim that the process was either standardized or comprehensive, given three different interpreters and a relatively small sample of exhibition photographs.

Southern California : Jasmine Yep

The Look Again curriculum was implemented in three classrooms, one 4 th grade class and two middle school classes with pupils between the ages of 10 and 14. Often, the images from these three classes respond directly to their school environment and reveal differences based on personal experiences related to their age category. The images captured by students from these three groups share qualities that include the representation of peaceful places, harmony and balance in nature, and images that symbolize and celebrate their classroom community. Through photography, the students explored ways to illustrate vocabulary words in nature, but also found ways to clearly demonstrate how these words apply within their classroom and among their peers.

Peaceful Places. In Year 1 of the program, each Look Again photograph began with a word concept. The students expanded on this concept so that a single image could represent a number of word concepts from one or all of the four categories: Space and Form, Qualities, Emotions/States, and People/Social. Images that embodied “peace” or “peaceful” could be classified as the categories for emotions/state or people/social. Repeatedly, we see photographs using the word “peace” to describe peaceful places.

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In Photo 1, middle school student Carl Oliveira captures the conventional peace symbol used within architecture. Perhaps unknown to the architect or those inside the house, this student’s awareness reminds the viewer that symbols of peace can be discovered in many places. His photograph represents peace not only in the architectural peace signs, but also through the delicate lights that adorn the building complemented by the natural sunlight gently hitting the roof. The combination of light surrounding the peace symbol suggests hope, a concept students in California often connect with peace. In Photo 2, the calm waves on Laguna Beach are described by photographers Alex Germano and Carl Oliveira as “powerful because no one has conquered it. It can be peaceful because it becomes calm.” Within the concept of power and strength, this image symbolizes the serenity we often experience while walking on the beach.

Harmony and Balance in Nature. The impact of the language-centered curriculum is clearly demonstrated in Photos 3, 4, and 5. These photographs inspired by Andy Goldsworthy’s work are in a category unique to the fourth grade Look Again class instructed by Kandarian. Goldsworthy’s work reveals the natural sculptures, layered formations, and the vibrant colors of nature. His images capture the rich colors and textures of dirt, sand, water, rocks, tress, leaves, and flowers. Students expanded upon Goldsworthy’s work using materials readily available to them on their school playground. Students used leaves, twigs, flowers and tree bark to construct configurations representing harmony and balance. Amanda Mata (Photo 3) uses flowers to show the contrast in color and texture in nature. In Photo 4, photographer Sarah Smith uses two twigs to form a religious cross carefully placed on a bed of dandelions, encircled by six leaves. The obvious religious significance is made more complex by the symmetry and balance of the circle of leaves in Shane Brandon’s photograph (Photo 5). Here we see a rock carefully placed in the center of a circle of red flowers. The photographer uses concentric circles to demonstrate balance, yet, at the same time, there is a sense of restriction within the clearing of the grass. We are reminded that peaceful places/spaces come in many sizes, in this case, within a small circle of flowers. While we find the inclusion of flowers to be a universal symbol of peace, the way in which these students arrange these props within their frame is specific to this 4 th grade class in Southern California. These photographs, therefore, demonstrate how young students look to nature for inspiration to create interesting images of peace.

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Diversity, Community and Cooperation. The category of People/Social includes word concepts for peace, community, diverse, and cooperation. Unique to the fourth grade students are images composed to encompass these four words. The Goya Peace Awards were given to those images that symbolize community, diversity and cooperation represented by peers within their community. Photos 6 (Daniel Kang), 7 (Ingrid Filakousky) and 8 (Victoria Perez) were photographed on the elementary school playground, the environment where students build friendships through games and other activities. The images reveal their understanding of diversity beyond ethnic and cultural background. Their awareness includes the diversity of shoes, accessories and gender. Daniel Kang (Photo 6) described the diversity in his photograph as “people with glasses, people without glasses, girls, boys, and people with different eye color.” From different types of shoelaces to cultural backgrounds, the photographers embrace the diversity within their class and among their peers.

The students acknowledge their class as a community supported by their similarities and differences and are able to convey a clear sense that a community is strengthened through cooperation. Here, we see how a student interprets the importance of a community and cooperation as three students work together to create a sand sculpture. On the right side of the photo, two other students in the community are holding up a sign that reads “playing with sand is stupid and immature.” By including the sign, the photographer shows how members of the community are able to maintain a peaceful community by tolerating the sign, rather than causing conflict. While social photographs existed in all three cultures, the cultural diversity of California and the extent to which diversity is emphasized in K-12 schools both contributed to the unique photographs of this culture.

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Northern Ireland : Jonathan Cummins

It is the harshly built environment of North Belfast and the children’s perspective on this environment that distinguish a great many of the photographs from Northern Ireland. Ligoniel, the area of North Belfast where the two participating schools are located, saw considerable conflict during the Northern Ireland “troubles.” Many of the mostly eight year-old students from both schools come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Picturing Peace program was an important addition to the school calendar, as it introduced new technology, such as digital cameras, into the classroom, in addition to training teachers and complementing the existing curriculum.

Analysis of the photographs from Northern Ireland identified several threads that might be assessed as representative of peace. Three particular categories, however, stood out: images in which there is conflict between the built-environment and nature; images where the children engage directly with the photographic frame; and photographs of playground markings formally composed to evoke a spatial interpretation to the theme of peace.

The curriculum directed the children to develop their photographic skills in three stages, while all the time reflecting on peace. The first stage encouraged children to make photographs within a structure that required them to learn about the camera and to consider approaches to composing and lighting the photographic frame. As part of this process, the children were given words from the curriculum’s vocabulary, that largely focused on photographic terminology relating to space and form, in addition to words that describe qualities and word pairings such as balance/imbalance, light/shadow, open/closed, harmony, beautiful etc. In the second phase of the curriculum, the children embarked on more socially oriented exercises. As part of these lessons the children photographed moments from the staging of their allegorical mini-plays. Finally, building on the skills they had learned thus far, the children were encouraged to openly address and respond to the theme of peace by considering their physical environment and the community around them.

The early studio-based studies were the most formal in nature, as they aimed to guide students’ creative concerns and learning in the areas of composition and lighting. Students were thus offered an opportunity to experience an experiment with the curriculum’s vocabulary in a practical manner. In Daniel Bean's image (Photo 9), small stones spiral inward as if to protect an inner place, while Laura Slinger's study (Photo 10) confronts us with a body lying prostrate under a towering column of stones. Both photographs present evocative sculptural studies which have been skillfully photographed. They also demonstrate the children’s exploration of words from the Picturing Peace vocabulary such as “light” and “shadow,” “open/closed,” “balance,” “safe,” “perspective” and “beautiful.” But words from the more difficult abstract vocabulary such as “mystery,” “strange,” “conflict,” “isolation,” and “security” are embodied in these images too. Megan Malone’s sensitively rendered photograph (Photo 11) of a mask and its shadow suggests a comfortable consideration of image as metaphor for psychic space. These three images represent an early tendency to photograph the relationship between space and place; the use of the body as a compositional and socio-documentary tool; and the use of metaphor as a creative tool in visual communication.

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Returning to the Model of Peace Concept earlier outlined, all three images may be regarded as models of peace as assessed from a sensory and spiritual perspective and as spatial abstraction. This is a result of the photographs’ careful attention to lighting, in addition to the compositional concepts explored such as open/closed, balance/imbalance and so forth. Within the model’s concept of environment, the images’ inherent conflicts may also be considered. The individual lying prostrate in Photo 10 exhibits symmetry and balance, but is pinned down by a great weight; the peaceful place in Photo 9 is exclusive and safe, yet it exists as a result of walls that partition that space from the outside; the formal beauty of Photo 11 leads us seductively into a world that hints at an inherent duality of self.

Conflict in the built environment and nature. Often the photographs from Northern Ireland call to mind the images of photographer Diane Arbus. Arbus’s work has a strong social documentary dimension. Her images respond to the inevitable social conflicts in the world around her, forcing the viewer to consider the surrounding realities of life. Sean O'Neill's image of a beer bottle (Photo 12) smashed in the playground sits uneasily with notions of visualizing peace. It's an image, however, that is familiar to us all. The photograph suggests that this image is a still frame from an extended narrative and, as such, it provokes a questioning response. What one wonders was the event that precipitated the bottle breaking? Such interrogations on the part of the viewer are met with an inevitably, uneasy response whose disquiet is furthered by the context of the image. It is obvious that the photographer of this image is a child, and that the photograph was probably taken in a schoolyard. This simple truth merges two worlds we would prefer to see separate: that of childhood innocence and of societal anomie. The very act of photographing the smashed bottle by a child reorients our gaze and, in so doing, erases any imagined innocence one may perceive in the child’s point of view.

Later, the children’s photographs leave the studio to focus on their environment. In Photos 13 (Jade Robinson), 14 (Kieran Doyle) and 15 (Marianne English) we see boarded up windows and locked doors.

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Framed by fences and high spear-like railings, we often see nature out there, withheld and beckoning. This is displayed in Photos 16 (Jodie Barr), 17 (Conall Murphy), 18 (Darragh Magee), 19 (Jamie McSorley), 20 (James Campbell), 21 (Abbas Ali), 22 (Robert Davy), 23 (John Patrick Clarke), and 24 (Ryan Moorland).

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19 20 21

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Signs of exclusion were also photographed by the children in Photos 25 (Brian Todd) and 26 (Kerry Davidson), as was the technology of surveilla nce so prevalent in Northern Ireland photographed by Chiara Banas (Photo 27) and Megan Breheney (Photo 28) . These photographs have charted a course well clear of “paint by numbers” art and tell us a little about the environment of the children. Yet again, we can assess these photographs in terms of peace from a spatial perspective using the Concept Model. Every image contains a careful consideration of perspective, balance, light and careful composition. It’s a rigorous graphic order that has been overlaid on an environment which is unrelenting in its own partition. The very act of choosing and artfully framing the relationship between the built-environment and nature brings out the inherent conflict in the landscape. Like Sam O’Neill’s broken bottle, the reflex action on the part of the viewer is not despair at the content of the frame, but with the gaze of the photographer. The photographs witness the children’s environment as it is and they reveal the impositions on this environment. The very act of photographing their own life, however, reaffirms that life, empowering the children through self-expression. It is this act of retrieving the landscape through photography that reclaims peace on the children’s terms.

Despite the obvious imposition on the environment, there is also a clear sense of optimism, one which is primarily realized through nature. In Chiara Banas' photograph (Photo 29) we look out between a gap in a fence to see a lush hill and, sprouting magically from the grass, a goal post. Megan Breheney's daffodils (Photo 30) stand luminous under a broody sky; Rebecca Foster's flowers (Photo 31) thrive under the shadow of a fence; a field of flowers by Amy-Leigh McPeake (Photo 32) exude life; and David Smith’s singular tree (Photo 33) is ignited by a burst of sunlight falling upon its small leaves.

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While the focus of these photographs is nature, they are situated in opposition to the built environment. It is this juxtaposition which makes them empowering and acts as a counterbalance to the images already mentioned such as Photos 19, 20, 23, and 24. In the previous photographs nature seemed beyond reach, and impossibly lost; here, it’s within reach and it’s specific, individual and floral. Repeatedly, the children turn to nature when visualizing peace. There's an awareness of the beauty in nature and optimism in the life they find bursting from the ground.

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The Body in the Frame . Universally, the children were keen to depict themselves in the photographic frame. Many of these depictions in Northern Ireland challenge our expectations of conventional composition, far removed from typical photographic representations of friends or family. Indeed, there is a sort of merging between the children’s subjects and the children themselves. This compositional freedom is evident in many images in the exhibition such as those by Rebecca Foster (Photo 34), Kerry Davidson, (Photo 35), Chelsea Rock (Photo 36), Conall Murphy (Photo 37), John Patrick Clarke (Photos 38 and 39) and by an unidentified photographer (Photo 40). Ryan Murphy’s photograph (Photo 41) of a swirling ground removes the body from the frame entirely, but it is the tracing of body movement that informs the image’s abstractions and gives it such inherent freedom. The children’s ability to occupy the physical space of their surroundings and the virtual space of the photographic frame on their terms, and in a manner distinct to them, suggests a level of freedom that is empowering. And there is no better concept allied to peace than a sense of freedom.

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Markings. The children’s formal consideration of their environment is further revealed in their photographic explorations of markings in the playgrounds (see Photos 42-44). Playgrounds are places the children know intimately. Their studies clearly demonstrate children’s ability to abstract the commonplace and to create engaging graphic works. Daragh Magee's wonderful “1” (Photo 42) spans two squares of color uniting a possible flag and suggesting that two differences can be united. Abbas Ali’s “1” (Photo 43) on the other hand, is a simple, singular statement with special resonance in Northern Ireland. Thomas Rooney’s intention is somewhat different given its apparent religious significance. He clearly articulates his artistic intent when discussing his photograph of an “x” or cross (Photo 44) painted in the school yard. “It’s for peace and for danger,” he says, “X don’t go there and x for peace”.

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Appleton: Robert J. Beck

The Appleton photographs were taken from two charter school classrooms, 5th and 6th grades for gifted and talented students and one performing arts high school classroom (N = 50) in a small town of 75,000 people. The school is located in a middle class area of Appleton, Wisconsin. The school has good computer facilities and lab support for uploading images from cameras and editing pictures with “junior photoshop software”. There were important curricular differences in the Appleton program compared with California and Belfast. First, there was a greater emphasis on staging dramatic situations to portray peace, both at human scale or miniature model level. Second, a concept, the Spirit of Peace, was used in which the students’ imaginations were guided to portray the spirit as an entity in any form. The spirits that were photographically created assumed various forms, including bodily/gestural, social groupings, light and shadow, and nature. Third, the project was technologically advantaged; only in Appleton were students able to alter and multiply their images using software. Fourth, only in Appleton did the students write poems about their photographs.

The analysis yielded three types of pictures of peace symbols unique to Appleton: Innocence, in which baby dolls are typically protected and adored; Play, in which miniature sets and cartoon figures are used to symbolize peace; and the Spirit of Peace, represented as abstract figures, angels, and chiaroscuro spiritual shapes.

Innocence and protection. Consider this group of three pictures showing care and love expressed to a black baby doll. In Photo 45 by Samantha Schroeder, a boy is cradling the doll with his hand giving it support. He is smiling at someone and the photographer has selected a close-up of a boy holding a girl doll to communicate a sense of protection to the scene. It was learned in an interview that the boy was amused by his pose rather than expressing love, but the latter emotional gesture is what the female photographer intended. What is being protected in the scene? Black children evidently. As another example, in Photo 46 (Kathryn Bellile), the black doll is being comforted by an elephant doll. In this picture the doll is naked and lying on a bed of white foam, improvised from packing material. One feels a sense of innocence and protection suffusing the scene.

45 46 47

In Photo 47 (Samantha Schroeder), a white doll is wrapped in a white baby blanket lying on a carpet. As in Photo 45 (Samantha Schroeder), a hand is used to indicate care, love and protection; the hand reaches to touch the baby’s hood to make it more snug. Thus, both black and white children need care and attention. These students understand that black babies may need special care, while all children need help. These pictures symbolize peace, because it can be assumed that babies are those who are most vulnerable to harm. Preemptive care will make them feel protected and secure.

Play. This symbol was found in a second group of photographs, in which the communication of peace was based on play images created in miniature sets. This class of photographs is represented by Photos 48-50. These photographs employ play animals and cartoon figures. In Photo 48 (Jessica Jens), a soft toy frog with characteristically big eyes, and also with very large hands and generally oversized, sits on top of an indeterminate animal, later discovered in the child’s accompanying poem to be a cat. As in the pictures with dolls, the figures rest on a puffy, white soft marshmallow pile. Here again the idea of peace is communicated by a baby being comforted in a soft environment. We think that the frog’s prominent hands are also an important symbol of peace. As shall be seen, the photography of hands was the most common genre to express peace. But there is also a sense of diversity in the photographs in which two different animals are getting along. As implied by these interpretations, therefore, the cognition of peace for this young photographer includes play, animals, baby, soft texture, and hands. A very meaningful picture of peace indeed.

48 49 50

No less interesting are two companion pictures selected for this group by Connor Peterson (Photos 49-50). Connor’s photographs are a carefully collected and arranged collage of elements including the sea and sky as backgrounds, against which stands a cloth figure looking toward a paper yellow sun. Curiously, the figure, whose arms are outstretched in a beseeching gesture to the sun, has no hands. Perhaps there is a sense of powerlessness in this handicapped figure as it asks for power to make peace. Yet this blue, possibly robed and hooded figure, is walking on the water without legs! One gets the impression of some kind of religious figure, powerful in principle, yet doubly handicapped in its missing both hands and feet. So there is an uncertainty with what strength the figure asks the sun for its beneficence and peace. In a second panel, (Photo 50) a photo of a “palm tree on a desert island” is inserted into the frame that adds to the symbolism by including the idea of peace as life on a desert island where the weather is perfect and there is no one with whom to fight.

Spirit of Peace. The third class of pictures is based on the Spirit of Peace unit in the Appleton curriculum. The first representation of the Spirit highlighted is shown in Photos 51-53, a series of photographs of a hooded figure holding a shield. The images consist of one in natural light, then appearing altered through a computerized stain-glass mode (Photo 53), and again appearing as a reflection in a pool of water (Photo 52). The figure, turned in profile, has a shield of metal or covered in foil that is marked with a symbol and other possible imagery (sun/sky?). The hooded militaristic figure is there to defend us against anyone who might disturb the peace. The stained glass variation of the Spirit shows that the figure may be quasi-religious as well, with the hood’s suggestions of a monk-like figure. Perhaps photographer Jared Duimstra’s Spirit of Peace is adapted from video games and movie scenarios in which quasi-religious warriors fight against evil and defend the good (peace).

51 52 53

Another photography group produced four pictures that had more explicitly religious symbolism. In photographs 54-56 (Matthew Keys), we see a white-robed, long-haired figure resembling Jesus with his hands calming and blessing two blue-robed students in attitudes of antagonism (Photo 54). In another photograph by Matthew Keys (Photo 55), the Jesus figure looks down beneficently on a white-robed acolyte who is kneeling in a posture of humility. In a third image in this series (Photo 56) that uses a stained-glass effect, the acolyte prays to the God, who reaches toward him. The implication of these photos is that humility before and prayer to a god is invoked to preserve the peace.

54 55 56

The next set of pictures by Jack Cody (Photos 57 and 58) represent a much more abstract view of the Spirit of Peace. In one of the two panels a white-hooded head communicates a monk-like presence to the Spirit. Yet the second panel is intended to reveal the spirit as a “whistling and mystic wind,” verbal imagery revealed in the accompanying poem to this photograph. This dream-like image presumably communicates what the hooded head is thinking and feeling.

57 58

Universal symbols: Photographs represented in the three cultures

To arrive at universal symbols the authors reviewed the entire collection of exhibited photographs. The symbols found are represented by photographs that were made in at least two of the cultures and, frequently, in all three.

Hands

The authors think photographs of hands may be the most important symbol of peace communicated by this young population of photographers. We will refer to several pictures of hands that provide a convincing display of the large range of expressions made possible by hands: shaking hands; pointing; solidarity; friendly and waving; consoling; and resting quietly. In Photos 59-62 (Anais Tran Ngoc) the pictures conveyed peace as arms and hands joined together in solidarity. The original photograph of two girls holding each other’s wrists in solidarity has been transformed into four panels of that picture using different backgrounds and contrast, color and negative software effects. The physical arrangement exudes power and strength. The four panels are a paean to sisterhood, perhaps saying, “Girls can keep the peace, but we have got to stick together, and so let us join hands together…”

59 60 61 62

Another example of the use of hands to communicate peace is shown in Photos 63-65 (Bethany Clarke). The photographer used different positions of hands to convey various meanings of peace. Blue, yellow and pink Lance Armstrong (LiveStrong) bracelets are worn in these pictures to signify girls’ unity of purpose in fighting a scourge. Reading from left to right the sisterhood grows from one hand, to two, to four hands. The hands appear in different positions. In the first, a flash of light emanates from the second finger to combine symbols of both light and solidarity. In the second panel, a hand of a child of color rests atop a white child’s hand to use symbols of diversity and solidarity. In the third, a photograph of a drawing shows four hands lying in top of one another in the attitude of making a pact.

63 64 65

In Photo 66 (Alyssa Pitts), two arms and hands of the same girl from Photo 67 (Alyssa Pitts) are portrayed as joined together. A LiveStrong bracelet, in fact, is used to hook both thumbs together. There is a feeling of strength as the thumbs pull against the bracelet. Yet the bracelet indicates that the hands are bound. In that sense, the blue thumb bracelet and the previous blue wrist bracelets both may communicate the message that peace requires strength to overcome the feeling of being bound and powerless. Another interpretation could be that the three bracelets represent power and, therefore, the joining of hands and thumbs together in one person signifies personal unity. In this arrangement neither hand may struggle against the other and the girl, one concludes, must be at peace. To confirm this impression in the accompanying panel, a portrait photograph reveals her face as communicating inner peace and contentment.

66 67

In “Discovery,” Photo 68 (Victor Cervantes), a student from Lowell Elementary School in California lies prone on his back covered with clothing, a sheet and a sleeping bag. While in one sense this appears to communicate the idea of peace as being at rest, with the world blocked out, the use of the waving hand changes this meaning dramatically. This gesture of friendliness combined with the California laid back attitude perhaps signifies the social as well as personal states of peace that can occur simultaneously.

68 69 70

Photo 69 (Spencer Wentlands) was taken by a mixed grade high school student in Appleton, Wisconsin. The picture shows a girl who is clearly upset. She is turned away from the camera, her eyes shut and mouth open, but being comforted by a hand holding her shoulder. The pose says that someone who is not at peace should be helped to find peace. This can be done by touching them.

Photo 70 (Natalie Coffman) is another picture of hands by a high school student. In this shot, three girls are sitting on a bench and leaning forward, their hands together in their laps. Each girl’s hand positions are different. Starting at the lower left of the picture, one girl is shown with only her fingertips touching, while the adjacent girl’s hands are fully clasped. For the third girl, one hand rests atop the other in a more relaxed position. Thus, these three girls, sitting together in girl solidarity depicted above in other photographs, bring varying levels of determination or resignation to the cause of peace. Compositionally, it is pleasing to speculate that the girl in the middle, whose hands are clasped, may be the most fervent supporter of peace in the group, while her friends’ hands are less decisive and determined. In Photo 71 (Laura Slinger) a close-up of a hand features rings as symbols of peace, while, in Photo 72 (Caolan Curley), the hands assume a prayerful pose.

71 72

Sun/Light

Several pictures used the sun and light as symbols of peace. In Photos 73 (Luis Luna) and 74 (Ieva Bunikyte) the sun is shown coming through a canopy trees. As the ultimate source of life, the sun is a potent symbol of peace. Sunlight shines through the clouds as a sign of peace in Photo 75 (Jamie Louis McCardle). Photo 76 (Anthony Chen) shows a beam of light moving diagonally across space. Is it a kind of lightning bolt, shot by some deity to directly achieve peace after a final act of war? Or is it, perhaps, the flameout of an enemy that has been shot down, thus ending war?

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Religion

Many photographs across all cultures made religious references as symbols of peace. In California, the nature setting of the picture has a small cross of twigs as a Christian symbol in Photo 77 (Sarah Smith). In Northern Ireland, Photos 78 (Caolan Curley) and 79 (Thomas Rooney) are two photographs of crosses, both taken on the school playground.

77 78 79

In Appleton, Photo 80 (Tyler Triezenberg) of an angel is one of several that imagined the Spirit of Peace as an angel or Christ as in Photo 81 (Matthew Keys). In California, a similar religious symbol was shown as a meditating figure in Photo 82 (Sean Rowan).

80 81 82

Nature/Plants/Flowers

In Appleton, photographer Denver Collins (Photos 83-84) created a multi-panel group featuring nature and plants. Plants are a peace symbol because they are rooted, non-aggressive, and are nourishing by providing food and sustenance. But plants may also suffer from nature when it disturbs the peace as in this set of four photographs by Max Luck (Photos 85-88). In two of the panels the interrelation between plants and sun is highlighted: see particularly Photo 85 in which the plant appears to have a solar head.

83 84

85 86 87 88

In California, a Goldsworthy-type by Amanda Mata (Photo 89) shows nature in all its glory with an informal arrangement of violet flowers and grass over yellow leaves. Flowers are cultural symbols of peace, whether it be the blooms that victims of war offer to liberators or the flowers offered those killed in war and who now rest in peace. In Belfast, a few flowers on otherwise empty ground provides contrast to the gloomy sky above in Photo 90 (Megan Breheney).

89 90

Diversity

The idea of diversity has frequently been associated with peace in classroom discussions in all the cultures studied. In California, diversity was analyzed as part of a class of social images in which cooperation was highlighted. Students believe that by getting along, people would contribute to peace. In a picture from Belfast, diversity is communicated abstractly by referring to “apples and oranges,” a common saying to express differences in Northern Ireland. In Photo 91, by an unidentified photographer from Ligoniel Primary School, apples and oranges, normally different, have been cut into halves and joined visually to form a hybrid diverse fruit. The use of fruit to express peace seems intuitively satisfying. However, in Northern Ireland the meaning is additionally carried by the colors orange and green. These are the historic and enduring colors of the Orangemen (the Protestants), and of the Irish Republicans (the Catholics), respectively. That these colors are joined means that there is a hope in the picture that these antagonists could be reconciled and no longer competing. The photograph, then, is a subtly expressed representation of peace. Enhancing this idea are the flowers, leaves and grass in the background that carry other nature-related meanings of peace.

91 92

While Photo 92 (Ingrid Filakousky) from Southern California clearly communicates the idea of diversity, it does so using other cultural signs. In this picture we see the legs of three different individuals wearing different kinds of sneakers. Different in appearance, both in clothing and sneakers, the students’ feet are nonetheless placed together in solidarity. Although it is typical to wear sneakers in California given the good weather, sneakers are also worn universally; and so, they are a highly appropriate symbol for diversity as a universal category of peace.

Words and Signs

It is interesting that students in all cultures used words and signs to express meanings of peace, or rather its, opposite, threats to peace. In Photo 93 (Mayra Borboa, Daisy Aguirre, Johnny Hernandez, Edith Romero, Pedro Gomez, and Tiffany Phabsamphon), the word “caution” suggests that we must be very careful about not breaking the peace. In fact, behind the caution tape may likely be an area under construction or perhaps a hint of a crime scene. But if one remains on this side of the tape, one will avoid any danger implied and remain at peace. In Photos 94 (Brian Todd) and 95 (Kerry Davidson) from Belfast, the message is really about segregation: if people do not try to enter someone else’s domain, then the peace can be preserved. Counter to the idea of diversity, this photograph counsels separation of parties, who if allowed to mix, would breach the peace. In Photo 96 (Forest McKenzie) from Appleton, peace is reflected as the sign for a fall-out shelter. In a major disturbance of the peace, nuclear attack, the photographer directs us to a fallout shelter where we will be able to find refuge, if not peace.

93 94

95 96

Social Groups

There were several pictures from all cultures that communicated the social nature of peace as abstract spatial patterns. What is being shown in Photos 97 (Kay Cheon), 98 (Marisa Kallenberger), 99 (Edgar Gonzalez) and 100 (Victoria Perez) are examples from California of different expressions of friendship through social play, the harmony of a musical group, boys joining hands and girls joined at their heads as photographed from above. In all pictures there is a strong sense of togetherness, exerting a positive force against any potential conflict.

97 98

99 100

It is interesting that photographs in Belfast by Jack Boyd use the same idea as Photo 100 (Victoria Perez) from Southern California. Again, the photos are taken from above to reveal cohesive social patterns. In both these pictures the boys (Photo 101) and the girls (Photo 102) are joined at their feet to form a harmonious arrangement as if part of a wheel. These pictures seem to be saying: “We are the spokes of a wheel acting in concert.” In this unity there is peace.

101 102

Empty swings

Photographer Jaron Kong (Photo 103) from California and Chyna Witzke (Photo 104) from Appleton show empty emotionless swings, the former in its playground setting and the latter with the sky in the background. We interpret the empty motionless swings to signify peace for different reasons. In emptiness there is an absolute state of peace. If a child were swinging there might be potential danger, but here, no danger exists. In Photo103 the context, however, is play, a children’s symbol of peace we have seen before. And in Photo 104, it is also play, but the blue sky in the background also contributes to the sense of peace both in its color and orientation to the sky, the latter a frequently used symbol of peace in these cultures.

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Summary: local and universal symbols of peace

The evidence suggests that each culture created photographic meanings of peace that were unique and local, but that all cultures shared certain forms of peace symbols. In Southern California, students photographed peaceful places, with the harmony and balance of nature and social games as their images of peace. In Belfast, there was both evidence of conflict, in the signs and barriers that were made prominent, as well as of some optimism. For example, peace signs were created by photographically framing markings the students found on their playground. In Appleton, the students photographed scenes of innocent doll babies, play in miniature sets, and portrayed peace as spiritual figures. In each of these environments, there were certainly physical affordances and opportunities for photography that helped to create local distinctiveness. Yet the cultural and social contexts also contributed to local differences: consider the peaceful environments of Southern California, the historical climate of “troubles” in Northern Ireland, and the relatively innocent and gifted students of Appleton, Wisconsin. The local curriculum made a difference as well. In Southern California, there was less structure and the photographs were relatively reflective of the environment except for the distinctive characteristics that have been described. The use of a studio photography approach is more evident in Belfast and Appleton. The many images of spirit figures in Appleton, of course, reflect the detailed directions that were given concerning the Spirit of Peace.

At the same time we found evidence of universal themes of peace. These included a very frequent use of photographs of hands symbolizing peace through associated meanings of unity, protection, serenity and relaxation. The sun was noted as a powerful symbol of peace in all cultures as was its companion, light. Students in all environments used religious symbols to picture peace. While crosses were most prominent, there were also photographs of angels and saint-like images. Plants and flowers were photographed in all settings as signifiers of peace. In Southern California and Northern Ireland, diversity was photographed because it is a real issue in these communities, but not in relatively socially homogenous Appleton, where it is not. All cultures symbolized peace through social arrangements that indicated a harmony or unity among the members of a group, either playing together or posing in symmetrical patterns.

Discussion

In our discussion we will develop a short profile of one young photographer, Anais Tran Ngoc, from the program in Appleton, Wisconsin. The profile will serve to provide information on unanswered study questions and point the way to future research:

(1) Can individual performance be analyzed within the framework that has been developed?

(2) What additional data might be required to validate our interpretations?

(3) Did the program contribute to students’ understanding of peace?

Anais’ performance can be analyzed within the framework that has been developed. In the interpretation of Photos 105-108, it was suggested that her picture of peace employed universally shared symbols, two students’ hands joined together. Anais’ picture was part of a subsample of 12 photographers across all cultures who used hands as symbols of peace. Because Anais was able to modify her pictures with software, she produced a panel of four pictures using the same photograph. This afforded her a unique approach to the use of hands in communicating her feelings about peace.

105 106 107 108

At the Appleton Exhibition, several students were interviewed by an ArtsBridge scholar, Jamie Valerius, as part of the videography of the exhibit. Her interview with Anais revealed additional information concerning our interpretation of the above images. Jamie asked Anais to clarify which picture was the original used to create variations. The student revealed that Photo 107 was the original. Moreover, this picture, which was colored in red, and enhanced with a water color effect, was meant to convey a burning background. Anais called this “Fire Hands.” The blue-colored variation is titled “Water Hands” (Photo 108). “Nature Hands” is the green colored variation (Photo 106) that shows peace associated with nature, and the far left image is titled “Air Hands” (Photo 105). As Anais said: “I changed the colors so that you could see that they were in a different place, even though they were in the same place.” Asked how the hands communicated peace, Anais replied that “we are together” and they form an “everlasting circle.” If we consider that our interpretations above had highlighted the meanings of power, strength, solidarity and sisterhood from these photographs, Anais’ interpretations ground our general conclusions in specific facts and intentions that reveal far more about the series of pictures. In fact, she had combined the hands symbol with nature symbols in her artistry. This suggests that in future studies young artists need to be interviewed concerning their intentions and photography techniques.

There are two additional sources of documents collected in Appleton that can serve to elaborate these meanings: the students’ poems that were intended to help viewers understand their photographs and contextualize their feelings about peace; and questionnaire responses that were used as part of the students’ self-evaluations of the program. Here is Anais’ poem about her photographs.

HANDS TOGETHER

A fire burns in our house,

Together we warm ourselves,

For we are a part of it,

Water pours around and on top of us,

Together we catch it to drink,

For we are part of it,

Nature surrounds us,

Together we breathe it in,

For we are together,

Together we play

Together we work

In an everlasting circle,

We are together,

We are a circle,

We are together,

Together, together we are at peace,

Together we are at peace.

The poem reveals Anais’ feelings about peace and the narrative arc of her pictures. Beginning with the feeling of peace as warmth, it is also represented as water, and nature generally. We learn that the meanings of the hands, in fact, are about togetherness, confirming the solidarity we observed in the pictures. But the key meaning of the hands in the pictures is that they are intended to represent a circle even though the form is more rectangular. Perhaps, the hands should be viewed as spinning or turning. In this way, we may usefully combine the artists’ personal intentions and meanings with our culturally-based interpretations. Finally, what did Anais say about what she had learned about peace in this program?

“I learned a lot about peace. I learned that peace has millions of forms, all of which are created inside a person’s mind. Peace is also always here; it is always waiting for you or looking for something. This defines my other thing, because when many people find peace they might not know it. Only after you encounter peace do you realize it. Still this is just what I think, and, in other people’s minds, peace is different.”

Anais has, indeed, learned a lot about peace. She has noted how everyone has different images of peace. This conclusion was arrived at by many students in the program. The omnipresence of peace and its rhythmic arrival or search for it also characterizes peace for Anais; this too was confirmed in the poems and questionnaire responses of other students. She has suggested that her photographs were only one way to capture peace, and that she may have gained additional insights about peace in writing her poems and answering others’ questions about her meanings. Anais’ profile tells us that, while we may usefully categorize visual meanings at both local and universal levels, we can never ignore the value of probing deeply into individual meanings when a student pictures peace.

References

Beck, R. J. (2005). Picturing Peace: Curriculum Notes 2005. Appleton: Lawrence University.

Davydov, V. (1972). The forms of generalization in learning. Moscow: Pedagogica.

Gergen, K. J. (1995). Social construction and the educational process. In L. P. Steffe & J. Gale (Eds.), Constructivism in education (pp. 17-40). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Kozulin, A. (1990). Vygotsky’s Psychology. Oxford: Blackwell.

Shotter, J. (1995). In dialogue: Social constructionism and radical constructivism. In L. P. Steffe & J. Gale (Eds.), Constructivism in education (pp. 41-56). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Vygotsky, L., & Luria, A. (1994). Tool and symbol in child development. In R. Van Der Veer & J. Valsiner (Eds.), The Vygotsky Reader (pp. 99-174). Blackwell: Oxford.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the following individuals, organizations and foundations that have supported the Picturing Peace project during the first three years.

This transatlantic ArtsBridge partnership would not have been possible without support from John Graham, Director of the Citizen Peacebuilding Program in California, and Anne Gallagher, Director of Seeds of Hope in Belfast. We would also like to acknowledge Citizen Peacebuilding Program members Paula Garb, Dulcie and Larry Kugelman, Lynda Lawrence, Marlett Phillips, and David Rosten for their creative support throughout the development of the project.

Special thanks to poet Adrian Fox and singer Rodney Cordner for working with the children and sharing their art during the workshops at the University of Ulster; Principals Claire Hillman (Ligoniel Primary School) and Brian McParland (St. Vincent de Paul Primary School); the University of Ulster Cultural Development Office; and to the Lord Mayor (Councillor Tom Ekin) and the City Council of Belfast for launching the exhibition in Belfast City Hall.

Steve Blodgett and Marsha Tuchscherer of Lawrence University Public Affairs provided valuable artistic expertise in the production of the Appleton exhibition images. Donnie Sendelbach, Michael Corbett, Robert Lowe, Steve Armstrong, and Peter Gilbert of Lawrence University Library and Computer Services provided technical support throughout the website and online gallery design. We would also like to recognize Judy Baseman, Principal of Odyssey/Foster Elementary School; Paula Sween, Talented and Gifted Curriculum Coordinator for Appleton Area School District; the Boys and Girls Club of Foster Elementary for the use of their digital cameras; and Val Wylie and Carrie Feld who were instrumental in bringing the exhibition to the Paper Discovery Center.

ArtsBridge would like to acknowledge the Dana Foundation, the Christensen Fund, and the Hewlett-Packard Corporation for their generous support of digital cameras. Additional thanks to Wendy Lee and ArtsBridge mentors Elaine Harding and Hobart Taylor for providing guidance to the UCI ArtsBridge scholars throughout the project; to the Look Again judges for rewarding our young artists; and to all the scholars, host teachers, principals and staff for sharing their views and exploring ideas of peace with their pupils.