Francesco Bondanini, a University of Kent alumnus, uses participatory visual methods to explore and empower the lives of migrants and detainees in Spain and Germany.  In the interview about his work below, he describes how the use of visual methods not only enables a greater depth of experience and knowledge, but more importantly, allows people to become involved and benefit from his work in a much more meaningful way.  

Tell us about the project you are involved in right now?

I have just finished the first part of a project called “Marcaré” in Melilla. Together with a team we worked in the periphery of the city with vulnerable groups, mostly from Amazigh origin (Berbers). We used art and audiovisuals as a tool to empower people and as a means for them to recover their surroundings.  It was a participatory project, in the sense that we worked together with young people and women with the aim to transform the area where they lived.

How and why did you get involved?

Knowing about my PhD, in which I used many art and audiovisual methods, Dr. José Luis Villena, a professor at the University of Granada, believed I could coordinate the project, and the Instituto de las Culturas, a public institution that works on cultural projects in the city, funded it. Together we started collaborating with local NGO Melilla Acoge with whom I had worked during my PhD, with the Red Ciudadana por la Paz, and with neighbourhood associations that made it possible for us to get into these areas.

Filming at the beach during a participatory video workshop

‘Marcaré’ uses visual methods developed during your PhD: can you tell us about your PhD and how you started to use these techniques?

I studied Communication at the Lumsa University in Rome and I have always been very interested in Social Sciences; once I started my PhD I believed I could use what I learnt at University about photo and video in my anthropological research.

Throughout my PhD I broadly studied the situation of migrants dwelling in a particular place – the so-called European border zone.  Specifically, my research focuses on the everyday-lives of migrants living in the CETI (Temporary Permanence Camp, as per its Spanish acronym) in the autonomous city of Melilla, a Spanish enclave in Northern Africa.  Through qualitative criteria and analysis, I researched into the way a wide variety of migrants, such as Subsaharan Africans, Algerians, and Asians, rebuild their lives in this border zone.  I paid particular attention to migrants’ strategies of integration and their structural and social exclusion.

In this research I used a participatory methodology that employs audiovisuals and art.  I ran workshops on photo, video, radio and theatre to migrants and then debated the results with them. I also used audiovisual techniques during interviews.

Working in henna during a painting workshop for women

What methods do you use in your current work and how have these developed from those used in your PhD?

During my fieldwork I used a sort of participatory approach with the migrants that were living in the CETI of Melilla. I ran audiovisual workshops; that was also a way to get in touch with migrants.  Following these we organized exhibitions of their works, a Seminar and a theatre piece too.  The visual work provided a way to create an open climate of opinion about their problems in the city, and a way to make their stories visible to the rest of the citizens.  In the new project (Marcaré) I used the experience gained from the projects in my PhD and applied them within a different group and context.  I worked with an amazing team, and with a higher level of organization (and a higher budget) we were able to reach more people.

What difference do you think visual methods make?

I believe the use of visuals is a way to make the work accessible to a larger audience.  This kind of work sometimes risks not being so “academic” but I believe it helps to make some kind of advocacy.  On the other hand, I believe in the approach that is based on the fact that the groups with whom we are working make the visual and artistic products; we often limit our role to coordination of activities only.

What happens to the work produced in this project?

I believe in the importance of showing the works, to prove what has been done and to share peoples’ stories and reach a wider audience.  I spend a lot of energy preparing exhibitions within the districts of the people in order to show to the other inhabitants their work.  These exhibitions are also a way to make visible ideas of transforming the surroundings.  We also worked through performances, murals and artistic installations in the districts, and each of these enabled many other people to share and understand.

Any examples?

Young People’s Performance: Faces on hanging shirts

We worked a lot in a district called Monte María Cristina. We held three exhibitions of photos made by the young pupils that participated in our workshops.  We usually held these in the Neighborhood associations that we had worked in for the original workshops.  On one occasion some of the pictures were pasted on the walls of the district.  At the opening of another, the pupils performed an “action painting” in front of an improvised audience.

Prisoners painting a mural on their prison walls, 2012

We also painted two of the patios of the prison of the same barrio.  The two murals were created and painted by the prisoners.  This was the process: we presented our idea (to paint the patio) and told them to think about what they wanted to see in their patio, something they didn’t have or couldn’t see inside the prison.  Karima Soliman, an artist who is part of the team, put together their ideas and sketches and then we moved onto the wall.  We spent almost two weeks working with them on the mural, debating ideas and the painting process.  This was one of the best experiences of the project; and this is how I conceive the participation approach.

Good stories? Bad stories? Things you would change?

Good stories: Fortunately many. Last week Trini Soler, a technician of the RNE (National Spanish Radio) that also collaborates in “Marcaré”, told me that she met a young pupil who had taken part in our radio workshop.  The pupil discovered that Estitxu González, another member of the team, was performing a theatre piece and she decided to go. When the young pupil met Trini, she asked her when we would be going back to the Monte to follow up with the workshops, because she had lots of things prepared.  We are possibly the first team that is using artistic and audiovisual tools to involve people, especially the younger people in cultural activities in these areas.  The fact that the girl went to the performance of my colleague made me think that we are going in the right direction, trying to make culture delve into these barrios.

First night of painting the mural in Pinares

On another occasion, we painted a mural in a park in the Pinares, a zone in another marginal part of the city.  When we arrived the park was in a bad condition.  We followed the same process as we did in the prison; in this case working with young pupils.  They created and painted the mural with the help of Manolo López, a professor at the Schools of Art in Melilla and part of our team as well.  We were afraid that the mural would only last a few days before being destroyed, because as they told us, this is what normally happens.  Instead, after almost six months the mural persists intact on the wall.  The mural was our way to improve the park and give it back to the youth that are living there; to transform it into a space to play.

Bad stories: There are a few anecdotes related to bureaucracy and our relations with the Centre in Granada that was our partner in the project; unfortunately the relation was not so fluid.

I would like to continue with this project.  We would like to transform it into a sort of Programme, i.e. something that could be permanent.  The team is now working on parallel projects but we would like to start again with “Marcaré” in a few months, so yes, we would like to change into something bigger.

Have you noticed any changes in people through being involved in these visual projects?

Artistic installation in Monte MC: Kids on the wall

Yes. I believe audiovisuals are a way to let people express their feelings.  We gave them training and then they were able to express better their need to transform the reality where they are living or improve their quality of life.  Audiovisuals and art give people the power to express themselves.  We also tried to give them useful feedbacks and suggestions.  Once a young student from a public school where we held a photo workshop confessed: “maybe I will not be a professional photographer, but I hope that in the future I will travel all over the world to immortalize every place and moment with my camera”.

How has your work changed through the process (academic and none)?

I started using Visual methods because I find it fascinating.  Then I started to use participatory methodologies because I felt that the result of the interviews was better if I moved from behind the camera to beside the camera; making the subject feel more comfortable while he could manage the situation better.  I believe that in this way I could reach different and better data, more in agreement with the kind of research I do.  On the other hand, l believe in the methodology I use, because it gives me the chance to know the world I am studying from the inside; the workshops are a way to get in contact with people and establish relations that eludes from the duality of interviewer-interviewee.

When I started “Marcaré” I felt that I should be surrounded by a team of professionals of audiovisuals and art, for this reason I looked for people with this profile to join the team. As a result, the quality of the workshops and the works produced definitely improved.

What advice would you give to people trying to work in visual methods?

Professor behind the glass: photo of Francesco Bondanini from young people’s photography workshop

I would suggest they get in touch and talk with the people with whom they are filming, establishing the way to use visual methods.  Sometimes these people feel uncomfortable but we don’t understand it.  I also suggest trying to collaborate with the interviewee, in this way the work will surely gain something from the experience as well.

And what’s next for you?

I have just landed in Cologne (Germany).  I will be here until June developing a research project funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) at the University of Cologne that involves Spanish migrants living in the city.  I will use visual methods and a participatory approach in the research.  And as I mentioned before, we hope to take “Marcaré” to the next level in the not too distant future.

Francesco B. Bondanini (interview by Caroline Bennett)

For more info about the project MARCARÉ, visit:

Web (in English): http://marcaremelilla.wordpress.com/in-english/

On Facebook: Marcare Melilla: arte y transformación social

On Twitter: @marcaremelilla