Codes and Modes

I was so pleased to participate in the first ever Hunter College Department of Film and Media Codes and Modes: The Character of Documentary Culture Conference. For our session: Social Practice and/as Documentary I invited Jody Wood to present her fantastic project Beauty in Transition, and especially her process of making a documentary about it. Beauty in Transition, a mobile hair salon that offers beauty services to homeless, is supported by a 2014 A Blade of Grass Fellowship. We shared the session with media producer Mandy Rose, who shared her research on developing a participatory culture of documentary.

What does it mean to make images for others from a project so much about the immediate exchange between participants? How are issues around visibility compounded when working with a population considered to be disenfranchised and often invisible to the culture at large?