Can a photograph reveal something of our inner thoughts and feelings to the wider world?

In the summer of 2019 Young Futures ran a pilot project with videographer and photojournalist Doma Dovgialo. Portraits of the Mind (or POM for short), the project is a series of Art and Photography workshops which we hope will be presented as a public exhibition later this year. Through our pilot project 8 young people were each given a morning or afternoon alone with the artist. They engaged in an informal interview and talked about their relationship with their image, their experience of mental health, how they feel wider society views them and the impact of stereotypes.

Doma invited each young person to be co-author of their portrait, and all were creative in what they chose to share.  Some chose objects that were precious to them or had a story to tell, others revealed their home spaces.  Some chose to show a part of their body; an arm, a shoulder, two hands for a mum and her baby. The final stage involved each person using a digital tablet to ‘draw’ over or around their chosen photograph; revealing something of their relationship with their external image and internal world.

A collaborative process from the start, this project worked brilliantly with the hearts and minds of our young people. Let your keyworker or therapist know if you’d be interested in taking part when we run the project again!

Have you ever participated in a project like this before?

I haven’t been a part of a project like this before. It was quite interesting to explore a new project and explore the mind in a different way.

If you were to describe your experience in three words…

  1. Mindful
  2. Amusing
  3. Technological

What would you say you are taking away from this experience?

How people are perceived on the outside might not be how people feel on the inside...

Have you ever participated in a project like this before?

No. It was an interesting concept, I saw the images from the book Doma created with adults and wanted to have a go myself.

If you were to describe your experience in three words…

  1. New
  2. Nervous
  3. Different

What would you say you are taking away from this experience?

The experience of working with a visual artist, who was really nice, and being part of something bigger.