Photoyarn: developing a new arts-based method

I came to this research first and foremost as an Aboriginal woman, and, secondly, as an arts educator who continues to work with Indigenous students. This research is deeply connected to who I am and the lens through which I view the world. This research was intercultural, interdisciplinary, arts-based Indigenous research. When approaching my research in schools with students, I looked for an arts method that was truly student-centered, and participant-led. When I could not find one suitable, we developed Photoyarn, a new Indigenous method that allowed students to control and direct the research process from data collection through to dissemination. This method blends yarning, an Indigenous method, with photography and some aspects of photovoice within this research. There were three colleges involved in the research; two colleges (A and B) were urban boarding schools, with Aboriginal boarders from numerous nations across Australia. The third college (C) was a Māori girls’ boarding school. This chapter outlines the development of Photoyarn at these three boarding schools.