PhotoVoice and metaphors: narrating experiences of gender-based violence

Gender-based violence impacts the lives of many women. There has been growing attention to its physical, mental and social consequences and how gender-based violence can be prevented. Still, many people who have been exposed to it struggle to articulate their experiences because it is challenging to share the impact of gender-based violence with others. In this paper, we portray photos taken through PhotoVoice in Ethiopia and engage with the research participants’ explanations of these photos to deepen the understanding of how they used metaphors to narrate their experiences of gender-based violence and its impact on their lives. Drawing on an interpretative phenomenological approach, the paper shows how participants used urban materialities to create metaphors to communicate their needs for protection and repair, and how these intersected with local notions of what it means to be a woman. Through the use of PhotoVoice as a method to place research participants at the centre, we illustrate how photos can facilitate the creation of metaphors to narrate experiences of gender-based violence.