Picturing Your Locale is a participatory art project. Participants are asked to photographically respond to 30 prompts related to their local environment. In an effort to elicit personal and thoughtful responses, the prompts are purposefully vague. They are also designed to promote a range of images. Some of the images will be specifically local, some will be specifically personal, and still others will reflect mainstream visual culture. The aim of the project is to get people thinking about their local landscape.

What do you notice on a daily basis? What is more obscure? How do the visual stimuli we pick out affect our interpretation of the local culture?

Photographic responses will be presented in a uniform template. When presented together the viewer can directly compare prompt responses. What similarities arise? What things seem to be truly unique? Hopefully, the project will provide fodder for discussion about what local culture means in the context of a globally connected world.

This project also doubles as a lesson (download PDF lesson plan). It can easily be transformed into an art scavenger hunt for a range of grade levels. Student could be given the prompts and a disposable camera. After the students complete the scavenger hunt and place their responses into the template, the class could discuss the similarities and differences of their responses. The class could investigate how different people view the same place differently. They could also look at how different people value different aspects of their local culture.

The Prompt:
Show us what it looks like in your community. Take or find a picture in response to each of the prompts. Arrange your photos using the “Picturing” template. Paste each photo into the numbered frame that corresponds to the prompt. When you finish, send the results back to Voke! (If a particular prompt does not apply to you, please write or otherwise demonstrate why within the corresponding frame).

1. Common architecture
2. A relic of the past
3. Your favorite spot in a commercial district
4. A place you work
5. Public sculpture
6. A favorite restaurant
7. Evidence of local artists
8. Local flags or banners
9. A chain restaurant or cafe
10. A peek inside your home
11. A store only found in your location
12. Housing signage or advertisement
13. Convenience store
14. A revitalizing neighborhood
15. Wacky, weird, or wild
16. A place without buildings
17. Regional signage
18. Transportation
19. The neighborhood you live in
20. A license plate
21. Fun food options
22. A re purposed building
23. Juxtaposition of old and new
24. Event or message posts
25. Where you get your groceries
26. Favorite mural
27. Industrial, business, or financial anchor
28. A place you go to think
29. Local politics
30. Historic architecture or building materials