At the end of our spring workshops the research team gave out a task as homework for the participating groups. The team decided on a bingo-task, through which the participants could examine their own relationship with their immediate environment.
About the Bingo
The main task, given to students as homework, was a photo bingo. In this bingo game, participants were required to complete either a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line on their bingo card. Each blank square on the card contained a word—either an adjective, emotion, or phenomenon—which the participants had to fill by taking photographs of subjects they felt best illustrated them.
The goal of this task was to identify and understand which places evoke specific emotional reactions in the participants. They were asked to take three photos related to the themes of change we had provided on the bingo card. One reason we chose this method was that we intended to later continue it as a communal art project, where we would explore and discuss with participants the reasons why certain places evoke particular thoughts or emotions.
The assigment was provided in north-sámi, finnish and english, and it goes as follows:
”Take photos of the topics written on the table and mark them until you have received either a horizontal line, a vertical line or a slash line to the table. Please take a photo of your bingo-paper and send it along with other pictures you have taken earlier to the link for Drive folder. Link is printed on the other side of the paper.”
As an additional motivation in the end we added:
”Each person who has done the photo-bingo task will be rewarded at the autumn workshop!”
Completed tasks
Here are the completed bingo tasks from the Karasjok participants:
Participants’ views
The submissions show how differently the participants approached the assignment and how many different ways they perceive their immediate environment. The submissions show what the participants think about their own lives, as well as the mix of nature and urban life that’s typical of the Arctic region.