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Paper short abstract:

Environmental documentary photography presents a powerful form of craftivism, both for the photographers who feel they can do something about environmental grievances and for the viewers/posterity that gain knowledge about it. These hypotheses are reviewed, investigating the example of Documerica.

Paper long abstract:

According to craftivist Betsy Greer, craftivism can be understood as a "way of looking at life where voicing opinions through creativity makes your voice stronger, your compassion deeper & your quest for justice more infinite". Building on this broad definition of crafting activism, I plan to investigate historical environmentalist documentary photography as a craftivist approach. The specific focus will be on the Documerica program which lasted from 1972 to 1977 and was sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. 70 photographers and photojournalists shot thousands of pictures, mostly in the USA, documenting what they saw as environmental concerns at the time (e.g., junkyards, air and water pollution, mining scenes).

I am interested in the motivation, self-effectiveness, emotional connection, and political dimension that the program had for the participants. To investigate these fields, I plan to conduct interviews with some photographers and possibly other people involved (oral history research). In addition, I try to find out what effect the documentary activism had on the affected nature and population and if it created environmental awareness.

https://craftingagreenworld.com/articles/what-is-craftivism-division-over-the-definition-explodes-an-etsy-team/

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/542493