6. Captions - adding text

Laurie Long's current project 'The Secret History of Goddess Sites' uses the convention of the tourist postcard which often has a caption on or with the image to 'anchor' its interpretation. Laurie wanted the children to add a caption to their images:

Children took cameras home and made photographs, but another very important part of it was to add captions to the front of the image. This was a more conceptual goal. I wanted the children to think beyond just a snap shot, and think in conceptual and abstract terms about adding a caption that not necessarily had to be descriptive but had to be something of their choice. Some wrote simply 'my little brother' but others wrote 'piggy of doom!' or 'key ring of mystery'. So it gave the children an opportunity to make an image but then add an additional layer. By putting a title on something you can direct the meaning of an image, re-interpret, or even change its meaning. This was a good opportunity for their children to see just that. The meaning of the image changed depending on the text it had. I gave the children a chance to think of more sophisticated ideas.