ABSTRACT
Th e Framing Safety Project off ers women who are or have been battered the opportunity, through photo-narratives, to explore the violence in their lives and educate others about battering through public exhibits of their photo-narratives. Th e project was developed by the author in conjunction with battered women’s support groups. Th ese groups provide therapeutic support for participants, but are also a setting for “consciousness raising,” which involves participants sharing their personal experiences, learning to identify the structures of oppression that shape behavior and meaning, and using this knowledge for personal and societal change. In a typical battered women’s support group, facilitators introduce a feminist analysis, challenging the “normalcy” of hegemonic masculinity and femininity. Support group settings off er a safe space for women to continually explore, challenge, and affi rm their experiences. In supporting one another and sharing their stories, participants are actively engaged in transformation and empowerment. Th us, feminist support groups can be seen as sites of semi-formal public pedagogy. By adding the dimension of public exhibits, the Framing Safety Project (FSP) became a pedagogical tool for both individual transformation and community education (Ellsworth, 2005).
