National Art Gallery, Malé, Maldives
Day-to-day life is often regarded as mundane and ordinary, yet it is central to understanding how environmental change occurs and its daily impacts on people’s lives. In the research project Everyday Lives in the Maldives, people living in island communities took photographs depicting their experiences of everyday life and the changes that are taking place around them. An exhibition of these images will be launched in Malé, the Maldivian capital, on 18 April 2019.
Launch event programme
16:00-16:15: Welcome and introduction to the research project and the exhibition.
16:15-17:00: Panel discussion featuring policymakers and researchers working on environment and development issues in the Maldives.
17:00-18:00: Exhibition viewing and refreshments.
For more information about the project and exhibition, or to enquire about attending the launch, please contact the project team. Following the launch, the exhibition is open to the public in the National Art Gallery from 19–24 April 2019.
Project background
The Everyday Lives in the Maldives project is a collaboration between the University of Manchester, University of Reading and the Maldivian research NGO, ENDEVOR. The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the UNDP. In the project, a range of innovative visual research methodologies were used to reveal people’s day-to-day routines and activities. The project team ran participatory photography workshops with community groups on islands to explore with them the various aspects of daily life and environmental change that they consider to be the most important. In total, around 100 pictures were collected as a result of the workshops, of which 45 are being displayed in the exhibition.
The project is funded by the Department of International Development (DFID), UK, and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK.
Research team 1.jpg
Presentation at a participatory photography workshop. Photo © Uma Kothari