Over our six Essential Photovoice sessions, we were continually drawn to the image of a table. I think it was at the end of our first session when one of the participants, Gustavo, pointed out that almost everyone’s set of photographs had a table in it. As we tried to define community during a time when most of us were transitioning from college to “the real world,” a focal point continued to be this place of communal dining and craft.
The picture above is a screenshot of a jamboard from our final Photovoice session. We each had time to consider all the photos we’d taken from previous meetings and create a larger narrative from them. You can see questions that came up for us as a group as we brainstormed. Two of the photos in this set are my own, and the other three were taken by Talia, Gustavo, and Sam.
The Quiet Table is on the back porch of a house called Common Grounds that is the home of several Charlottesville ministries' offices and where I work for Theological Horizons. This is also where we had Vintage Lunch gatherings my first year, and where they will be held during the coming year as well. Returning to the space has been comforting. The light on the white wicker furniture made me think of my grandmother's home--something about it seemed soothing and inviting, even though no one was sitting there at the time.
The Didactic Table features a group of international students participating in the English for Academic Purposes program during the summer of 2022. I worked with this group and grew quite close to them. Here we were eating lunch and one of my coworkers, Neha, was explaining some cultural norms about etiquette and tipping in restaurants. The table in this shot represents beginnings to me--a new space, new acquaintances, new cultural information being learned not only by the students but also by us TAs as we asked about how our restaurant norms are different than theirs.
About Gustavo’s Roast Table he writes: “My table was a more or less impromptu attempt to take advantage of good weather. As proud Brazilians, my wife and I love barbecuing, so we invited the people who live on-site to bring whatever they wanted to grill and share with others as we would offer the meat. The people in the photo decided to come. It was late afternoon, early evening.”
About Talia’s Sister Table she writes: “The table emerged through my photo documentation as an object that facilitates gathering. Though my family’s life is busy and often disparate, we all come together for rest, fellowship, a meal, or game night in this central location multiple times per week. Sharing meals is also an important part of inviting people into our family, so there is an invitational aspect to the table as well. Because the table is both invitational and relational, it is significant to the building of community for my family.”
About Sam’s Hungry Table they write: “The table I captured is one of abundance, that holds the gifts of Solitary Garden’s community garden. After harvesting one evening after work, we arranged all of the vegetables that we picked and divided them among us, talking about different recipes and who we’ll share everything with. The evening I spent gardening with others for the first time felt like planting seeds of my own- seeds of connection to the people and natural world around me.”
The questions I invite you to ponder are: where are you making your table? Who do you invite? How can you be intentional in this practice? Where are you finding community right now?
- Mary-Dryden Maio