Bridges & Barriers to Belonging: Scholars Engage Stories Through Photos

In November, Pres House Apartments invited Joshua Polanski and Roman Williams from Interfaith Photovoice to facilitate a conversation with our Scholars scholarship cohort around the prompt: “What bridges and barriers to belief and belonging to you encounter in your daily life?” Scholars resident Akari shares her experience with this activity which aimed to bring the cohort into deeper understanding and engagement with one another.

Hi, my name is Akari. I’m a resident of Pres House and a graduate student at UW-Madison. As
part of the Scholars Program, I attended an Interfaith Photovoice workshop, which became a meaningful
experience for me. I’d like to share what I learned and how it made me reflect on myself and others.
Before the workshop, we were given an assignment: “What bridges to belief and belonging do
you encounter in your daily life? And what barriers do you experience in your community?” We were
asked to take 2–3 photos of each and bring them to share with our group. During the session, we used the
photos to talk about our experiences and perspectives. Through this process, I learned two important
things.

The first was how photos can make it easier to open up and share personal stories. Usually, I
avoid talking about negative experiences because I worry that sharing them might pass on negative
feelings to others, which is why I tend to keep those thoughts to myself. Because of this, talking about “barriers” during the session was a challenge for me. However, I realized that using photos as a starting
point made it easier to talk, and I could express my feelings through the photos and the stories behind
them. It reminded me how much easier it can be to connect when we have something visual for
communication, especially if the topic is something personal and not easy to share.

The second thing I learned was how diverse people’s values and perspectives are. For my
photos, I unconsciously chose all related to my work and studies—photos of my office, my laptop, and
classrooms—because that’s what takes up most of my time and mind. However, many of my group
members brought photos of beautiful campus views, things they love in their homes, hobbies, and time
spent with friends or communities outside of school. It made me realize how differently people see the
world and what they value in their daily lives. Since I’m a new international student, I’ve experienced a
lot of cultural differences and miscommunication in the past few months, but this workshop helped me
see those differences as something to appreciate and learn from. Listening to others’ stories and trying to
understand what’s important to them was a powerful reminder to broaden my perspective.

This workshop gave me a lot to think about, and I’d love to join something like this again in the
future. It showed me the importance of understanding others and creating spaces where people feel safe to
share their experiences. I’m truly grateful to the Interfaith Photovoice team and the amazing Pres House
staff for making this possible. It was a wonderful opportunity to work with other Scholars program
members, and I hope more people have the chance to try something like this!