Visual dimensions of biographical processes – a conceptual approach

This paper aims at exploring general dimensions of constructing biographies in and with photographs.

In biographical research, narration based theoretical and methodical concepts have developed concerning the way how biographies are created, how experiences are communicated in narrative interviews, how the relation between a ‘lived life’ and a ‘life story’, its social contexts and embeddedness in societal discourses can be understood.  But how can we conceptualize biographical processes based on pictures? What happens from a general biographical perspective when we use photographs or other visual material in our everyday life, placing them on book shelves, in pockets, creating photo albums, exchanging them in social networks, etc.? The paper aims at discussing distinctive features of visual dimensions in processes of constructing biographies.