Photo-Therapy Day 2019: Introduction II

Photo-Therapy Day 2019

Royal Photographic Society – Bristol

Symposium: 22 May, Wednesday 10.00 am – 07.00 pm

Workshop: 23 May, Thursday 10.00 am – 07.00 pm

Symposium

22 May, Wednesday

10.00

Introduction

Ayres Marques Pinto (GRIFO) Italy

Coordinator Photo-Therapy Research Group

 Good morning!

It’s a pleasure and an honour for me to be here, at the new venue of The Royal Photographic Society in Bristol, specially today, 22 May 2019, an unconventional but meaningful date to celebrate Photo-Therapy Day.

It’s important for me to express my deep gratitude to this institution The Royal Photographic Society, particularly to it’s Director, Dr Michael Pritchard and to the whole RPS staff and members, to the lecturers, eminent figures in the field of Photo-Therapy, who have so generously accepted the invitation, and to you, the audience, composed by some highly qualified people in this field, coming from the UK, from Italy, Belgium, Latin America and Asia; some students from Bristol and also by some amateur and professional Photographers. For you all, Thank You Very Much! Grazie Infinite! Merci Beaucoup! Muito Obrigado! Doumo Arigatou Gozaimasu! Xièxie Ni!

It’s very likely that some of you, some of US, for different reasons, have asked ourselves, at a certain point, if there was really a sense calling this event “Photo-Therapy Day” or even to celebrate Photo-Therapy at all.

It’s not a simple question to answer. And there is no single response which may bring to an agreement all the speakers, all the members of the audience here and the many other people who may listen to us somewhere in the future.

Unlike other types of therapies, as Music therapy, Art therapy, in all their multiple declensions and definitions, Photo-Therapy is not yet, and might never become, an autonomous specific discipline, with an appropriate training itinerary in a graduate degree programme.

So, what is proposed in this meeting is to allow the emerging and the dialogue among a variety of points of view, diversified practices and different theoretical frameworks. All of them with the same right and dignity to be considered and taken into account.