Haunted by Images? Ethical Moments and Anxieties in Visual Research

Abstract

This paper focuses on some of the ethical challenges of working with visual material. I present a reflective discussion of ethical moments in two research projects that made use of visual materials and techniques to demonstrate how research ethics invariably play out differently depending on context and situation. In doing so, a situated ethic offers a useful position from which to address the seeming dissonance between universalist and particularist ethics. However, I argue that situated ethics are not a panacea to the ethical issues raised by visual research but rather enable resolution situated within the contexts they arise. By reflecting on the anxieties and emotions evoked in doing visual research we can begin to see how power, trust and emotion underpin the ethical decisions we are required to make.