Narrative photography and the co-construction of fairytales during the lockdown: “Once upon a time, there was a magical crown”

Journal title QUADERNI DI PSICOTERAPIA COGNITIVA
Author/s Laura Belloni Sonzogni, Gandolfa Cascio, Julia Dawson, Alice Faccini, Fabio Giommi, Maurizio Gorgoni, Michela Monticelli, Fabiola Pisciotta, Giorgio Rezzonico
Publishing Year 2023 Issue 2023/53
Language Italian Pages 22 P. 21-42 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/qpc53-2023oa16930
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“Once upon a time there was a magical crown” is a social narrative photography project carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its primary focus was on families with children with no access to their usual activities and external assistance during the lockdown.Adults were invited to create a magical crown with their children using materials available in the house, invent a fairytale about the crown, and share both the fairytale’s text and a picture of the crown on a dedicated Facebook group page. The project aimed to enhance the quality of parent-children time by fostering collaborative creation, emotional expression, and shared experiences. The project received 202 contributions, including collective creations involvingover 300 children, as well as individual contributions from 114 participants.The qualitative analysis of the texts unveiled that the crown was perceived to possess the ability to solve problems (26%), shield from disasters (24%), bring joy, friendship, andpeace (19%), enable travel (5%), overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges (15%), foster understanding (10%), and inspire life changes (4%). Among the emotions mentioned in the fairytales, happiness prevailed (47%), often serving as the traditional happy ending in the stories. Additionally, more than half of the stories unfolded in enclosed environments. We believe that the collaborative creation of fairytales and photographs served as a valuable psychosocial intervention. It facilitated the integration process of the pandemic experience, enabling emotional expression, and mitigating feelings of loneliness.

Keywords: ; Narrative photography; Fairytales; Lockdown; Developmental age

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Laura Belloni Sonzogni, Gandolfa Cascio, Julia Dawson, Alice Faccini, Fabio Giommi, Maurizio Gorgoni, Michela Monticelli, Fabiola Pisciotta, Giorgio Rezzonico, La fotografia narrativa e la co-costruzione di fiabe durante il lockdown: "C’era una volta una corona magica" in "QUADERNI DI PSICOTERAPIA COGNITIVA" 53/2023, pp 21-42, DOI: 10.3280/qpc53-2023oa16930