BU Research Blog

The photo of the week series is a weekly series featuring photos taken by our academics and students for our Research Photography Competition, which provides a snapshot of some of the incredible research undertaken across the BU community.

This week’s photo of the week, ‘Diana painting trees of life in her family shop,’ is by Paola Vizcaino, a lecturer in Events Management.

The picture is part of my personal collection from the ethnographic research I conducted for my PhD in Tourism Studies (2013-2016). I investigated women’s processes of empowerment in relation to their work as producers and vendors of handicraft pottery catered to the tourist market in central Mexico.

Diana was one of the research participants who shared her story with me:

“Ah, a nivel personal, a mí me encanta. Nos cambió a todos, nos cambió la vida porque, vamos, el hacer artesanías nos abre otro mundo ¿no? Aparte de que de esto vivimos, nos adentró en un mundo muy especial. Yo creo que el conocer a mucha gente de todos los tipos y clases sociales, yo creo que el trabajo de uno habla por sí solo, pero sí nos cambió la vida… Me encanta mi trabajo.”

Translation:

Ah, on a personal level, I love it. It changed us all, it changed our lives because, come on, making handicraft pottery opens another world, right? Apart from the fact that we make a living out of this, we entered into a very special world. I think that knowing a lot of people of all types and social classes, I believe that one’s work speaks for itself, but it did change our lives … I love my work.