Visualizing environmental change as inevitable, manageable, and deconstructive

Working from a visual cultural approach that interrogates issues of visibility and visuality, this article theorizes how coastal residents represent their own observations and experiences of environmental change through photography and storytelling. We present results from an exploratory photovoice study in Maine, where participants framed change as an inevitable, manageable, or deconstructive process of social-ecological interaction. These results point to multiple, often contradictory ways participants understand and construct their environment and reveal the impact of their views on the perceived availability, desirability, and feasibility of community responses to change. In turn, the article presents critical implications for communication and dialogue about community development, resource management, and coastal adaptation.