Revitalizing dry stone heritage through collaborative visual ethnography

Abstract

Dry stone constructions, recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, face increasing challenges due to abandonment and environmental degradation. This article explores how collaborative visual ethnography can contribute to the documentation and revitalization of endangered practices associated with dry stone construction in Catalonia. Through photographic interventions and interdisciplinary collaboration with dry stone experts and artists, this research showcases alternative ways of engaging with cultural memory and landscape transformation in the geohumanities field. The study presents visual outcomes from four photography interventions, and discusses their implications for the documentation and revitalization of heritage from a geocreativity perspective. The research contributes to shared knowledge on how visual ethnography, grounded in interdisciplinary collaboration, offers a transformative approach to rethinking and revitalizing cultural landscapes.