Where words fail, visuals ignite: Opportunities for Visual Autoethnography in Tourism Research

This paper presents visual autoethnography as a method for exploring the embodied performances of tourists’ experiences. As a fusion of visual elicitation and autoethnographic encounter, visual autoethnography mobilises spaces of understanding; transcending limitations of verbal discourse and opening spaces for mutual appreciation and reflection. The paper proposes, through visual autoethnography, researcher and respondents connect through intersubjective negotiation; unpacking intricate performances and mobilising knowledge exchange through a will to knowledge. Visual autoethnography ignites embodied connections and understanding as visuals become the bridge that connects researcher and respondent experiences within the interview. The paper argues visual autoethnography facilitates the “sharing of speech” and generates “sounds of silence” that facilitate an enriched research space within which previously ‘hidden’ embodied knowledges are shared.