‘Face Value’: The Ethics and Aesthetics of a No-Face Approach to Cellphilming with Young People in Mali

The way ethics are negotiated in visual research, including cellphilming, often reflects polarization and double standards in the way institutions from aid-providing countries relate with people from poorer nations. Despite discourses of decolonization and empowerment, there is still a reluctance to let adolescents from poor countries decide how their image should be shared, with whom, and for what purpose. In the name of ethics and safeguarding, youths are often denied the opportunity to harness the power of digital media. In this chapter, the authors present the case of the ‘No-Face approach’ to cellphilms in the Participatory Research on Education and Agency in Mali (PREAM) project to discuss the ethics of using cellphilms in the context of crisis and raise questions about the place of agency in research ethics. The chapter argues that the no-face approach offers several advantages when working with adolescents in times of conflict but that positionally can colour adults’ perception and prevent stakeholders from seeing young people as agents. It concludes that agency should be part of ethics and that the no-face approach can only be truly ethical if young people have a say in whether they decide to show their face or not.