Photography : A Potential Tool for Self-actualization of International Students during Pandemic

The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic since 2020 has resulted in drastic changes on the campus life and limiting social activities. At Tokushima University, most of the regular exchange activities for international students have been abolished for the time being. As an alternative, a photography contest had been conducted during December 2020. This contest was open to all international students at Tokushima University as an opportunity to show moments of their life during the pandemic. An analysis was conducted on the photos, descriptive texts, and feedback forms after the contest. The photographic works were analyzed by photo element analysis. The description text was analyzed by a sentiment analysis tool. The photos, considered as artworks, conveyed motives and feelings reflecting internal selves which had been further clarified by descriptive text containing more informative details. Restrictions in work, travel, socializing caused some changes, but the negative impacts are going to be neutralized by internal self-adaptation. The results have shown that photography could be a potential tool for self-actualization of international students, and photo contest could be used as an effective approach to involve international students during the pandemic.

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