Visual Literacy Series: A Critical Eye to the Situation - Visual Literacy

Foreword

Visual Literacy Series articles serve as one of the academic courses in this precise field. The main aim of this research is to focus attention on the analysis of the topic of “mass culture”, its visual representations, and the ways it takes action through imagery and its components. The theoretical framework will be covered from a “counter hegemonic” stance and, essentially, the project involves the attempt to create a diagonal discourse that promotes visual literacy through the idea of art as a pedagogical and revolutionary act, since it moves collective subjectivities.

Visual Literacy Series will be mainly divided into the following chapters of content:

1. Where the necessity begins: examples and contextualisation of control

2. A background to mass culture

3. Cultural Industry and what it implies

4. Manipulation through images

5. How is this manoeuvre orchestrated?

6. Learning to identify manipulation: conditioning factors

7. A critical eye to the situation: Visual Literacy

A Critical Eye to the Situation: Visual Literacy

According to the research that has been followed so far, it has been already established that mass culture provides visual information that the individual receives as stimuli that shape their brain development. Secondly, the hegemonic powers intervene in the informational processes and carry out manipulative actions through the collective imaginary, establishing fictitious truths, that is, lies, that the spectators assimilate. Finally, that perception constitutes an intentional learning process, which is given either by the visual communicator or the receiver. This process can be conditioned through the manipulation of visual stimuli. Therefore, an analysis will be undertaken now on the reading skills that the subject can apply to the visual object in search of its correct —or at least favourable— interpretation and, consequently, of apprehensive autonomy.

To achieve apprehensive autonomy, assessing the subject's reading abilities applied to visual objects for their accurate or advantageous interpretation is necessary. This requires comprehending how visual stimuli from mass culture affect brain development and identifying how the collective imaginary can be used to expose hegemonic powers' deceitful tactics. Visual communicators and receivers alike can become aware of how visual stimuli can condition their interpretation by acknowledging the intentional learning process involved in perception. With the help of this analysis, people will be better equipped to process visual data and form wise decisions independently.

Figure 1 – Digital retouching

In the era of digital retouching, any situation becomes visually representable thanks to the new technological means that make possible the almost inexhaustible adjustment of the elements that make up the visual object. Indeed, this digital condition of contemporary images inevitably gives rise to their manipulative character of the real, the sensible, and, therefore, to their presumably adulterated presence in the politics of the seduction manoeuvres of the mass media. In this same sense, the pedagogue and Professor of the University of La Laguna, Manuel Area-Moreira, points out that digital images, unlike text, do not require prior training for their interpretation (Area-Moreira, 2012). Furthermore, because of this exceptional quality, there is an isomorphism between the signifier and signified image and represented object, making the human eye believe that the digital image is a copy of reality. This is the masterful deception of the audiovisual language of the CMM: "As long as there is a symbol, there is the possibility of lying" (Domínguez Toscano, 1996, p. 123). Digital images are misleading because they can visually depict any circumstance thanks to sophisticated technological advancements. Their manipulative nature raises concerns about contemporary images' adulterated presence in the seductive techniques used by mass media. In contrast to text, digital images do not require prior training for interpretation because they blur the distinction between the image and the represented object by creating an isomorphism between the signifier and the signified. This mastery of deceit in the audiovisual language of mass media emphasises the possibility of falsehood whenever symbols are present (Domínguez Toscano, 1996, p. 123).

It is here where the current need to learn to read images is born in order to be able to adequately interpret the information transmitted through them and thus control their "modelling power" (Domínguez Toscano, 1996, p. 123). Pilar M.ª Domínguez Toscano, professor at the University of Huelva, reflects on the issue of the imperative need to promote critical behaviour among the population in the face of the visual content distributed by mass culture. For this purpose, she uses the term "visual literacy," coined in the 1970s by the designer and professor at the School of Public Communication of Boston University, Donis A. Dondis, in her work A Primer of Visual Literacy (Dondis, 1973). Thus, Domínguez Toscano starts from the premise that as long as no norm fixes the correct interpretation of the audiovisual content, any reading is authorised, whether or not it is good, correct, or even moral. Moreover, she concludes that the authentic sense of the experimentation of the audiovisual goes through its interpretation by voluntarily enjoying the effects that the content provokes or, on the contrary, preserving oneself from them (or both) (Domínguez Toscano, 1996). This means that visual literacy, far from representing only critical awareness of the images that are perceived, embodies the total capacity to read the visual because if the eye is not educated in its work, the conceptualization of the image will not occur and, consequently, neither will its abstract interpretation. Therefore, both Domínguez Toscano and Justo Villafañe ratify in their studies the need for visual literacy, with the ultimate aim of broadening the understanding of the external world and, specifically, of the sensible.

Figure 2 – A primer of Visual Literacy, Donis A. Dondis

Therefore, due to the image's capacity to represent the unreal through the real, it is considered a more persuasive medium than language since the impression of the visual idea on the retina is enough for the subject to assimilate the information directly without subjecting it to the filter of interpretation, to which language, as a decoding process, is inevitably adjusted. Thus, recognizing the manipulative qualities that can be granted to the image is how Dondis emphasises the importance and urgency of visual literacy —showing the importance of reviewing the knowledge apprehended about the visual and its possibilities, of educating to develop the interpretative capacities for the information that is received, emitted, or experienced. In contrast to language, images have a more immediate and powerful influence on people, emphasising visual literacy's urgency and importance. It takes the development of interpretative skills and a critical evaluation of previously learned information to effectively process received, emitted, or experienced information in order to comprehend the visual and its possibilities. Navigating visual communication and promoting reasoned decision-making requires a strong foundation in visual literacy education.

The term visual literacy must be understood then as a "democratic necessity," given its implications for individuals' intellectual and apprehensive autonomy. In the same sense, the Brazilian pedagogue Paulo Freire emphasised the role of visual literacy as a social tool to remedy inequalities in a stratified society, defending education as a practice of freedom that becomes "conscientization": the awareness of reality (Aparici et al., 2009). Following these arguments, Andrea de Pascual, founder and general coordinator of the group Invisible Pedagogies, and David Lanau, coordinator of the Education group of Matadero Madrid, establish a connection between the teacher and the "delinquent artist." They defend that education —and, hence, visual literacy as a pedagogical fact— must be given in an imperative way as a liberating act since its ultimate goal is to "give tools to be able to look at the world for ourselves, make our own decisions, ask ourselves questions and know how to live with them" (De Pascual & Lanau, 2018, p. 60). They end up concluding that the development of intellectual protection systems and that of the inquiring capacity —collective or not— are goals that both the teacher and the libertarian, vindictive, or "delinquent" artist should pursue.

Figure 3 – Do Women Have to be Naked to get into the MET Museum?, Guerrilla Girls (1989)

This interest in proclaiming the pictorial work as something close to pedagogical stems from the idea that every act possesses a structure that makes it intelligible (as visual objects have been defined throughout this research). It is therefore assumed that the action embodies a discourse that is susceptible to being disseminated, interpreted, and apprehended. It has already been agreed that the subject confronts the visual individually, but only by first passing through the filters of mediation established by the apparatuses of power of mass culture. Therefore, changing the classification of imaginaries, and displacing the discourse to other places, becomes a pedagogical fact insofar as it is a revolutionary act and, therefore, "conscientizing," as Paulo Freire already established (Aparici et al., 2009). The understanding that every action has an innate structure that makes it understandable, in line with the definition of visual objects established in this research, is the basis for recognizing pictorial work as pedagogical. It is acknowledged that each person encounters visuals in their way, but only after navigating the mediation filters imposed by the apparatuses of power within popular culture. Paulo Freire emphasised that altering the classification of imaginaries and moving discourse to alternative spaces was a revolutionary and conscientizing act, so doing so became a pedagogical endeavour (Aparici et al., 2009).

It is known that every social system is, in turn, composed of a system of signs with which the interaction between its parts takes place. Thus, the place occupied today by the image has turned it into the primary medium through which communicative relations take place in societies. The art that concerns us, predominantly visual, is therefore consolidated as an imagistic instrument capable of promoting new organisations that resist the logical assumptions established in societies. According to this statement, César Rendueles, a Spanish psychiatrist and essayist, alludes to art as a "counter-hegemonic" instrument —in Walter Benjamin read by César Rendueles (2015). This means that, according to the author's proposal, the artistic fact must always be understood in relation to social restructuring, with what it must produce, disseminate and promote critical behaviours that give rise to the development of other discursive lines —which, a priori, did not have a place reserved in the system governed by mass culture (Rendueles, 2015, p. 22). For his part, Antonio Gramsci, Italian philosopher, politician, and thinker, defends the construction of "alternative hegemonies" that advocate social reform from the "subaltern and marginal classes," and thus fight through culture —this time not of masses—, disseminating new dialogues and directing an ideological struggle that destroys the organisation of the dominant structures (Gramsci, 1975, p. 122). In line with these arguments, Juan Martín Prada speaks of the production of "counter-images" that move away from the traditional imagery and, with which the mere instantaneity of its experimentation is rejected, contrarily seeking a "more prolonged optical digestion" that ends up giving new discourses and ways of understanding the contemporary (Martín Prada, 2018, p. 25). Art is then understood as a counter-hegemonic instrument or, what amounts to the same thing, as an alternative hegemony, an object of change.

Figure 4 – Dirty Corner, Anish Kapoor (2011)

This being so, the subjectivity of the creative then becomes a transversal concept. It positions itself against causalities of linear and univocal origin to adopt an attitude that enhances possibilities, which reminds again of the rhizomatic concept proposed by Deleuze and Guattari (Armstrong in Brea, 2005). In other words, they believed that through creation —art and culture— inequality can be eradicated and, consequently, the epistemological terms of the oppressive and deterministic society can be undone. An example of a delinquent artist could be cited by the controversial Anish Kapoor and his work Dirty Corner (2011). Although the established regimes usually support him and are part of what could be called the "artistic elite," nevertheless, the work mentioned was so decontextualized in its location that it came to be considered offensive. Even the press came to call it "The Queen's Vagina."

Therefore, the symbolic enunciation of visual discourse, the act of telling a transgressive story through the artistic object, turns the creative artist into an agent of social change who puts into operation the pedagogical practice through critical attitudes. It could be said that the artist ceases to be a mere producer of isolated meanings to inaugurate themselves as a "teacher" (docent) in their incessant struggle to awaken the moral and political restlessness of the spectator. It is then about expanding the creative possibilities and considering artistic fact as a resistance. It must be undertaken through "modest, pedagogical and creative" initiatives (Armstrong in Brea, 2005, p. 128) that question the individual in constant search to establish renewed meanings that come to create new critical configurations of judgement and reasoning, parallel —or directly perpendicular, incisive— to the mass culture, which is imposed on the individual, chewed. Thus, the importance of the artistic act as a pedagogical fact lies in its realisation: its consummation as a relational space in which the symbolic enunciation of the visual discourse is exchanged and interpreted; this is when the work truly fulfils its emancipatory function.

Bibliographic references

Aparici, Roberto; García Matilla, Agustín; Fernández Baena, Jenaro and Osuna Acedo, Sara. (2009). La imagen: análisis y representación de la realidad. Barcelona, Spain: Gedisa.

Área-Moreira, M. (2012). “Visual Literacy in the Digital Era”. In Área Moreira, M., Gutiérrez Martín, A. and Vidal Fernández, F. (Ed.), Alfabetización digital y competencias informacionales (pp. 18-39). Madrid, Spain: Fundación Telefónica. Available on: http://www.observatorioabaco.es/biblioteca/docs/147_FT_ALFABETIZACION_DIGITAL_2012.pdf

Brea, José Luis (Ed.). (2005). Visual Studies: The Epistemology of Visuality in the Age of globalization. Madrid, Spain: AKAL.

De Pascual, Andrea and Lanau, David. (2018). Art is a way of doing (not something to do). Madrid, Spain: La Catarata.

Domínguez Toscano, Pilar M.ª. (1996). Towards a visual literacy: The background of the image. Comunicar, Revista Científica Iberoamericana de Educación y Comunicación, nº6, pp. 123 a 128.

Dondis, Donis A. (1973). A primer of Visual Literacy. United States: The MIT Press.

Gramsci, A. (1975). The Notebooks of the Prison. Critical edition of the Gramsci Institute. By Valentino Gerratana. Volume I. Notebooks 1 (XVI) 1929-1930. 2 (XXIV) 1929-1933. Mexico City, Mexico: Ediciones Era.

Martín Prada, Juan. (2018). El ver y las imágenes en el tiempo de Internet (Estudios visuales). Spain: AKAL.

Rendueles, C. (2015). Walter Benjamin leído por César Rendueles in the course Open Library. Available on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNI7ktu0gys

Visual Sources

Cover Image: Illusion Painting: double take. Available on: https://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2012/04/oleg-shuplyak-1967-mighty-optical.html

Figure 1: Digital retouching. Available on: https://sudodigital.co.uk/sudodigital-upload/2019/03/Sudo-Retouching-5HD.jpg

Figure 2: A primer of Visual Literacy, Donis A. Dondis. Available on: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1681/2497/products/APrimerofVisualLiteracy21s.jpg?v=1627229523

Figure 3: Do Women Have to be Naked to get into the MET Museum?, Guerrilla Girls (1989). Available on: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/P/P78/P78793_10.jpg

Figure 4: Dirty Corner, Anish Kapoor (2011). Available on: https://pagesix.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/06/france_arts_versailles_summer_2015_anish_kapoor_111794957-copy.jpg?quality=80&strip=all