Session 3: Text and Texture of the Visual

Session 3: Text and Texture of the Visual
Chair: Courtney Coyne-Jensen

Imaging Words: Visual and Textual Literacy Combined
Dimitrios Politis and Petros Panaou
University of Patras and University of Nicosia, Cyprus

Leonard Shlain argues that ‘the invention of the alphabet reconfigured the world.’ Shlain provides a plethora of historical, cultural, and scientific evidence to support that the use of the alphabet directed the human brain, and culture, toward left-brain functions: ‘linear, sequential, reductionist, and abstract thinking” and contributed to the neglecting of right-brain functions ‘a holistic, simultaneous, synthetic, and concrete view of the world.’
Karen Coats examines Shlain’s argument in relation to alphabet books, a genre that introduces children simultaneously to the written word and the world that surrounds them. Basing her arguments mostly on psychoanalytical theory, she draws parallels between Shlain and Lacan to describe language as ‘the site of a death.’ Jacques Lacan suggests that the child experiences a profound loss as s/he enters spoken language and moves from the immediate bodily pains and pleasures of being into the alienated space of representation. Coats turns to postmodern alphabet books that combine textual and visual signs to present a more ‘embodied,’ playful, and performative alphabet: ‘Our children, more than any other children in human history, are surrounded by images that engage their senses, encourage synthesis, and invite participation. The goal, of course, is not to replace alphabetic literacy with image consciousness, but instead to keep in mind that true literacy is a negotiation between the image and the alphabet.’
The proposed paper extends Coats’ argument, examining the manners in which contemporary picture books literary embody the written word by ‘visualizing’ or ‘imaging’ their texts. Words mutate into objects, animals, or even people; sentences acquire colour, shape, and motion; paragraphs have a ‘sense of space’ that a few years back was simply unimaginable. The boundaries between visual and textual signs are blurred; negotiation between the image and the alphabet is at its peak.

The Social Semiotics of Australian Writing
Donna Foley
School of Creative Arts, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

This paper explores the connections and disconnections between verbal, written and visual languages in contemporary Australian writing (urban aerosol graffiti).  The research recognizes the limitations of spoken language to express physical, social or political anxieties which prevail in a visually dominant contemporary culture; limitations which for some, are circumvented by visual practice.
In writing there is more to consider than the medium; the material evidence of writing as image reveals that the message is more deeply encoded in the visual; a language few unacculturated to visual practice might understand or articulate.  The research examines a medium in which two forms of expression, graphism and language, are seemingly inextricably entwined, yet levels of power are shown to be critical determinants in the dominance of either form.  Graphism is shown to draw on primitive survival strategies, the powerless utilizing a ritualized kinetic act of writing to deal with the uncontrollable problems inherent in the immediate urban environment.
Writing might be hypothesized as a battle between insiders and outsiders, or a counteraction against unilateral forms of communication (one sided and authoritarian) as exists in books, newspapers and television. Writing might also constitute a reversion to a medieval chirographic culture, the technology of writing a retroaction against typographic print culture which, until recently, was the dominant technology of the Industrial Age.
Slayden and Whillock argued that, despite the existence of more means today, less real communication is taking place; discourse has been subsumed by ritualistic and stylistic performances.  The communicative acts of writers might be considered in this way. In writing, a confusion of texts, characterizations and iconography from various traditions and styles frequently converge on the walls, for example Wildstyle, bubble, blockbuster and straight text, anime and western cartoon characters, hooded skulls, bubbles, clouds and city backgrounds. Multiple intertexts coalesce in implicit visual and verbal expressions. The key to these diverse acts is to interpret the recontextualized intertexts in the context of visual literacy and the sub-culture that is urban graffiti.

Download Draft Conference Paper –

Visual Texts and Media Literacy: Cultivating Critical Conversations
Taunya Tremblay
Ryerson University, Canada

During December of 2007, I spent three weeks completing an ethnography in a grade twelve classroom in Toronto, Ontario. My research seeks to explore how “Media Literacy” is taught in praxis, being a mandatory component of English curriculum. To my surprise, the teacher’s interest in exploring political social issues was such that I was once too nervous to faithfully record the controversial conversation of the classroom. The topic was teen suicide and the teacher prompted the discussion after viewing scenes from Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet (2000). She encouraged students to critically view Hamlet’s suicidal contemplation with sympathy, rather than shunning him as mentally unstable. As an ethnographer, I worried that without the context and tone of the exchange, the reader would interpret her comments as a grotesque promotion of suicide. Thus I omitted some terms from my notes to create a more wholesome read. Later during an interview, a student recalled that particular conversation as being an invaluable reflection. She explained that discussing teen suicide in classroom provided “some place to get rid of our tensions” and added that the “issue that she brought up today I was really like … It relates to us a lot, and it will throughout our lives.” With these comments, I realized just how important it was to record the discussion as faithfully as I could; just as it is vitally important for these students to discuss politically charged issues such as this. By utilizing Almereyda’s contemporary visual text with characters that were identifiable for the students, this teacher was able to approach an important issue for these teenage students. Since visual and media texts are intrinsically political, they must be treated as complex, fluid spaces of power rather than politically neutral spaces of communication. I will argue that in order for students to apply critical reflection political issues in their everyday, lived realities, Ontario’s Media Literacy program can and must become a location for the discussion and examination of political cultural issues.