What is Visual Culture?

Visual Communication

Ali Raza
Professor
Media Studies Art & Studies
LSE
Verbal Communication
• Written (Non-oral)
• Spoken (Oral)
Non Verbal Communication
• Facial expressions (Happy, angry, fear, sad)
• Gestures (Waving, thumbs up, clapping)
• Para-linguistics (Change in tone of voice)
• Body language (Posture and body movement)
• Proxemics (Personal space)
• Eye Contact (Gaze)
• Haptics (Touch)
• Appearance (Make Up Clothing)
• Artifacts (Possession)
• Visuals
Non Verbal Communication
• Facial expressions (Happy, angry, fear, sad)
• Gestures (Waving, thumbs up, clapping)
• Para-linguistics (Change in tone of voice)
• Body language (Posture and body movement)
• Proxemics (Personal space)
• Eye Contact (Gaze)
• Haptics (Touch)
• Appearance (Make Up Clothing)
• Artifacts (Possession)
• Visual
What is the difference between an Image and a Visual?
What is an Image?
Origin
Middle English: from Old French, from Latin imago; related to imitate.

1) A representation of the external form of a person or thing in art.

2) A visible impression obtained by a camera, telescope, microscope,
or other device, or displayed on a computer or video screen.
What is a Visual?
Origin
Late Middle English (originally describing a beam imagined to proceed from the eye and make vision possible): from late Latin visualis, from
Latin visus ‘sight’, from videre ‘to see’. The current noun sense dates from the 1950s.

1) Relating to seeing or sight.

2) Visual perception
•Our vision functions uniquely
What did you see first?
What did you see first?

Old Lady
or
Young Lady
What did you see first?

Old Lady
or
Young Lady
• We have selective vision
Which
X-ray shows A B

abnormal
lungs?

C D
•We cannot see that we do not understand
•We cannot see that we do not understand
What is Visual Culture?
Culture (Latin: cultura, lit. "cultivation")
Culture is what human beings have done or added to, nature by
means of their inventiveness and labor.
• Many animal species have been destroyed in process
but that does not mean Nature and Culture are
opposite phenomena.
Although there is
hardly any place on
earth that is not
touched or altered by
humans but we
humans remain part
of nature.
Although there is
hardly any place on
earth that is not
touched or altered by
humans but we
humans remain part
of nature.
• Therefore culture cannot be regarded as completely
different from or completely opposite to nature.
• Therefore, we should always remember that they are
constructed on natural foundation.
Concepts of Culture

Culture is defined as the set of learned behaviors and

beliefs that characterize a society or a people group. It
included tangible and intangible institutions, beliefs, and
attitudes that make them a people group.

Culture includes norms, standards or rules about

acceptable behavior for all.
 Difference Between
CULTURE vs SOCIETY

Culture refers to the set of beliefs, practices, learned behavior and

moral values that are passed on, from one generation to another.

Society is a community of people, residing in a specific area, sharing

common culture over time.
Concepts of Culture

Culture is one of the two or three most complicated

words in the English language - Raymond Williams
Culture vs Civilization

Civilization is another word with which culture has

close relations

Civilization is a broader concept than culture & it has an evaluative

connotation: a civilized society is one that is sophisticated,
enlightened, orderly polite, humane, and progressive; it has achieved
high levels in term of manners, art science, religion and government.
What is multiculturalism?

Multiculturalism (or ethnic diversity) relates to communities

containing multiple cultures.
• Aesthetics • Ethnic & Racial Studies • Political Economy
• Art • Feminism • Post-colonial Studies
• Anthropology • Film • Post-structuralism
• Film Studies/ Theory • Proxemics
• Archaeology
• Heritage Studies • Psychoanalysis
• Architecture
• Gender Studies • Psychology Of
• Architectural History/ Perception
Theory • Linguistics
• Literary Criticsm • Semiotics
• Art Criticism
• Marxism • Social History
• Art History
• Media Studies • Structuralism
• Critictal Theory
• Music and more....
• Culture Stludies
• Deconstruction • Phenomenology
• Design • Philosophy
• Design History • Photograpic Studies
• Aesthetic5
• Art
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Architectural History/ Theory
• Art Criticism
• Art History
• Critictal Theory
• Culture Stludies
• Deconstruction
• Design
• Design History
• Ethnic & Racial Studies
• Feminism
• Film
• Film Studies/ Theory
• Heritage Studies
• Gender Studies
• Linguistics
• Literary Criticsm
• Marxism
• Media Studies
• Music
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy
• Photograpic Studies
• Political Economy
• Post-colonia Studies
• Post-structuralism
• Proxemics
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology Of Perception
• Semiotics
• Social History
• Structuralism
And More....
• Aesthetic5
• Art
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Architectural History/ Theory
• Art Criticism
• Art History

Visual
• Critictal Theory
• Culture Stludies
• Deconstruction
• Design
• Design History
• Ethnic & Racial Studies

Culture
• Feminism
• Film
• Film Studies/ Theory
• Heritage Studies
• Gender Studies
• Linguistics

Studies
• Literary Criticsm
• Marxism
• Media Studies
• Music
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy
• Photograpic Studies
• Political Economy
• Post-colonia Studies
• Post-structuralism
• Proxemics
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology Of Perception
• Semiotics
• Social History
• Structuralism
And More....
•
•
•
Aesthetic5
Art
Anthropology
Viewing Subject
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Architectural History/ Theory
• Art Criticism
• Art History

Visual
• Critictal Theory
• Culture Stludies
• Deconstruction
• Design
• Design History
• Ethnic & Racial Studies

Culture
• Feminism
• Film
• Film Studies/ Theory
• Heritage Studies
• Gender Studies
• Linguistics

Studies
• Literary Criticsm
• Marxism
• Media Studies
• Music
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy
• Photograpic Studies
• Political Economy
• Post-colonia Studies
• Post-structuralism
• Proxemics
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology Of Perception
• Semiotics
• Social History
• Structuralism
And More....
•
•
•
Aesthetic5
Art
Anthropology
Viewing Subject
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Architectural History/ Theory
• Art Criticism
• Art History

Visual
• Critictal Theory
• Culture Stludies
• Deconstruction
• Design
• Design History
• Ethnic & Racial Studies

Culture
• Feminism
• Film
• Film Studies/ Theory
• Heritage Studies
• Gender Studies
• Linguistics

Studies
• Literary Criticsm
• Marxism
• Media Studies
• Music
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy
• Photograpic Studies
• Political Economy

Object of Study
• Post-colonia Studies
• Post-structuralism
• Proxemics
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology Of Perception
• Semiotics
• Social History
• Structuralism
And More....
•
•
•
Aesthetic5
Art
Anthropology
Viewing Subject
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Architectural History/ Theory
• Art Criticism
• Art History

Visual
• Critictal Theory
• Culture Stludies
• Deconstruction
• Design
• Design History
• Ethnic & Racial Studies

Culture
• Feminism
• Film
• Film Studies/ Theory
• Heritage Studies
• Gender Studies
• Linguistics

Studies
• Literary Criticsm
• Marxism
• Media Studies
• Music
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy
• Photograpic Studies
• Political Economy

Object of Study
• Post-colonia Studies
• Post-structuralism
• Proxemics
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology Of Perception
• Semiotics
• Social History
• Structuralism
And More....
•
•
•
Aesthetic5
Art
Anthropology
Viewing Subject
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Architectural History/ Theory
• Art Criticism
• Art History

Visual
• Critictal Theory
• Culture Stludies
• Deconstruction
• Design
• Design History
• Ethnic & Racial Studies

Culture Visual
• Feminism
• Film
• Film Studies/ Theory
• Heritage Studies
• Gender Studies
• Linguistics

Studies
• Literary Criticsm
• Marxism
• Media Studies
• Music
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy
• Photograpic Studies
• Political Economy

Object of Study
• Post-colonia Studies
• Post-structuralism
• Proxemics
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology Of Perception
• Semiotics
• Social History
• Structuralism
And More....
• Aesthetic5
• Art
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Architectural History/ Theory
• Art Criticism
• Art History

Visual
• Critictal Theory
• Culture Stludies
•
•
•
Deconstruction
Design
Design History
Field of study that
analyzes images of
• Ethnic & Racial Studies

Culture
• Feminism
• Film
• Film Studies/ Theory

history and everyday

• Heritage Studies
• Gender Studies
• Linguistics

Studies
Literary Criticsm

life
•
• Marxism
• Media Studies
• Music
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy
• Photograpic Studies
• Political Economy
• Post-colonia Studies
• Post-structuralism
• Proxemics
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology Of Perception
• Semiotics
• Social History
• Structuralism
And More....
Why Visual Culture is important to study, here are some
examples of certain notions that raise question the
motives behind the image making:
• Society of Spectacles

• Simulacra or Simulacrum

• Politics of Representation

• Gaze (Male and Female)

• Making of Images
 Society of Spectacles

Guy Debord's argues that society is being mediated by images and these
images produce false consciousness and distorts human rationality.
Simulacra or Simulacrum

“Simulacra are copies that

depict things that either had
no reality to begin
with, or that no longer have
an original.” - Baudrillard
Fiction
Fiction vs Reality
A few hours after they were published, images from designer Saira Shakira's photoshoot for
retail brand Crimson created a stir on social media as they were called out for promoting and
glamourizing rape culture.
• In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and
the world, in the visual arts and in literature, from a masculine,
heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as
sexual objects for the pleasure of the male viewer.
IMAGE OF
_________?

Power consistently
strives to
fix meaning to
support its agenda.

North Korean Model of Unity

IMAGE OF
UNITY
Power consistently
strives to
fix meaning to
support its agenda.

North Korean Model of Unity

Factory Standard = Quality | Uniformity
World Climate
Earth atmosphere is continuously affecting different
parts of the world differently.
Model of Weather Presents Harmony
“We need to understand this truth that perfection of unity
is not uniformity but in harmony” - Rabindranath Tagore
Master Plan for Industry
Brain Connectivity
University Plan with Diagonal Short Cuts
•
•
•
Aesthetic5
Art
Anthropology
Viewing Subject
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Architectural History/ Theory
• Art Criticism
• Art History

Visual
• Critictal Theory
• Culture Stludies
• Deconstruction
• Design
• Design History
• Ethnic & Racial Studies

Culture Visual
• Feminism
• Film
• Film Studies/ Theory
• Heritage Studies
• Gender Studies
• Linguistics

Studies
• Literary Criticsm
• Marxism
• Media Studies
• Music
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy
• Photograpic Studies
• Political Economy

Object of Study
• Post-colonia Studies
• Post-structuralism
• Proxemics
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology Of Perception
• Semiotics
• Social History
• Structuralism
And More....
• Aesthetic5
• Art
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Architectural History/ Theory
• Art Criticism
• Art History

Visual
• Critictal Theory
• Culture Stludies
•
•
•
Deconstruction
Design
Design History
Field of study that
analyzes images of
• Ethnic & Racial Studies

Culture
• Feminism
• Film
• Film Studies/ Theory

history and everyday

• Heritage Studies
• Gender Studies
• Linguistics

Studies
Literary Criticsm

life
•
• Marxism
• Media Studies
• Music
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy
• Photograpic Studies
• Political Economy
• Post-colonia Studies
• Post-structuralism
• Proxemics
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychology Of Perception
• Semiotics
• Social History
• Structuralism
And More....
• We experience hundreds and thousands of image everyday and what
kind images get our attention?
• Each evening we see sun set. We know that earth is turning away
from it, yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.
The Egyptian sun god Ra (Re) traveled across the sky during the day and through the underworld at
night. This tomb painting of the 1200s B.C. shows Ra with a sun disk on his head.
“This is not a Pipe” Treachery of Images by Rene Magritte, 1929
• There is always a gap between what we see and what we know.
Imagine that you are reading this image for the very
first time, what kind of words come up in your mind
about the culture that produced it?
• We only see what we look at, to see is the act of
choice. Once you make a choice of looking your mind
starts interpreting it.
• Interpretation depends on what do you know about
it? How objective you can be, otherwise you will
always fall in trap of biasness.
• The relation between what we see and what we know
is never settled therefore Visual Culture Studies is an
important field of knowledge.
• The relation between what we see and what we know
is never settled therefore Visual Culture Studies is an
important field of knowledge.

Once you start reading an image, it will through what

we call Visual Literacy!