What is Visual Literacy?

Visual Literacy is an area of study that deals with the critical “reading” of a photograph.

A fundamental tenet of Visual Literacy is that photographic images are a language and thus can be understood in much the same way as a written text can.

Just as a person who can speak a language, but cannot write or read it is considered illiterate, a person who sees images, but has not been taught visual literacy skills cannot fully understand them. [more...]

Why is it important to become visually literate?

Photographs have permeated every aspect of our culture. When we read the newspaper, wait at the bus stop, watch television, see a film, go on the internet, and now, talk on the phone, we are constantly being exposed to photographic images. Most people merely see these images without having been taught the ability to understand them. Before we were taught to read, we could physically see the words on the page, however, it took education before we could understand what the words meant. Likewise with images, most of us only “see” the photographs without having the ability to further understand the complexity of what is being communicated.