In this semester’s Integrative Seminar, we read and discussed readings about the visual culture of a great variety. From John Berger’s Ways of Seeing in the 1970s to “How We Define Female Gaze in 2018″, from the academic and even obscure “Rhetoric of the Image” by Roland Barthes to the poetic Bluets by Maggie Nelson, from visual culture in the political scenario in the Hi-Vis article to the digital blackface we see almost daily when twittering, the definition of visual culture gets expanded and deepened in front of my eyes. The following ten quotes from the semester’s research tables come from six different readings, each engages me to think critically during the reading. Among the ten quotes, some make me recall other readings I’ve read before, some elicit my personal connection, some challenge or refresh my used ways of thinking.
John Berger’s Ways of Seeing introduce the more formal analysis of a visual culture in a humorous way. I found it an interesting opportunity to compare and contrast the 70s’ “ways of seeing” with nowadays’ under the cultural background that has changed dramatically in the past 40 years. Readings like the “Orientalism and the Exhibitionary Order,” “Female Gaze,” “Graffiti Question,” “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” on the other hand introduces me the visual culture set in social background. The visual culture aspect discussed in these readings put it in contexts that I can relate to or can imagine; I am therefore driven to think about my past experience of visual culture in similar settings and often I found myself not aware of how I might have been impacted by visual elements that I am so used to seeing and tend to ignore. I realize visual culture is “culture” rather than simply colors, shapes, images created by artists because of the involvement of human interaction in the process. Visual culture is a result of human “seeing” and influenced, which explains why reading about visual culture in specific contexts can enhance the understanding of it. I enjoy many of the readings over this semester, but Bluets is probably my favorite. Unlike other readings showing the visual culture with human connection in a more public sense, Bluets is all about the private response with the color and about personal connections.
I noticed that I am especially drawn to quotes that push me to think beyond the text — to compare the reading with another text I’ve read, to contemplate on my common sense”, or to find related personal connections. I prefer poetic descriptions of otherwise obscure concepts (often including metaphors or allusions). Writers who put themselves as a visible participant in the flow of the articles also draw my attention. I also love to ask questions in the responses I wrote for the quotes.
By giving me an expanded visual culture context I can refer to and draw from, the research tables and most importantly the understanding I gain about visual culture from the semester’s reading will definitely aid my following academic and studio study.
