Connecting Visual Literacy to Theory

This volume seeks to close the gap between education systems across the world that remain systematically devoted to understanding our world through text rather than images. Through an exploration of the contributions of well- and lesser-known visual thinkers from across disciplines and geographies, the contributors offer contemporary appraisals and modern re-conceptualizations of the subject. The book illuminates how experts from various disciplines ranging from art, communication, education, and philosophy laid the foundations for what we know today as visual literacy. These foundations and innovative ways of thinking and understanding images have been disruptive, but until now, have been relatively understudied. As such, the chapters examine the context of individual thinkers, expanding upon famous theories and providing new insight into why these visual and cognitive processes are imperative to learning and education and to disciplines spanning art history, museum studies, philosophy, photography, and more. The authors, all members of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA), are committed to advancing the study of visual literacy by raising new questions and proposing new routes of inquiry. A unique and timely exploration of the way we derive meaning from what we see and how we interact with our visual environment, it will appeal to researchers, scholars, and educators from a range of interdisciplinary backgrounds across art, art education, art history, design, information science, photography, and visual communication.