VISUAL ARTS NOTES

The Culture Wheel

WEEK 1:
Introduction to Cultural Studies, Visual
Culture and Visual Literacy
Literate looking- also called tacit looking.
It does not analyze the said object or make
sense of its relevance to a context.

Seeing- someone who sees is one who

understands the rules and conditions of a
particular thing in a specific context. It
involves analysis, reflection, and critical
reasoning.

NOTE: Age, sex, and religion could also be

factors that could affect the role of a person
when it comes to the activity of ‘seeing’.
Visual Culture
Visual literacy- The way we perceive • is a field of study and a set of ways
things depends on our specific frames that of understanding the social and
include our interests, tastes, training and physical world (Schirato and Webb,
necessity (Schirato and Webb, 2004). 2004).
• It was integrated into different
Cultural Studies disciplines including philosophy,
• has become integral as an aesthetics, astronomy, art, history,
interdisciplinary field that combines film studies, media studies and
theories and practices from the others. The concept of visual culture
humanities and social sciences is what ties all these disciplines
disciplines. together to help us make sense of
• It is studying the world we live in and our world, something that many
how we function in it (The University scholars from the past had been
of Winnipeg). doing.
• It takes as its focus the whole
Cultural Theory
complex of changing beliefs, ideas,
feelings, values, and symbols that • an interdisciplinary field that has
define a community’s organization close links with the humanities and
as well as its members. social sciences.
• It involves the politicizing of theories
Raymond Williams defines culture in that lets us understand human and
three different ways (as cited in Rothman, institutional relations and practices
2014). more vividly.
• First, it is a process of individual
enrichment as when we describe Literary scholar- is able to explain the
someone as ‘cultured’. meaning of short stories, poems, and novels
• Second, it is a group’s particular way as well as the context of the author’s work.
of life. Cultural theorist- is someone who will put
• Third, it is an activity as evident in
the literary piece into a realistic context and
museums, books and movies.
analyze its value and relations (Schirato and Visualization- is familiar to us from
Webb, 2004). common usage and it fundamentally
means ‘to form and manipulate a mental
The act of ‘reading’- is involved as visual
image.
culture uses semiotics, an analytical
approach and research methodology that Visual messages
examines the use of what are called signs in
society. • are ubiquitous.
• They surround us to provide
Sign- is a basic unit of communication that information about what goes on
has meaning for someone. It may take on in our communities.
various forms like, for this course, visual
forms. NOTE: To be visually literate is to be
critical and dynamic in the way we articulate
Text- group of signs. It is a collection of our ideas. It should come from multiple
signs organized in a specific way to make aspects and concepts in order to
meaning. communicate fully. The way we think should
be a partner of the verbal and symbolic
Lyrics of a song- is a combination of
ways we have of expressing our thoughts
elements that the musician put together
(McLoughlin and Krakowski, 2001).
because it meant something.
WEEK 2
Visual Literacy
Visual Narratives; Communication and
• The way we interpret our culture
the Visual
• It is defined as a group of vision
competencies a human being can Stories
develop by seeing and integrating • comes in different forms from
other sensory experiences (Debes different avenues and backgrounds
as cited in Braden, nd.). as people express their ideas and
• Wileman (as cited in Stokes, 2001) experiences through them.
describes it as the ability to read,
interpret and understand information • Stories bring people together and
have affected them in various ways
presented in pictorial and graphic
that have created a phenomenon
images. It is associated with visual leading to the introduction and
thinking which is defined as the development of narratology, the
ability to turn information of all types study of narratives.
into pictures, graphics, or forms that
help communicate the information. Visual Narrative
• Sinatra (as cited in Stokes, 2001) • it is a way to tell a story using visual
says that it is the active media such as photos, videos, and
reconstruction of past visual other forms of graphics (Indermaur
experience with incoming visual Media, 2020).
messages to obtain meaning with • is the more recent reference to
the emphasis on the action by the visual story-telling which is a
learner to create recognition. phenomenon that every society is
acquainted with.
Visual Elements- allows us to create • it denotes anything from an
imageries to represent our interpretation illustrated story book to motion
of the things we see. pictures.
 • It is basically an inclusive subgenre 1. There is the presence of a story
of Visual Studies. This is the most important feature of a visual
narrative. The story could belong to any
Narrative genre: fiction, mythology, fables, religious
• It simply means ‘story’. stories, etc.
• It comes from the Latin word narrare
which means to relate so it denotes 2. The visual is constructed with the idea of
both what is told and the process of communicating a story to the onlooker.
the telling (Toolan as cited in
Schirato & Webb, 2004). 3. There is a presence of actors or
characters- An actor is a character in the
Narratology story who performs an action. This is the
• the study of narratives. most essential component as its absence
• It includes the description and will make the visual narrative incapable of
analysis of the various elements, representing an event.
practices, and processes to produce
a coherent story starting from the 4. The visual narrative has a ‘universe’ of
works of ancient Greek philosophers its own.
to more recent stories.
5. This could be expressed on any
NOTE: The distinctive feature of the visual medium.
narratives is the presence of a story
((Pimenta and Pooviah, 2010). For us to Categories of visual narratives:
form a conclusive definition and establish
the term, we need to understand its 1. Static Visual Narrative (SVN)
elements: Visual, Narrative, and Story. The visual is frozen such as 2D drawings
like in comics or 3D representations such as
Visual- is something that can be seen using sculptures.
the human eye like a picture or a word. It a. SVN executed on a medium occupies
relates to the sense of sight. surface area like a comic book or a statue.
The story unfolds across space.
Narrative b. The image is fixed on the surface of the
• is the representation of an event or a medium. It remains unchanging.
series of events (Porter Abbott, as c. It depends on the spectator’s prior
cited in Pimenta and Pooviah, 2010). knowledge of the narrative.
• It involves action that leads to a d. The visual is fixed but the viewer or the
change or transformation. viewer’s yes is mobile.
e. The viewer decides the speed at which to
Time- is also an identified factor and it view the image.
focuses on the ‘telling’. Mainly, it means to f. The order of viewing is not determined
tell a story. which means the spectator decides the
order in which to view the SVN.
Concise Oxford American Dictionary g. The viewer is in full control of the
defines story as an account of imaginary or contemplation time.
real people and events told for
entertainment (2006). It is a sequence of 2. Dynamic Visual Narrative (DVN)
events. • This refers to the ability of constantly
changing images.
The characteristic features of a visual • This movement added to frozen
narrative: images started in 1890 with the
 invention of a motor-powered camera b. The visual in an IVN can be designed to
that could photograph motion behave like an SVN or an DVN at certain
pictures, the Kinetograph by W.K.L. times.
Dickson. c. The viewer in some cases may or may
• A movie consists typically of a not need to know the story beforehand.
number of still images that is run at d. It has the mixed possibility of being
high speed giving the impression of frozen in time while the viewer moves, move
temporal movement. The story is in time while the viewer watches from a
constructed through the eyes of the more or less fixed location and also move
spectator. with the viewer. The viewer can interact with
a. The visual is constantly being replaced by the visual.
new visuals on a stationary screen. The e. The viewer makes a choice with regards
story unfolds over time. to the pace of the unfolding of the story.
b. DVN is composed of many still images f. There three possibilities in the unfolding of
that move at high speed in a set sequence, a story: first, if the IVN appears like an SVN,
making the visual in a state of constant the viewer is free to make a choice in
motion. arranging the sequence of events; second,
c. The story unfolds over time and the if the IVN is presented as a DVN, the viewer
viewer need not know the story beforehand has no say in the order of appearance of the
to make sense of the visual. events; and third, the IVN can also allow the
d. It moves in time but the viewer views the viewer to make a choice of the order in
visual from a fixed position like in front of which the events of the story unfold.
the screen. g. The time of contemplation varies. The
e. The progression of the narrative is due to viewer can take his time to think over a
an automated process that moves the film visual or must think or act fast.
further in time. The viewer has no control h. The perception of movement in an IVN
over the pace of the film. can be caused by the participation of the
f. The spectator has no say in the order the viewer or the changing of the visuals.
events of the film unfold.
g. The time of contemplation exists but is A Summative Comparison of SVN, DVN,
cut short as the visuals in a DVN change and IVN
frequently.
h. Perception of movement results from the
physical change of visuals over time.

3. Interactive Visual Narrative (IVN)

This category fulfills three conditions: first, it
has to be visual in nature; second, it has a
narrative aspect to it; and third it involves
interaction from the viewer. It is different
from interactive stories that could only be
either text based or oral narrative based. It
has the characteristics of both the SVN and
the DVN.

a. It essentially unfolds across time as it is

to be viewed through the medium of a
screen. It can be paused if the viewer wants
to look at a particular segment or part, like
in a screenshot, and view it like an SVN.
  Sequential Art: It refers to a train of
imaged deployed in sequence.
 Comics: It originated from the Greek
word komikos which pertains to comedy.
The term derives from the mostly humorous
early works in the medium. From a more
modern perspective, it is defined as the
printed arrangement of art and balloons in
sequence.
 Literature: It is a broad collection of
written works that shares a story and
develops a theme for the audience. It is art
by itself. It connects to other types of art like
music, photography, and painting (Surber,
n.d.).

The Importance of Sharing Our Stories

Stories are powerful tools as it can build and

strengthen communities. They are told by
everyone, everywhere, anytime. There is
something about how the start of a story
can silence a crowd, demanding attention,
reeling an audience in and taking them to a
different world than their own. Before we
know it, we are transported into battlefields,
an underwater kingdom, or the worlds of
gods and goddesses. We become time
Different Forms of Visual Narratives
travelers and powerful beings who can
weave and stitch different scenes
 Films: It is referred to as movie or motion
together to change even our realities.
pictures. It is made up of a series of still
It heightens our imagination and deepen
photographs, each showing a slight change
our bonds with our family, friends, and
in motion, when projected. They give the
community. It has become a form of
illusion of a moving image.
engagement (Bradley, 2014). Storytelling
 Narrative Painting: In a narrative picture,
builds literacy skills through familiarization
the viewers are seeing a moment in a story
with narrative structure, building receptive
that allows them to understand what
vocabulary, and getting acquainted with
happened prior to and after the moment
common literary tropes (Kushnirova, 2013).
caught by the artists.
By telling and listening to stories, we learn
 History Painting: It is a term used to
about scenarios that seem to mirror the real
describe paintings that focus on a serious
world. By sharing our stories, our
narrative or include exemplary actions. In
narratives, we connect with everyone
this context, the word history relates to the
around us. Basically, stories are our way
Italian word istoria which means narrative
to understand everything. They are
or story.
cognitive structures, something that we
 Animation: It is the visual art of making a
use to think and explore ideas with
motion picture from a series of still
(Bickmore, n.d.). The act of sharing our
drawings. It comes from the Latin word
stories, storytelling, has become an
animare which means to breathe life into.
innate human activity.
WEEK 3 AND 4 • Beliefs are based on perception of
reality.
Critical Approaches to Cultural Studies • Society is marked by the struggle for
Part 1: Archetypal Criticism and Feminist power.
Reading • Cultural codes create identities for
the creator and the receiver.
NOTE: In the past years, many approaches
to critically study culture have drawn NOTE:
attention. These approaches were mostly • Classical and contemporary
oriented toward meaning, symbolism, social theories have established
language, and discourse (Menendez, 2018). that culture and society are
When we interpret the things around us, we connected. One cannot study
apply subjective meanings to them, without the other. Thus,
stressing on the concept of shared existing approaches have
understanding on which social interaction is evolved to accommodate the
based. It comes from ordinary perceptions changes that both concepts
and intentions of humans on a daily basis. continue to undergo.
• The Birmingham School
Critical and cultural studies of
resolutely undertook sustained
communication- derived from Marxist
investigation of both culture and
approaches to society and culture (Durham,
society (Kellner, 2004).
2017). But later on, they have expanded to
employ a wider range of theoretical and • The now classical period of
methodological areas including semiotics British cultural studies from the
and structuralism, literary theory, philosophy early 1960s to the early 1980s
gender studies, politics, and rhetoric among adopted a Marxian approach to
others. the study of culture.
• The Birmingham group came
Critical theory is generally associated to to concentrate on the interaction
the Frankfurt School while cultural studies at of different ideologies of class,
the Birmingham Center for Critical and gender, race, ethnicity, and
Cultural Studies in UK. nationality in the cultural texts,
especially on media culture.
NOTE: The study of culture has been They were among the first to
integrated with a critical approach in order study the effects of newspapers,
to identify distinct perspectives radio, television, film, and other
characterized by contexts that are political popular cultural forms on
and social in nature. audiences.
• There is a shared common set of
Cultural Studies as a field of study presuppositions that focus on the
represent the study of the different forces cause of social actions that lead
from which the whole of humankind to the manifestation of
construct their daily lives (Thurgood collectively held and socially
Marshall Library, 2019). constructed meanings (Smith
It involves a variety of cultural expressions and West, 2008).
such as upstream media, literature, and art, • The pragmatic methods have
among others. The study calls attention to become more popular in recent
the following principles that guides the study years. People have taken a more
of the discipline: practical approach in interpreting
• Reality is a social construction. the world around them. They
• Identity is a social construction. draw upon the skills of an
 individual who is active, creative, major archetypes that influences the
reflexive and open-minded about human psyche (mind). There are the
different contexts and situations. self, the anima/animus, the shadow,
• The role of the rational and the persona.
consciousness is downplayed
in favor of active communication • Persona is how we present
and expression. ourselves to the world (Cherry,
2020). The word is derived from a
Archetypal Criticism Latin word that literally means
‘mask’. But the meaning of the word
Merriam-Webster (n.d.) defines an does not really refer to a literal
archetype as the original pattern or model mask. The persona represents all
of which all things of the same type are of the different masks we wear
representations of copies. when we interact with different
• It is derived from the Greek word groups of people in different
archetypum which means stamped situations. It allows people to
first and as model. adapt and fit in the society they
• It is a prototype from which others function in.
are patterned after.
• Comparing the contexts of • Anima is a female image in a male
characters to existing character psyche while the animus is a male
ideologies is part of identifying image in the female psyche. This
archetypes. actually represents the true self
rather than the image we present
In criticism, archetypal is a form of analysis to others and becomes the primary
based on the identification and study of source of communication to the
recurring symbolic and mythic patterns shared experiences of humans. The
(Chirila, 2010). combined anime and animus is
known as syzygy which represents
Carl Jung completion and wholeness.
• a Swiss psychiatrist who was
interested in the way in which • Shadow is an archetype that
symbols and common myths consists of the sex and life instincts.
permeate our thinking on both This exists as part of the
conscious and subconscious levels unconscious mind and is
(Psychologist World, n.d.). composed of the repressed ideas,
desires, instincts and
• He is credited for developing the
shortcomings. This forms out of an
concepts of the extraverted and
individual’s attempts to adapt to
introverted personalities, as well as
cultural norms and expectations. It
the archetypes and the collective
contains all of the things that are
unconscious (Fordham and
unacceptable to almost everything
Fordham, 2021).
around us including our own
• He was associated with Sigmund
personal values and morals. Envy,
Freud whose work in
greed, prejudice, and hate might be
pschoanalysis led to Jung’s
included in here. It often described
development of the analytic
as the darker side of the psyche,
psychology as some kind of a
representing the wildness, chaos
response.
and the unknown.
• an archetype is the model image of
a person or role. He started with four
 domesticity that the era expected
women to follow. This led to an
• Self is an archetype that represents examination of the differences
the unified unconsciousness and between men and women.
consciousness of an individual.
Jung often represented this • It took many years before a second
archetype as a circle, square or wave started for this ideology. It was
mandala. This occurs when the in the 1960s that the wave unfolded
various aspects of personality are at a time of anti-war and civil
integrated. He further suggested that rights movements around the
there were two different centers of world. This continued into the 90s
personality: when people have started to grow
1) the ego makes up the center of the self-conscious of a variety of
consciousness but it is the self that lies at minority groups where women were
the center of the personality. also considered to be a part of.
2) personality encompasses not only Sexuality and reproductive rights
consciousness but also the ego and the were dominant issues and much of
unconscious mind. the movement was focused on
passing the Equal Rights
Other Archetypes Amendment to the Constitution

The Authority figure, stern, powerful

father • The third and final waves of this
The Nurturing, comforting movement focused more on the
mother destabilization of the ideas of the
The child Innocence, salvation, rebirth universal womanhood, body,
The wise Guidance, knowledge, wisdom gender, and sexuality. The third
old man wave for instance, campaigned
The hero Defender, rescuer, savior for the possibility that a woman
has a brain. But it was
The Innocence, desire, purity
characterized by the rejection of
maiden having one goal for the community.
The Deceiver, liar, trouble-maker Third wave men and women were
trickster concerned about equal rights, yes,
but they do not have a term like
Feminist Critical Approach feminism to articulate that notion.
The final wave is flourishing
• This first wave formally began in because of the changes
1848 when three hundred men and happening now. More people are
women rallied to the cause of coming out as feminist because they
equality for women at the Seneca are starting to realize that the
Falls Convention (Rampton, 2008). previous attempts to establish equal
• It was originally focused on opening rights were overly optimistic and
up opportunities for women lacked actual direction. Feminism
especially suffrage, the right to vote. now is moving from the academy
• This early stage of feminism was and back into the realm of public
interrelated with the temperance and discourse.
abolitionist movements and gave
voice to activists like Sojourner In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft published
Truth. This sudden rise of women the book A Vindication of the Rights of
speaking up challenged the idea of Women: With Strictures on Political and
Moral Subjects. It was written to argue that 1. Discrimination - defined as the unfair
women are not naturally inferior to men, but treatment of a persona, while favoring
appear to be only because they lack another.
education. This highlights the issue that 2. Objectification - an act of presenting
women were not allowed to get formal something/someone as an object.
education. She contended that providing 3. Oppression - feeling of being heavily
girls with the same educational system as burdened, mentally or physically by
the boys would result to women becoming something or someone.
better wives and mothers (Britannica, 2021). 4. Patriarchy - social organization in which
With these bold statements, the book the male is the supreme authority.
became a trailblazer in feminism. 5. Stereotyping - process of characterizing
or regarding something/someone based on
Sojourner Truth was another active voice a fixed context.
of the female predicament. She was a
former slave who became an outspoken NOTE: This theory is NOT to encourage
advocate for civil and women’s right in hatred toward men. In fact, it will help us
the nineteenth century (Michals, 2015). see how male characters affect women.
She never learned to read or write and only Through them, we can identify how a
dictated what would become her situation or context uplifts or undermines
autobiography The Narrative of Sojourner women in general.
Truth to Oliver Gilbert who also assisted in
its publication. She wrote the speech “Ain’t
I a Woman?” which addressed the issue
of women having limited rights due to ~ GOOD LUCK BABES AND GOD BLESS~
men’s flawed perception of women. She
challenged the dominating notions of racial
and gender inferiority and inequality by
reminding her listeners of her combined
strength and female status.

This brings us to feminist criticism. It

concerns itself with stereotypical
representations of genders, critiquing
patriarchal language and exposing how
these reflect masculine ideology. It
examines gender politics in works and
traces the subtle construction of masculinity
and femininity.

Feminist theory is an extension of

feminism. This theory uses feminist
principles and ideologies to analyze the
ways in which contexts reinforces or
undermines women. It probes into the roles,
experience, and interests of women.

It probes into the roles, experience, and

interests of women. In the field of arts, some
of the major themes explored are: