Visual Literacy: Need I Say More?

In doing this visual argument, I am trying to convey the poor choices we sometimes make as Americans. While there will always be disparity in the world, I am not trying to blame one group for having more than another; however, I am judging what we choose to do with our freedoms and privileges.

This was a really fun project for me. I love having the opportunity to combine imagery and text; the merger of the two often results in faster comprehension and more impactful arguments than either words or images alone can produce.

In regard to the four criteria a visual project should include (according to Selfe), I think this project succeeds quite well. It gets the most visual impact from the juxtaposition of children in desperate need—for the basics of food, clothing and shelter—with the absolute gluttony of a wedding cake eating contest. In regard to visual coherence, I think the piece holds together through the consistency of the images. For example, the top row are all focused on facial features and meant to have an emotional appeal. The faces are all about the same size, lending to their commonalities, but cropped slightly differently to give the piece interest and flow from photo to photo. The bottom photo is a wider angle shot, showing the nine different brides stuffing their faces. It is important for the meaning of the photo and the project to see all of the surrounding elements: the wedding dresses; the cakes; the stuffed mouths; the women’s styled hair; the banner behind them; the whiteness of the entire scene; even the whiteness of the tables. Heirarchy, or visual salience, is accomplished through the differences in the image of the brides and the children. The bride photo is meant to take over because it’s larger, but the images of the children, with their sad eyes (mostly) looking right at you, are meant to continually pull your attention back to them. I included images, symbols and language to create a structured and organized whole. The flag of each child’s country is displayed small, showing that it doesn’t really matter where they live because this poverty exists worldwide, but the repetition of the American flags on the bottom reflect the gluttony in the photo: multiple identical flags, multiple identical cakes, multiple identical brides. The text at the bottom, meant to appear as a caption on a snapshot, is directly from the American national anthem and further drives home the idea that we, as Americans, are free to make our own choices, but we are not always brave enough to make the right ones.