AHVS 121 Understanding Visual Communication Winter 2022 Assignment 10
Through the course, we’ve been looking at images, their creation and their reception as processes of that involve choice (what to create, how to create it, how to think about it when you see it). But there are a lot of underlying factors concerning what we actually get to see.
Different vocabulary words with specific definitions get used for this situation (for example: censorship, iconoclasm, vandalism, suppression) but essentially they all mean that someone did not want other people to have access to certain types of images (or believed that other specific images communicated the desired narrative “better”). And all of those circumstances can be self-perpetuating as well as imposed by outside forces (systemic or overt).
This week, I’d like you to think about how conformity is shaped and presented through image selection as outlined in the case study on the following three pages. You should also consider the some of the other issues touched on in this week’s material.
The broader goals of the assignment are to:
1) consider how individual identity is influenced by the types of images we see and how deeply we chose to engage with them.
2) comment on the levels of image control through various types of access to images.
3) discuss how cultures express ideology through the selection of what images are deemed “appropriate”; what are the pros and cons?
Reminder: You are not expected to do any further research beyond what is here in the assignment. This is about your critical thinking on the issues, not anyone else’s.
Write a short paper, (minimum 750 words/maximum 1250) submitted as an email attachment to ddudley@uvic.ca Due: before Monday April 11, 2022 at 3:30PM.
Reminder that ASSIGNMENT 11 (to be posted in Week 13) is mandatory for all students. Please see course outline for important details on how to title, format & submit assignments.
Start with this image:
What do you see?
The caption reads: “Feminine vanity still demands attention –
even in the nation’s aircraft factories. At the plant in Wichita,
Miss Mina Tabor takes a quick time out for a facial repair using
a gleaming sheet of aluminum in the stock room as a mirror.”
The photograph belongs to a series of images taken of women
working in the aircraft industry during WWII. Despite its
‘snapshot’ casual appearance, it has been carefully staged and
angled so the photographer does not appear in the reflection.
Out of numerous images, this was one that was selected to go to
national publication (hence the original caption show here). It
was deemed the most suitable and appropriate for the purpose.
(Note: I’m not sure if it did get published in the end, but it was
intended to be).
Why?
Here are some other examples taken as part of the same wartime effort and documentation. Any captions with these are modern captions and they had little reference except location and date in their original form.
Most of these images ended up directly in archives and were not seen by the public at the time.
Why?
What narratives are being told, through the selection of images that are being shown or not shown? Note that this does not have to have been a calculated decision even though it had to be a deliberate decision.
Discuss.
What impact does this have on our understanding of the past?
Of the present?
What do these choices tell us about how ideologies are perpetuated?
What are the implications of limiting representational imagery?
(You might want to think back the the Arts and Humanities lecture when we talked about how historic images shape how we feel about those eras).
Consider the broader goals of the assignment as well.
A couple more images just because they are awesome.
