During today’s input we discussed different methods of visual meaning making, specifically visual representation. A brief definition of visual representation is ‘a mode of communication based on holistic and immediate visuals rather than linear and sequential verbalization’ (igi-global.com, 2021). The concept of this is centred around the idea that visual imagery, such as drawings and paintings hold equal capacity for information and academic value as written text. In today’s lecture we discussed the idea of recording one’s interpretations of a topic through visual representation. During this discussion, some members of the class expressed thoughts regarding their drawing skills and worries that lacking confidence in this area would render them unable to successfully engage with visual representation. These worries were quickly put to rest when our lecturer told us that the process of visual representation does not require advanced artistic skills, the drawings or paintings produced do not need to be extremely legible, however they must be sensical to the individual and to others who view them. Essentially, the value of visual representation does not lie in the artistic quality of the work, but in the meaning making process it puts the individual through.
We also discussed the idea of responding to a piece of written text by visually relaying the key points of it. Our lecturer told us that this exercise can enable us to absorb our learning with more potency and encouraged us to empower children to engage in visual representation. Our lecturer then gave us a selection of very text heavy academic pieces and tasked us with selecting and reading one of these. Once we had done this, we were asked to formulate a visual response to the text or produce a visual representation of the key points within it.
During today’s lecture we watched a short clip where a group of non-English speaking students learned about a topic and created a visual representation of their findings. Upon watching this clip, our class and lecturer noted that even although this language was foreign to us, we were still able to make sense of the visual representation that they produced and could identify the topic of work they were learning about. We also noted that the drawing shown were not impeccably detailed, yet the group of individuals were able to clearly communicate the desired information, which further proved to me that you don’t need to be an artist to successfully engage in visual representation. This clip made me consider how visual representation could be used in schools to empower children who perhaps struggle with conventional writing due to factors such as Additional Support Needs (ASN’s) or having English as a secondary language. If not given the appropriate support, factors such as these may cause a barrier to children’s linguistics and hinder their ability to express themselves and or record information through written or verbal language. Visual representation could provide an almost universally comprehensible element to children’s communication, one which would enable their opinions to be taken into consideration, valued and respected, when they may not even have been able to contribute previously.
In conducting additional research about this topic after today’s lecture, I came across an example of individuals thinking and creating visually in relation to the written word which really piqued my interest. ‘Flatland’ was a completely immersible theatrical experience which took place in 2015 and 2018. This artistic experience was based on E.A. Abbotts 1884 Novel ‘Flatland: A Romance of many Dimensions’ which tells the story of a two-dimensional world and follows the life of peculiar geometric shaped characters who live there. In this novel social classes are distinguished by using the ‘Art of Hearing’ and the ‘Art of Feeling’, and it entertains theories of spaces multi-dimensional nature. What I found very interesting was that the immersible experience went a step further than visual representation of this novel, by creating a multi-sensory representation of this novel which was accessible to Visually impaired individuals. This was done through a triage of visual, auditory and physical stimulus delivered to the individual in a manner which abstractly represented the storyline of the novel it was based upon, looking beyond the written word to create a concrete and interactive experience.
