Some may find it ironic that I have a great love for and teach literature but also quite enjoy film and visual world. Personally, I don't see it as being ironic. Art can be expressed in many mediums and I just happen to love to steep myself in all forms of art - literature, visual arts, film, music, sculpture - and the list goes on. I also am vehemently for teaching the visual arts to students, preferably starting in the lower grades. American society, as well as much of the world, has become so visually oriented that it is now necessary to learn how to "read" visual language. I fear that if this area of education is not fully addressed, we will create generations of people who are passive viewers and, in turn, easily manipulated by visual language (think Nazi propaganda posters during WWII).
Hence, when I came across Jonathan Klein's lecture (embedded below and linked here) through TED.com, I instantly knew that I wanted, no, needed to share it with my students. Klein explains the power of images far better than I could ever do (with my stammering and pauses). He also addresses the media coverage of Vietnam and explains how the images themselves became the "voice of protest" for the war. I beg you to take six minutes to view Klein's lecture - I promise, you won't be sorry.
I hope that you all have an art form that moves you - either positively or negatively. For me, I am an equal opportunity art lover -but the visual world is right up there at the top of the list. I have posted a short slide show of images that I enjoy. Some I took, some others took (and some are quite famous), but they are all old favorites.
For this week I would love to see and read about some of the images that move you. They could be personal images or ones that we have seen again and again. Either provide a link in your comment to the image or post the image itself with your comment.
20 comments:
Before watching the video I thought I would simply have just another austere response. I could agree with exactly what you were saying but I had nothing to really add. Jonathan Klein's lecture really emphasized that a picture is worth a million words. You can translate an empowering New York Times front page story and simply translate it into a photograph. In the 21st century people won't take the time to sit there and read about history or current events that are changing our lives. With film and music skyrocketing in popularity sometimes you can convert your message in simpler terms. It's kind of hard to explain but looking at a picture we can see the emotions on ones face and that can be understood a lot better from a picture.
https://ahsawnm08p5lesliel.wikispaces.com/file/view/mlk.png/32896647/mlk.png
The image above is one that people see all the time. This picture is of Martin Luther King when he is making his "I Have a Dream" speech. This image always inspires and moves me everytime I see it because it shows a man's determination to fight for what he believes in. King was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement and represented many of his followers who wanted equality for blacks. King promoted nonviolent acts to accomplish his goals and would participate in them even if it meant being arrested. King was very motivated and eventually gained the rights for his people, the ones he fought so hard for. This is motivating because it shows me that if I fight hard enough for something I believe in, I can be impacting others and accomplishing a lot. It's better to take action then to sit around and wait for something to happen.
One of my favorite photographs of all time is a portrait of an Afghan girl taken by Steve MCurry.
http://thepirata.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/09/afgangirl.jpg
This photograph conveys the cultural ironies because women of such culture should be covered completely and only eyes should be shown. But, her eyes translate into this shocking emotion. I lOVE IT!
I think that this video that you have showed us is certainly very true: images definitely invoke a very powerful response from men -more so than text. Being able to understand images and their meaning is very important, especially in these days fueled by mass media and hundreds and thousands of images and other forms of media. The impact of images on the general public I think have already surpassed te amount of impact compared to other forms of media, such as literature or textual messages. Thus, I agree with you when you say that it is very important to better understand the "visual language" of which you speak.
I love are and I have so many art pieces that move me both in a negative and positive way. Some that move me in a negative way are some from the holocaust. These pictures get to me a lot. I get really angry and worked up. I don’t like seeing them. It hurts me and makes me a bit scared of what’s out there in the world. It makes me think a lot about how people treat each other and makes me scared in trusting people. At any moment this could happened again and I think it might be possible and it scares me. Here are some pictures.
http://romaniroots.webs.com/holocaust.jpg
Some pictures that affect me in a positive way are pictures with my family, friends, and other pictures that make me feel good, happy and safe. Some of the pictures are holidays with my family and good times with my friends. These pictures take me back to all the good times I’ve had and memories that have been great experiences. I feel happy looking back at all the good times and makes me realize who are my true friends and who I can actually trust. Also I love being with my family. We are a big family and really close too. I love being with them and I never have a bad time. They make me feel good and we always have a good time.
That was really interesting. I never realized how pictures have such deep meanings. I guess pictures really are worth a thousand words.
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/emmett-till-6.jpg
The image above is an image of emit till. A 14 year old boy who was brutally murdered during the Civil rights Movement for simply making a comment at a white woman. The boy was kidnapped by white men beaten and dropped in a lake with a 75 sewing machine tied to his neck. His face was unrecognizable. This photo moves me in a horrible way , but makes me realize how horrible people can be. I experience so much emotion from looking at this one photo, its crazy!
The video embedded below your blog completely changed my thoughts on your whole entire entry. My understanding of the point trying to be proven was completely changed. What Jonathan Klein was trying explain was even more powerful through the pictures he used, which strengthened his argument. Even after watching the video I thought to myself what picture really makes an impact on me and i was still stumped. I have never analyzed a picture and thought what makes it stand out. Watching this video will now challenge me to find one which I am really looking forward to!
Images, and videos definitely evoke a very powerful response from people and get a different reactions than the written text. Being able to understand images and their meaning is very important, especially in these days fueled by mass media and hundreds and thousands of images and other forms of media. In the 21st century people won't take the time to sit there and read about history or current events that are changing our lives, but with film and music becoming more popular, you can convert your message in simpler terms. An image can be so much more powerful then words and can trigger an emotional response. For example in charity commercials they use images of less fortunate people to get an emotional response.Thus, I agree with you when you say that it is very important to better understand the "visual language" of which you speak. It's hard to explain what actually happens when you see a picture but with the facial expressions and colors it triggers part of the brain that text can't reach.
As an artist I have always been able to deal better through pictures or anything tangible really. I couldn't really articulate as a child. I had problems expressing myself through language, I felt as though I was never fully understood. Once I started taking pictures I felt as though I could show people what I saw and in the way I saw it. Then I took it to another level of art and started painting and then moved on to sculptures, even to this day I feel better understood through the visual world and always looking for new styles to use.
I feel that images mean and inspire a thousand things. One can look at an image and feel the true power of the situation. Its like the photos my grandfather has of WWII. They speak, no editing, no bull just truth. Pictures of fallen soldiers as they lay in the sand. Its the closest to being there you see the terror, horror and power in the image. Life needs to be seen in images for it can transform out view of something.
Images and visual language do have a great impact on our society. I do beleive that it is something that we should know a lot more about. It is sad that our world can not see the true meaning to certain images and be able to translate these images into what their true meaning is. I do not really have any specific images that move me. To me, they are all the same. This was an excellent blog posting about an interesting subject that I would love to talk more about.
Well for me I've only really payed attention to album covers by bands. But in any sense an image is an image. It can be a cover from a Led Zeppelin album, simple and clean, or a very grotesque cover from a Cannibal Corpse album disgusting for some but in a way enjoyable for others. It's kind of like in The Things They Carried, how Tim O'Brien went back and forth with comparing how war is evil or how war is nice. Every image has a dual meaning behind it whether it is a photograph or album cover, everyone can perceive it differently.
I love any kind of art! I find it very intriguing. I am a very visual learner and love learning by seeing. This summer I was given the opportunity to go to Europe and visit many different countries. While I was there I visited Stutthof, a concentration camp in Poland that was used during the Holocaust. The sight of the place where thousands of people died was extremely moving to me. Below is a picture of the crematory where they killed people. Seeing a picture of this is very touching, but it does not compare to seeing it in person. Walking through the actual structure in the camp where people were torched to death is hard to imagine. With uniforms that they wore and so called beds they slept in. Seeing things in pictures often gives you a better feeling for what would otherwise be described in words.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/Holocaust/stutthof18a.jpg
Being able to take and, later on, view the pictures that I've taken throughout the years makes my world go round.
This picture I'm going to attach reminds me of the innocence of kids and how worry-free their world is. She is my niece and every time I spend time taking care of her, since she is only a year old, I learn something new from her and her little mind full of colors and childish things, she makes me see the world from a complete different perspective and I love that.
She is a very affectionate kid and shows her love by jumping onto you, pulling your hair, or just making you go nuts but when she realized that what she’s done is not right she grabs you and starts to kiss you and hug you, which she thinks makes up for all that, and she is right, at least for the small trouble she makes, she could make it up like that.
When I look at this picture, it reminds me of how trouble-maker she could be but also reminds me of the love and affection she gives out. Also, it completely shows me the innocence and happiness kinds have within them that we, as we grow up, loose little by little.
Here's the link to the picture:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=30mwnyu&s=5
There are many forms of art that move me, especially film and music. I think now a days, where film and photography is so prominent, it is important to be able to learn how to "read" it. That way we will be able to get the true meaning behind it. Some photos that moved me, but in a negative way were from an email sent to my dad a few days before he went to Beirut for a work trip. The pictures showed horrible things that had happened about two or three weeks before he left and it really worried me and my family. Although such horrible things had happened, while my dad was there everything was calm. He came back with some of the most beautiful pictures the country and told us about how beautiful it was there, how the people were so nice, and how great the food was. This shows how powerful and misleading an image can be, which even further reinforces the need to teach others about learning to "read" visual language.
Pictures that I look at the most are of sculptures be they planes, cars or traditional sculptures. In a photograph the color really sets the mood and the different hues invoke other image sets that I have stored in my brain. In a chain reaction like sequence one picture can spark an imagery explosion in my head and I am able to piece things together. Images to me are ways of seeing things that you may not have been able to see before. As opposed to letters, pictures are much more thought invoking and they touch you deeper. The same can be said in contrast with a video or newscast. In either of those you can only see each thing the camera is on once before it is zooming off to focus in on something that is considered more important. I do not have a picture that moves me and I think it would be cliche for me to find one of a moving event in history. One day something will speak to me like nothing has before and that will be the one thing that I will have in my possession. Just as the man in the video had only one picture I too feel that to have more than one picture would be taking away meaning from the others much as the Mona Lisa detracts from other paintings in that hall.
Some of the pictures on TED.com are really moving, in my opinion you can read all the books you want or hear first hand account about an event, but there is nothing more moving and powerful then looking at a picture. Pictures have such great emotion and convey such a strong message, for example in my American History class we were learning about World War II and at first taking notes and hearing lectures from my teacher, but when he passed around the pictures of World War II in this binder that he had that really hit me harder than anything. The pictures were very emotional and deep, especially the one's from the Holocaust, it really makes you upset and angry to what some of the people had to go through. here is a link with some Holocaust pictures http://history1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/tp/holocaustpictures.htm
http://www.missyandmike.com/yellowstone2005/pics/Road%20Trip%20001.jpg
Pictures have a thousand words. And a thousand meanings. I appreciate the visual arts of Paint and architecture. Why, there's a building made of corn and they change the image on the side of the wall every year! You can only imagine how much I appreciate that. Or the building made of salt. Art can be expressed in so many ways and interpreted in so many more. It's a beautiful and most unfortunate fate for the artist.
After watching this video, I will appreciate and detail photographs much more. It is true that we make the photographs by finding our own meaning to what we're looking at. One picture that moves me and always makes me smile is the one below:
http://benzbaby.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/kiki.jpg
I little Haitian boy had just been rescued from being trapped for over eight days after the earthquake hit Haiti . The first emotion given off by the little boy is a huge and precious smile!
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