Practices of Looking

This article is about communicating with visuals and how technology has helped us do it. It talks about how images have helped us share various emotions and powerful experiences. We spread different images and information through art, advertising and social media. The article goes into the history of imagery and mentions how paintings were used to convey various myths, historical events and religious figures. Paintings can either reflect or make a new meaning out of the reality around it. The article then goes over photography. Cameras are thought of as being more reliable than people for documenting events. This is due to the fact that it is a mechanical device and could represent the world better than something drawn by hand. Images rely heavily on culture ideology and social power to get its meaning. By using certain symbols and themes already established in our culture, images can be used to manipulate the viewer’s emotions and thoughts. This could be achieved by using a mugshot to imply guilt, for example. Mugshots present the subject in a gloomy and negative light. It could make anyone look criminal. I once had to take a mugshot for a homework assignment and it had this very effect on someone who had never committed a crime.