What is visual culture? From my simplified version:
“It’s Reading a story with our eyes”
When we read, we try to understand the story as a whole by analyzing the context itself. It focuses on aspects of culture that rely very much on visual images.
According to Hooper-Greenhill, Eilean, Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture, London
“Visual culture works towards a social theory of visuality, focusing on questions of what is made visible, who sees what, how seeing, knowing and power are interrelated. It examines the act of seeing as a product of the tensions between external images or objects, and internal thought processes.”
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is one good illustration on visual culture. It’s an activist group that is against cruel treatment of animals. They rely a lot on visual work. They carry out protest campaign on fur in fashion shows, meat eaters and investigate on animal cruelty such as animal testing, rodeo, cock fighting and abuse of backyard dogs.
PETA uses Photography as one of the medium to convey their message. A lot of celebrities team up with the organization to raise awareness by the means of posing nude or nearly nude demonstrations and campaigns. However, some people may see the images and represent them as pornography.
The discourse of Khloe Kardashian in this photo is linked now with the ideology of sexual objectification.
However, when it comes to counter discourse, we cannot assume that just by looking at a nude image of these women, it represents pornography or objectification. This image is trying to get across people around the globe that we shouldn’t be wearing fur because it leads to animal cruelty. To me, I find this empowering because it’s not easy to go all bare in front of a camera and be so passionate about what you’re doing. - And also, it’s for a good cause. 
Meat is Murder
The photos speak for itself. It’s generally transmitting the idea that eating meat is just morally wrong. - It is animal slaughter. Animal feel pain just like we do so we should take their feelings into consideration. And if you eat meat, you are automatically labeled as deviant/murderer. The politics of discrimination against people eating meat is produced in this representation. They use the induction of guilt to plant such ideas in our head to change the way we think and view things.
And so, this definitely shows how powerful the work of visual culture and the media can be as it creates identities. Thus as a professional communication student, it is important to study such context as it plays a major part in our daily lives.
And so, this definitely shows how powerful the work of visual culture and the media can be as it creates identities. Thus as a professional communication student, it is important to study such context as it plays a major part in our daily lives.
