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Study guide ARH1501 UNISA 2020
Visual Literacy (University of South Africa)
Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university
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Downloaded by GEOFREY GEOFFREY ()
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© 2019 University of South Africa
All rights reserved
Printed and published by the
University of South Africa
Muckleneuk, Pretoria
ARH2603/1/2020–2025
70731764
InDesign
HSY_Style
Downloaded by GEOFREY GEOFFREY ()
, lOMoARcPSD|11763056
CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION v
Learning unit 1: Visual culture 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Understanding the context and aims of visual culture 1
1.3 Major themes in visual culture 4
1.3.1 Reproducing the dominant worldview and power relations 5
1.3.2 Highlighting moments of resistance 7
1.3.3 The interpretation of images that form part of our
everyday experience 11
1.3.4 Interpreting South African art from the field of visual culture 13
1.4 Conclusion 20
Learning unit 2: Introduction to semiotics 21
2.1 Introduction 21
2.2 Signs 22
2.3 Representation 30
2.3.1 Fakeness 30
2.3.2 Authenticity 31
2.3.3 Reality/truth 31
2.4 Roland Barthes’s three levels of signification 31
2.4.1 The first level: denotation 31
2.4.2 The second level: connotation and myth 31
2.4.3 The third level: ideology 33
2.5 Examples of a semiotic analysis 34
2.5.1 Example 1, based on Figure 2.1 34
2.5.2 Example 2, based on Figure 2.2 36
2.5.3 Example 3, based on Figure 2.3 38
2.6 Conclusion 39
Learning unit 3: Documentary photography 40
3.1 Introduction 40
3.1.1 The importance of interpretation 41
3.1.2 Photography as communication 42
3.1.3 To pose or not to pose 43
3.1.4 Types of photography 44
3.2 Image analysis 45
3.2.1 Mise-en-scène analysis 46
3.2.2 Concluding remarks 51
3.3 Introduction to documentary photography in South Africa 51
3.4 Photography during apartheid 52
3.4.1 Background to photography in South Africa 52
3.4.2 Struggle photography and representing the everyday 53
3.4.3 Drum magazine 54
ARH2603/1 (iii)
Downloaded by GEOFREY GEOFFREY ()
Study guide ARH1501 UNISA 2020
Visual Literacy (University of South Africa)
Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university
Downloaded by GEOFREY GEOFFREY ()
, lOMoARcPSD|11763056
Downloaded by GEOFREY GEOFFREY ()
, lOMoARcPSD|11763056
© 2019 University of South Africa
All rights reserved
Printed and published by the
University of South Africa
Muckleneuk, Pretoria
ARH2603/1/2020–2025
70731764
InDesign
HSY_Style
Downloaded by GEOFREY GEOFFREY ()
, lOMoARcPSD|11763056
CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION v
Learning unit 1: Visual culture 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Understanding the context and aims of visual culture 1
1.3 Major themes in visual culture 4
1.3.1 Reproducing the dominant worldview and power relations 5
1.3.2 Highlighting moments of resistance 7
1.3.3 The interpretation of images that form part of our
everyday experience 11
1.3.4 Interpreting South African art from the field of visual culture 13
1.4 Conclusion 20
Learning unit 2: Introduction to semiotics 21
2.1 Introduction 21
2.2 Signs 22
2.3 Representation 30
2.3.1 Fakeness 30
2.3.2 Authenticity 31
2.3.3 Reality/truth 31
2.4 Roland Barthes’s three levels of signification 31
2.4.1 The first level: denotation 31
2.4.2 The second level: connotation and myth 31
2.4.3 The third level: ideology 33
2.5 Examples of a semiotic analysis 34
2.5.1 Example 1, based on Figure 2.1 34
2.5.2 Example 2, based on Figure 2.2 36
2.5.3 Example 3, based on Figure 2.3 38
2.6 Conclusion 39
Learning unit 3: Documentary photography 40
3.1 Introduction 40
3.1.1 The importance of interpretation 41
3.1.2 Photography as communication 42
3.1.3 To pose or not to pose 43
3.1.4 Types of photography 44
3.2 Image analysis 45
3.2.1 Mise-en-scène analysis 46
3.2.2 Concluding remarks 51
3.3 Introduction to documentary photography in South Africa 51
3.4 Photography during apartheid 52
3.4.1 Background to photography in South Africa 52
3.4.2 Struggle photography and representing the everyday 53
3.4.3 Drum magazine 54
ARH2603/1 (iii)
Downloaded by GEOFREY GEOFFREY ()
