How to Digest an Image

Gaby over at Hopeless Lingerie wrote a very interesting blog post about art history in reaction to our fickle viewing of images with no real thought to the meanings and historical contexts behind them. Much as this hasn't crossed my mind hugely since I graduated from university, it is a really good point and much of the literature about visual culture – especially in blogs – does not help this 'fast-food' type culture. My background is in criminology so this will look a little different to Gaby's thoughts on the matter...

So, like her, I feel it is important to think a bit more in depth about how we look at visual stimuli. In the modern age, we are bombarded with so much information that it is beyond our capacity to take it all in. My undergraduate dissertation was actually on a topic very close to this one so it is hugely interesting to me. Even with information so shocking as that of serial murder or kidnap, we are able to let it pass through our minds and remain relatively unphased. This kind of denial is a basic tool applied by all of us in some measure to neutralise the kind of information imparted to us on a daily basis so that we can continue with our day-to-day lives relatively free of paranoia or trauma.

Part of me thinks this is a little to serious for a blog post, whilst part of me strongly disagrees and feels that without the intellectualisation of daily life, we would continue into oblivion, unaware of the reasons behind our actions. Maybe I should stop over-thinking things and lighten up? Anyhow, there's a thought for the day...