“Ahh, Sturken and Cartwright you emerge once again just when I thought I’d rid you from my academic life.” -Deneshs
As a new MAPC student in the fall of 2010, I was instructed to purchase Sturken and Cartwright’s Practices of Looking for my visual communications class. This would be the text that I would write many a response to throughout the semester, and it would be the text that developed a strong aftertaste on my scholarly tastebuds. Simply put, I thought the text was redundant and I thought Sturken and Cartwright used too many words to make their point. But what did I know, right? Right.
Today I sit in the chair of teacher and student. I am in the second year of the two-year MAPC program, and I teach two sections of English 103. I am no longer a girl but not yet a woman (proverbially speaking). I’m more like the teenager who has her license, but is not old enough to be permitted to drive after dark.
Still, what I do have is more perspective than I had when I was a new student. I read Practices of Looking with new, more educated and enlightened eyes, and I am delighted to say that I see connections now that I didn’t see before.
For example, on the very first page of Chapter 1 (page 9) the authors argue that “looking is a social practice,” and “like other practices, looking involves relationships of power.” In talking with my students just today about their visual rhetoric assignment, I told them that their interpretation of the image they choose is important; it reflects their perspective, which will be different for every person. How they see the world is the result of the experiences that have shaped their view of the world, which confirms Sturken and Cartwright’s statement that “looking is a social practice.”
When I put the readings in chapters 1 and 2 in context of our class/client project, I realize that I must look for visual signs that will help me meet the needs of the client during the site visit. On page 29, Sturken and Cartwright offer the following definition: “the image (or word) and its meaning together (the signifier and the signified together) form the sign.”
I know our client has a logo, but during our site visit, I will look for visual signs, based on the client’s needs and desires, that will communicate the appropriate meaning. This could be grape leaves, or a the image of the bottle itself, or some other visual. We are not looking to recreate the logo, but we are looking to create a label that conveys the intended meaning. And, with this task in mind, I can safely say that Sturken and Cartwright has re-emerged right on time. This text serves as a good reminder of timeless “truths” of visual rhetoric and practices of looking and I look forward to applying these truths in the context of this client-based project.
I like how you connected this reading with the Victoria Valley Vineyards assignment. (I wish I'd thought of it this way before going to the vineyard. I'm curious, too, about which signs you saw as a representation of the client. I came away with Lola as a sign - since she was a connecting piece between the family (being a family dog), the vineyard (since she stayed there much of the day), and the people coming to the winery (since we could pet her and interact with her).
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