Understanding Pictures

Various kinds of pictures (abstract, realistic, photographs) were shown to literate and non-literate people in rural and urban Nepal to test their understanding. The research aimed to see to what extent perception of drawings etc was influenced by experience. Results showed that all groups were able to interpret cartoons as easily as photos, but not pictures involving perspective and proportion. Lack of "sufficient stimulation in the area of spatial understanding" in the village context is related to this inability to understand projective relationships (eg that a tree in the distance is not actually smaller than the near tree in a picture). Visual literacy could be improved however by "picturial cues (such as perspective) being consciously and systematically introduced" to people. As well as a detailed account of the field work and implications for development workers using visual aids, this book (which is based on a thesis) gives a comprehensive overview of the theoretical concepts around visual literacy.