Visual Literacy
'Visual literacy is the ability to decode visual symbols into meaning. Looking at art involves responding- to what we see in the artwork and how that connects to what we see in ourselves and the world around us. Thinking about visual art transforms our personal responses into "visual literacy"- we construct a visual language so we can "read" the visual information. When we read images, we are synthesizing our sensorial, emotional, and cognitive responses to the photograph into meaning. We also construct a visual dictionary, a mental store of images that serve as definitions when we compare and contrast images. As visual literacy advances, we make more sophisticated judgments about images based on what we see and what we remember seeing.