This short video (6 mins 44s), self-paced slide show and text file affirm and explore a distinction between "images" which emerge within individual imaginations (and are materialized solely as neurological patterns and constellations) and material "things" (including photographs, drawings, paintings, words, physical gestures, buildings, landscapes and so on) that are frequently referred to as images. The video presents this argument through photographs, captions and a musical audio track. The self-paced slide show displays only photographs and text (from the video); and the text file is presented as a two-page spread/poster of text and a few small images.
The argument is pitched as a challenge to the relative neglect (and disrespect) that many academics (myself among them) have shown for the fundamentally different nature of “images” and the “things” we use to represent, render, realize, and operationalize how we think about them. This neglect can trivialize attention to the imagination as an important dimension and construct in understanding culture and social life--a dimension that visual research has a special responsibility and opportunity to affirm.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Jon Wagner is Professor Emeritus in Education at the University of California, Davis. His current interests include the phenomenology of Alzheimer’s and dementia care; visual communication for public and private audiences; and the visual commons of residential landscapes. Past interests include children’s material culture, qualitative and visual research methods, school change, and the social and philosophical foundations of education. He is a past President of the International Visual Sociology Association and was founding Image Editor of Contexts magazine (American Sociological Association, 2001-2004).