Week 3: Image/Text Hunt

On Monday, October 12, we will meet in class for our customary reading quiz and discussion on Practices of Looking, pages 62-89. Then we'll walk over to the Millar Library for a 3 p.m. resource tour (both online and physical) in Room 170 (across from the elevators) with the art librarian, Kristen Kern.

After the tour, you'll be asked to do the following Image/Text Hunt exercise:

step 1
Go to any section of the library and open up any book to any page. Point to a spot on the page and read the sentence. Some things to consider:

• What is the sentence about?
• What book is the sentence from? Does knowing the source give a deeper meaning or useful context to the words?
• Does the sentence bring up any personal, cultural, political associations?
• Does it make sense by itself or do you need the context of the surrounding paragraph to make sense of it?

If you found an interesting sentence on the first try great! If not, keep trying until you find a sentence that resonates in some manner. Copy the sentence word for word and make sure that your document the source: author, book, date, page number.

step 2
Use the library’s resources (online data banks, books, magazines, etc) to find three images to pair with your sentence. Each image should create an entirely new meaning. In effect, you are being asked to create three different stories using exactly the same text by concentrating on how images and words combine to shade our sense of meaning. Here are some ways to think about building various relationships between your text and found images:

• Images can be a literal, visual depiction of the sentence (what you read is what you see).
• Images can be combined with text to emphasize a particular message (the image brings a fuller, more complex meaning to the text).
• Certain aspects of the text can be emphasized over others by choosing an image that reinforces only part of the text.
• An unexpected, even contradictory, image can cause the text to be read in an entirely new context.

Step 3 Post your three text/image pairings on your blog, along with your thoughts about how and why the meaning changes with each different image.

Results will be reviewed in class on Monday, Oct. 19.