Visual Literacy

Charlie Cole 1989, World Press Photo A demonstrator confronts a line of People's Liberation Army tanks on Chang'an Avenue, Beijing, during protests for democratic reform on Tiananmen Square.

Day 3 in Zim and on the surface life is "normal", although driving to Borrowdale near the taken over ZBC headquarters I passed a truck full of soldiers armed to the hilt. The state owned newspaper The Herald, for once was accurate with its headline "Business as Usual" as for the most part we carry on with our lives but it does niggle at the back of your mind. My sister is now nervous about coming home in December.

I went to an excellent talk on visual literacy as part of the World Press Photo Exhibition 2017 which is being exhibited in the Book Fair area of Harare Gardens. The winning photographs from around the world are on display until next week. As the two Dutch presenters said, it is an interesting week to be talking about press freedom and the use of photography to tell stories in Zimbabwe. Also the question of where we get our news from and which sources we trust. We looked at Jonathan Bachman's powerful image of Ieesha Evans in the US defying the police moments before being arrested and how visual journalists capture moments to tell stories. I found out about the World Press Photo's online publication, Witness and like this quote from their page:
"These days, when the world, the press and photography itself are undergoing seismic changes, one thing remains constant: People deserve to see their world and express themselves freely.

Freedom of speech is more important than ever, and quality visual journalism is essential for the accurate and independent reporting that makes that freedom possible."

Jonathan Bachman 2016, World Press Photo Ieisha Evans (27) stands her ground at a rally against police violence against black men, outside the Baton Rouge Police Department in Louisiana, USA, on 9 July. Evans had travelled to Baton Rouge to protest the death of Alton Sterling, who was shot at close range while being held to the ground by two white police officers on 5 July. The fatal shooting of Sterling came at a time of heightened tension in the US over the deaths of black men at the hands of the police. Data collected by The Counted, an initiative set up by The Guardian to record such fatalities, found that in 2016, black males aged 15-34 were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by law enforcement officers. Evans was arrested at the protest, but released later that evening.

The person presenting talked about how photography is how we perceive the world and how photographs are assessed on their journalistic and aesthetic value. She showed us a map of press freedom. Zimbabwe has censorship but it is not as bad as China, where it was suggested there is an intranet rather than an internet. On another scale Zimbabwe was ranked 126th in the world for press freedom out of 305.

In line with the theme of visual literacy there was also discussion on the evolution of photography and how phones and things are changing how we capture images. It was reiterated that you are what you photograph and not what camera you use. An interesting project #everydayafrica on Twitter was mentioned. There was a call for children to be taught visual literacy and to be able to tell what is real and what is not. An example was given of the fake photograph of Trump's inauguration. Society needs to construct meaning from everything and look, see, describe, analyse and interpret what they are presented with.

I unfortunately missed the rest of the workshop with a Dutch professional photographer as I had a job interview and I am teaching this afternoon but I am glad I went to the first part. Go along to the exhibition if you have time. I have my Chinese student, coffee with a friend and then a contemporary art exhibition this afternoon. We will try get home before dark. There is supposedly going to be a march to State House tomorrow. I am not quite sure what it is representing but apparently the war veterans are backing it.