Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Today’s class was cancelled due to the IVLA Conference. This was an opportunity to catch up on some of the work I need to complete. I did catch up a little bit but have a way to go.
More importantly, I attended the IVLA Conference on Friday. The website address for the IVLA conference is: http://www.ivla2011.org/index.cfm.

The Seaview, where the conference was held is aptly named. It has a beautiful view of the sea; hence the name. This is the website address: http://www.dolce-seaview-hotel.com/.


The Seaview Resort and Spa

The conference was excellent and offered a chance to hear people from all over the country and some international people. The presenters spoke about the work they were doing in visual literacy. They used various media to show their work and answered questions both during and after their presentations. The atmosphere was casual and unimposing. Observers were able to comment and ask questions.

The key note speaker on Friday was Wendel White. He presented his work: Hidden in Plain Sight: African American Artifacts and Architecture in the American Landscape.
The presentation looked at photographs of African American artifacts, some taken in South Jersey a short distance away from the conference. The images that impacted me the most were of the segregated schools throughout the country. The images showed the school in its original location. The area around the school was made gray so that the school becomes the highlight of the image. Mr. White uses the images to speak about segregation in northern states. I don’t usually think of segregation occurring in this part of the country as much as the South but you can’t deny that it was a definite part of our cultural history. Segregation continues to exist in some form today. This is a link to Mr. White’s website: http://wendelwhite.com/. I have included one of the photos presented by Mr. White at the conference. The school building is highlighted while the background is faded. The image below is of a school in Whitesboro, NJ.



Another presentation I enjoyed was: Shape and the Placing of Visual Literacy: The Case of Shelby Lee Adams’ Appalachian Photography. This was presented by Jennifer Mooney from Virginia Tech. Shelby Lee Adams photographs subjects from the Appalachian region of the country. He seems to pick subjects that evoke negative reactions especially from people who are native to the region. Ms. Mooney used Face Book to gauge the reactions of people from different parts of the country to different photos of Appalachia. Photographers included: Shelby Lee Adams, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Earl Dotter and Wendy Ewald. Overall Adams’ photographs evoked the most negative reactions from all participants but most especially from Appalachian natives. The interesting thing about attending a conference in person is you get to speak directly to the presenter and interact with them. Ms Mooney encouraged people to contact her. She sent me a copy of her presentation as well.

I hope to be able to use some of the ideas explored in the presentations as I learn about visual literacy.