Publicação
From Visual Literacy to Audio Description: A Case Study of Accessible Translation in Contemporary Art
| Resumo: | In 1982, UNESCO issued the Declaration on Media Education, following widespread concern about the “mediazation of modern culture” (Thompson 1990). This apprehension around the role of the media and what started to be called “the digital divide” has since then deepened. Authors as Barthes (1977) delved into visual theory, particularly “the role and function of images in representation and communication” (Newfield 2011), and thus arose the concept of visual literacy, also named “media literacy” (Chauvin 2016) or “multimodal literacy” (Holsanova 2020). Visual literacy is relevant nowadays to protect people from misinformation, fake news and populism, and is developed by using a deeper analysis of all the details in an image, especially in teaching contexts. Transferring this concept to traditional visual contexts, such as museums, introduces additional layers of information that need to be addressed: historical background, artistic movements, styles and techniques, among others. In these cultural venues, mastering this skill is essential, especially when describing exhibits for visually impaired audiences. Thus, audio description intends to translate images into words that are objective, succinct, vivid and imaginative (Snyder 2008) to guarantee that these audiences may create a mental idea of the cultural venue they are visiting, their ambiance, space layout, lighting and collections (Fryer 2016). Therefore, our aim is to examine the concept of visual literacy and its interconnection to audio description (AD), an endeavour that few scholars have directly explored. Moreover, we intend to reflect on the skills audio describers must hold to cater for people’s needs in museums and reflect how these may improve through training, through the presentation of a set of pedagogical activities. Finally, we will draw on practical examples from audio described visits developed for the Contemporary Art Centre Graça Morais (Bragança, Portugal) in order to analyse museum ADs created in two different moments by master’s students. |
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| Autores principais: | Martins, Cláudia |
| Assunto: | Disability Translation in museums Visual literacy Accessible translation Audio description People with visual |
| Ano: | 2026 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | capítulo de livro |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade Politécnica de Bragança |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Biblioteca Digital da UPB |
| Resumo: | In 1982, UNESCO issued the Declaration on Media Education, following widespread concern about the “mediazation of modern culture” (Thompson 1990). This apprehension around the role of the media and what started to be called “the digital divide” has since then deepened. Authors as Barthes (1977) delved into visual theory, particularly “the role and function of images in representation and communication” (Newfield 2011), and thus arose the concept of visual literacy, also named “media literacy” (Chauvin 2016) or “multimodal literacy” (Holsanova 2020). Visual literacy is relevant nowadays to protect people from misinformation, fake news and populism, and is developed by using a deeper analysis of all the details in an image, especially in teaching contexts. Transferring this concept to traditional visual contexts, such as museums, introduces additional layers of information that need to be addressed: historical background, artistic movements, styles and techniques, among others. In these cultural venues, mastering this skill is essential, especially when describing exhibits for visually impaired audiences. Thus, audio description intends to translate images into words that are objective, succinct, vivid and imaginative (Snyder 2008) to guarantee that these audiences may create a mental idea of the cultural venue they are visiting, their ambiance, space layout, lighting and collections (Fryer 2016). Therefore, our aim is to examine the concept of visual literacy and its interconnection to audio description (AD), an endeavour that few scholars have directly explored. Moreover, we intend to reflect on the skills audio describers must hold to cater for people’s needs in museums and reflect how these may improve through training, through the presentation of a set of pedagogical activities. Finally, we will draw on practical examples from audio described visits developed for the Contemporary Art Centre Graça Morais (Bragança, Portugal) in order to analyse museum ADs created in two different moments by master’s students. |
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