Contrasting (power of) visual and textual discourses in art studies: a critical perspective

Abstract

This article begins with the assumption that analysing visual discourse is a question of exploring the hermeneutic potentials and epistemological emergence of images as depending on individual perception, ways of seeing and social interaction, strengthening their agency, to ascertain their significance and recognition as aesthetical symbols, as meaning-making processes. The article presents a case study based on two world-renowned Portuguese artists (Helena Almeida and Jorge Molder) in which the authors understand the notion of the agency of image as an original means of interpreting social and cultural experiences, studying how artists transform their visual representations in ambiguous narratives about images. Starting from a critical and phenomenological perspective, the authors developed an image-based analysis, contrasting artists’ visual representations with their textual readings and recognizing the central meanings of self-representation in both cases.