The term “Visual Literacy” seem to have gained newfound traction in recent times with established practitioners such as Jes Aznar being vocal about this advocacy. In public engagements and on his personal page, he has also directed this call-to-action not only to peers but also to the general public. While such push is not new, being the core preoccupation of educational and professional institutions such as Benilde, UP, ACFJ, and PCP, hashtags such as #SpreadVisualLiteracy, #VisualLiteracy and #MediaLiteracy gives this endeavor a public dimension.   

Nevertheless, a critique on this push reveals a possible weak point. At its current iterations, differing invariably across various advocates, the discussion of visual literacy has an unclear context from which a general understanding can be drawn out of, as well as, an absence of a clear manifest objective to which such rigorous efforts can be directed to. Visual literacy is broad and takes on very different meanings depending on use and audience. While fundamentally related (i.e. to be visually literate is to know how to make sense of visual phenomena, and in the context of the Marites Talks, photographic visual phenomena), most of what we conceive as visual literacy has the danger of dissolving into obscurity as the imprecision to which it is used in discourse lacks a solid foundation, and thus arguably preventing it from being a true battlecry to rally on to.  

Tonight we endeavor to contextualize what is Visual Literacy, identify the agents who are involved in shaping this goal, and the methods to which it is operationalized in Philippine contemporary visual culture.  

Thank you for joining us for Episode 8 of the Marites Talks: Kwentuhan Sessions on Philippine Photography, entitled, Visual Literacy: A Crisis of Method? Tonight, we have Mr. Jes Aznar, Photojournalist, Artist, and Educator, and Mr. Francis Tady, Chairperson of the AB Photography Program of the De La Salle - College of St. Benilde.