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Verbalising the Visual: Translating art and design into words is an academic publication, which avoids the labels of textbook or ‘how to’ manual. Aimed at undergraduate students of visual culture studies, the book aims to provide a guide to efficiently expressing a visual experience in words.

The book is divided into six chapters, which fit into two sections of similar length. The first is dedicated to formal, academic and theoretical aspects of visual culture; the second takes a more colloquial look at art and design, through the eyes of students. While the first section provides important history and theory, the second acts as an insight into how students employ this knowledge in verbalising their visual experiences, as well as rough guides to addressing various assignments students may face. The design of the book encourages students to make the most of the information it presents: each chapter begins with a concise introduction and ends with ten, easily digestible, summarising points. In the first three chapters, these points are preceded by relevant activities and by samples of the practical and textual concepts explored in each of the last three chapters.

The first job of a publication with aims such as this is to define what is included in the term “visual culture”. Clarke arrives at his conclusion by stating that, although the term suggests, on the surface, ‘all visual phenomena, natural and cultural’ (8), for his purposes and those of academic study in general, “visual culture” refers to ‘the visible artefacts and manifestations that…humans have brought into the world…[including] advertising, architecture, the fine arts, fashion, film, graphics, product design and photography’ (8).

Clarke moves on, in the first three chapters, to explore the various ways in which language is used to address issues of verbalising the visual and the history of academic systems of expression with which a student will necessarily become familiar with over the course of his/her studies. The first chapter, “Language and meaning”, speaks to a contemporary theoretical concern, an understanding of which has become crucial for any student in the realm of visual culture: that language is not transparent and that its relationship to its subject is arbitrary and unstable. Clarke includes three key figures in the development of this concern and its impact on academic studies across the arts (including the written arts): Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault. Although Clarke’s discussion of the theorists’ hypotheses do not interrogate them in any complex way, his basic statements of the gist and effects of the theories is suitable for new students. What is important is that reference to these three role players (and titles and dates of important texts) in contemporary art theory creates awareness of them, pointing those students who may want to educate themselves further in the right direction.

Once this theoretical foundation has been laid, “Language and meaning” examines elements of language and linguistic devices used in reactions to visual experiences. These include basic language components such as naming, describing, contextualising, analysing, interpreting and evaluating. Linguistic devices such as metaphor and simile, denotation and connotation, are explained for their effects both within images themselves and in explanations/interpretations of the images. Although most of these things are intuitive to students who are first-language English speakers, a direct and simple explanation of terms is always helpful.

The second and third chapters are dedicated to academic and informal language, respectively. In the second chapter, “Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design”, Clarke provides an explanation of art historical traditions – the chapter behaves as a brief history of the western canon and tradition. Clarke looks from a bird’s eye view at art history from Giorgio Vasari and his The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors and Architects, through to the 20th century, as he explores the development of academic language in the visual arts. Within this exploration, Clarke refers to the importance of plurality – recognising that the Western tradition is limiting in its inability to be applied to non-Western art. However, Clarke does not go further than this reference in exploring anything outside the Western tradition. In the rest of the second chapter, Clarke spends time looking at Modernism, Postmodernism (or post-modernism). He briefly investigates their elements; their effects on the language used to talk about art and design; and their interaction with each other as concepts. Clarke also looks, quite effectively, at language within ideological structures. Here, he includes sociological and psychoanalytical contexts, feminist, gay and racial identities, postcolonialism and deconstruction. Again, Clarke helpfully references many important figures in these various fields, such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler, Laura Mulvey and Jacques Derrida. He refers to concepts and terms of great importance to the art and design student, for example, “the gaze”, “meta-narratives”, “the other” and the Oedipal Complex.

Taking ideological contexts as a cue, the third chapter, “Informal language: beyond the academic disciplines”, considers colloquial language and the role it plays in defining cultures and subcultures. Clarke also looks, significantly, at the defining function of colloquial language in the creation of sub-cultural identities. The language of sub-cultures often plays an exclusive role in the same way that academia uses professional jargon as a barrier against “low language”. Clarke looks at cultural phenomena such as zines (‘non-commercial, non-professional, small circulation magazines’ (97) aimed at niche markets), hip hop and graffiti as manifestation of this. He also performs a small investigation into the use of colloquial language to describe fine art and design in popular print.

In the last three chapters, Clarke shifts his perspective from formal/historical to practical by looking at various ways in which students are required to respond to their visual experiences during their studies. Chapter Four, “Language and oral communication”, deals with the peculiarities of speech and its elements – conversation, dialogue, monologue, interview – and offers practical advice to students required to do oral presentations. Here Clarke includes suggestions regarding audience, context, delivery and choosing the appropriate language.

The next chapter is dedicated to the essay – ‘the most common context in which [students of visual culture] are expected to write about their specialist subject’ (147). Clarke explains various elements of responding to the assignment, such as form and structure, interpretation and research and ways to approach the final writing of the essay. In the last chapter, Clarke looks briefly at various other texts, their particular aspects and relevance to students, such as self-reflective texts, written reports and critical reviews.

With reference to his intentions, Clarke has efficiently combined investigations of histories and theories with practical ways to approach them in the field of visual culture. Clarke’s discussions are brief and informative and, although he occasionally fails to follow through with explanations on some of the points to which he alludes, he states very early on that he does not aim to provide an authoritative guide to verbalising the visual. Rather, his aims are ‘asking questions rather than presuming any one answer and evaluating options available rather than prescribing any one of them’ (9). Explorations of both the history of the theory/criticism, and the concerns that are prevalent in contemporary studies in his field, as well as reference to significant theorists and texts make Clarke’s Verbalising the Visual an important resource for the new student of art history and visual culture.

Keywords: Academic, Books, Design, Education