BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:ivla2026 X-WR-CALDESC:Event Calendar METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//Sched.com IVLA 2026 Charleston//EN X-WR-TIMEZONE:UTC BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261006T213000Z DTEND:20261006T233000Z SUMMARY:Welcome Reception DESCRIPTION: CATEGORIES:RECEPTION LOCATION:TBA\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:9a85226af5c2ea5beffd7557790c39c1 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/9a85226af5c2ea5beffd7557790c39c1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T123000Z DTEND:20261007T130000Z SUMMARY:Registration DESCRIPTION: CATEGORIES:REGISTRATION LOCATION:Garden\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:b2a47a0e6ff8e44852b631ce7bcf7658 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/b2a47a0e6ff8e44852b631ce7bcf7658 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T130000Z DTEND:20261007T140000Z SUMMARY:Campfire Stories: Seeing\, Knowing\, and Designing in the Age of AI DESCRIPTION:This campfire session brings together Learning Designers (LDs)\, Learning Experience Designers (LXDs)\, Educational Technology Specialists\, and educators to examine how Generative AI (GenAI)\, in combination with design thinking\, can support the development of visually rich\, learner-centered educational experiences. Grounded in key theoretical frameworks\, including Visual Literacy Theory (Avgerinou & Pettersson\, 2011\; 2020)\, Design Thinking (Dam & Siang\, 2020)\, ADDIE (Branch\, 2009)\, and SAMR (Puentedura\, 213)\, the session positions visual literacy as a core epistemic practice through which learners interpret\, construct\, and communicate meaning in increasingly AI-mediated environments. Participants will explore how GenAI can inform the design of learning scenarios that are not only engaging and effective\, but also critically attuned to the role of visual and multimodal representations in knowledge construction. Emphasis is placed on both the interpretation and production of visuals\, as well as on the affordances and limitations of AI-supported design processes. Through collaborative ideation\, virtual prototyping\, and critical reflection\, participants will be encouraged to develop practical\, visually grounded learning designs that foster engagement\, creativity\, and deeper conceptual understanding.\n \;\nCampfire Session Goals\n \;\n1. Conceptual Understanding\nRecognize \;visual literacy as an epistemic practice in AI-mediated learning environmentsUnderstand how \;GenAI intersects with visual literacy\, learning design\, and design thinking \;\n2. Critical Awareness\nExamine the role of \;AI-generated visuals in shaping meaning\, interpretation\, and knowledge constructionCritically reflect on issues of \;accuracy\, bias\, and pedagogical value in AI-supported visual representations \;\n3. Design-Oriented Thinking\nExplore how \;design thinking processes can inform the integration of visual literacy into learning designIdentify opportunities for using \;GenAI to support multimodal and visually grounded learning experiences \;\n4. Collaborative Knowledge Building (Campfire Core)\nContribute experiences\, examples\, and challenges related to \;using visuals and/or AI in teaching and designEngage in \;dialogue and idea exchange to co-develop approaches for integrating visual literacy in practice \;\n5. Practical Takeaways\nArticulate at least \;one actionable idea or design direction for incorporating visual literacy and GenAI into their own context \;\n CATEGORIES:CAMPFIRE LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:968379234000e9fa8d92f96d1500d05f URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/968379234000e9fa8d92f96d1500d05f END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T130000Z DTEND:20261007T140000Z SUMMARY:Mapping What We Have: Community Asset Mapping as Visual Literacy and Place-Based Practice DESCRIPTION:What does it mean to truly see the resources within a community? This session examines community asset mapping as a visual literacy practice\, one that makes tangible the often-invisible networks of support that exist within places and communities.\n\n\nDrawing on two distinct contexts\, this presentation examines how the act of physically mapping community assets transforms the way people understand and engage with their environments. The first is a North Carolina statewide digital inclusion initiative\, in which a public-facing tech resource finder enables residents to search for free wi-fi\, computer access\, and digital literacy training by location and resource type&mdash\;transforming an abstract service landscape into a searchable\, visual map. The second involves preservice teachers in a scholarship program designed to prepare future educators for high-needs districts in eastern North Carolina. As part of their preparation\, teacher candidates research and map community assets in their future student teaching districts\; they also collaboratively mapped their own university campus&mdash\;identifying support offices\, study spaces\, dining spots\, and more. The collaborative mapping process proved especially powerful: it helped candidates articulate what they already knew about their campus\, sparked discussion around newly shared discoveries\, and encouraged more intentional exploration of their environment.\n\n\nBoth cases illustrate how visual representation activates an asset-based mindset\, helping users recognize resources they might otherwise overlook. In dialogue with the conference theme\, Seeing Through Time\, this session positions asset maps as place-bound mnemonic images\, representations that encode community knowledge\, reflect the positionality of their makers\, and shape how groups understand and narrate their own resources.\n\n\nFollowing a brief presentation\, participants will engage in a hands-on mapping activity\, creating a visual representation of their own support networks and reflecting on the power of asset-based\, place-centered seeing.\n CATEGORIES:CAMPFIRE LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:3a7d3534d548f7f0481ae13e2b5644a7 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/3a7d3534d548f7f0481ae13e2b5644a7 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T130000Z DTEND:20261007T140000Z SUMMARY:The Memory Body: Where Awe\, Symbolism\, and the Body Meet in the Work of Healing-Centered Education DESCRIPTION:What if images don'\;t just represent memory? What if the body remembers through them?\nThis session introduces the concept of the "\;memory body"\;: the proposition that visual symbols encountered in landscapes\, natural environments\, and daily life activate not only cognitive memory but somatic\, emotional\, and energetic memory and that this insight has direct implications for how we understand and sustain the well-being of educators and caregivers.\n\n\nThe presentation synthesizes two bodies of work previously presented at IVLA 2025: a self-study of emblematic symbolism using a Symbolic Field Guide methodology rooted in awe\, nature-based encounter\, and reflective journaling\; and mixed-methods research on energy healing'\;s impact on emotional resilience and nervous system regulation in caregiving professionals. Across both studies\, an identical transformation arc emerged &mdash\; Curiosity &rarr\; Sensation &rarr\; Reflection &rarr\; Clarity &rarr\; Renewal &mdash\; revealing that visual encounter and embodied practice share the same living rhythm of meaning-making.\n\n\nGrounded in scholarship on awe (Keltner\, 2023)\, archetype (Campbell\, 1949)\, and nature symbolism (Andrews\, 1993/2021)\, and informed by participant narratives describing warmth\, imagery\, emotional release\, and somatic recalibration\, this session argues that visual literacy must expand to include the body as a site of memory rooted in place. A feather found on a trail\, light through trees\, a recurring pattern in a landscape. These are mnemonic anchors carrying forward personal narrative and embodied knowledge that the body knows before the mind names.\n\n\nFrom this ground\, the session pivots to practice\, introducing the emerging shape of a healing-centered professional development framework for educators integrating visual journaling\, symbolic encounter\, awe practices\, and somatic grounding. Participants engage in a brief dual-lens exercise (visual analysis + somatic practices) using a prototype reflection prompt\, experiencing the "\;memory body"\; in real time and leaving with a tool they can adapt for their own practice.\n CATEGORIES:CAMPFIRE LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:9911c6d5e570183c35d68a08be13acf4 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/9911c6d5e570183c35d68a08be13acf4 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T130000Z DTEND:20261007T140000Z SUMMARY:Welcome and Keynote DESCRIPTION: CATEGORIES:KEYNOTE LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:4373c7c3c3440ff93905e4c12b1d8fc4 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/4373c7c3c3440ff93905e4c12b1d8fc4 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T140000Z DTEND:20261007T143000Z SUMMARY:Coffee and Tea Break DESCRIPTION: CATEGORIES:FOOD/BEVERAGE LOCATION:Garden\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:1a8ea883a4c8c4671ec505dce1ad1381 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/1a8ea883a4c8c4671ec505dce1ad1381 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T143000Z DTEND:20261007T150000Z SUMMARY:What Gets Preserved When We Remediate: Accessibility as Visual Memory Work DESCRIPTION:Accessibility remediation is often seen as a technical or compliance-focused process. This paper presents remediation as visual memory work. It involves a series of decisions that influence how visual images\, interfaces\, and institutional stories are preserved\, changed\, or hidden over time. Drawing on library web governance\, digital systems cleanup\, and Title II accessibility projects\, this presentation explores how choices about layout\, hierarchy\, color\, navigation\, metadata visibility\, and alternative text impact how patrons experience institutional knowledge and history. These decisions require weighing historical accuracy\, current usability\, and ethical responsibility. They raise questions about whose perspectives are prioritized and whose are ignored. By viewing accessibility as a practice of visual literacy and stewardship\, this paper sees remediation as not just meeting requirements but as forward-thinking work that shapes how images\, interfaces\, and institutional stories are remembered\, understood\, and valued over time. CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:e67d7257035c5fb1afc9f0ce2a293c06 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/e67d7257035c5fb1afc9f0ce2a293c06 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T143000Z DTEND:20261007T150000Z SUMMARY:“Good friends?”: 20th-century LGBTQ+ love and representation in archival instruction DESCRIPTION:We all have heard the story: Two people of the same sex living their lives together being labeled as &ldquo\;good friends&rdquo\; despite evidence that would suggest that these people were very much in love with each other. This narrative turns into erasure of LGBTQ+ people in history. But what if we had confirmation of these stories thanks to photographs? And what if we used those photographs as not only evidence but as a teaching opportunity?\nIn Cornell University Library&rsquo\;s Rare and Manuscript Collections\, the Human Sexuality Collection houses several personal photograph albums of LGBTQ+ couples and their communities. These photographs give representation to moments of queer love and joy &ndash\; unfortunately\, not always the story we get to tell when discussing LGBTQ+ people in history. Examples include:\n1930s Michigan lesbian snapshot albumMaryland lesbian photo albumPhoto albums of Philadelphia lesbian couplePhoto album of Rose and friendsLee Fuller photograph albumSeveral of the albums lack details such as names and clear dates &ndash\; highlighting some of the challenges of archival research. When used in archival instruction\, these albums provide students with opportunities to practice visual literacy skills as well as how to explore an item&rsquo\;s materiality for clues when words fail us. Additionally\, these albums open the door for conversations about concepts like archival silences\, historic collecting practices\, and current efforts to better document diverse lived experiences.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:29acd880a171acc34361b5f8a16b4cbb URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/29acd880a171acc34361b5f8a16b4cbb END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T143000Z DTEND:20261007T150000Z SUMMARY:“We learn from each other”: A Sibling Case Study of Multimodal Identity-Making in a Refugee Youth Literacy Program DESCRIPTION:In this paper presentation\, we examine how two Afghan refugee siblings navigated identity\, culture\, and belonging through multimodal composing within the Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI)\, a research-practice partnership focused on the literacy education and well-being of immigrant and refugee youth. LCI integrates critical multimodal literacy\, trauma-informed practices\, and arts-based approaches to create safe spaces for adolescent expression and meaning-making. Using qualitative case study methodology grounded in critical multimodal social semiotics\, we trace Roya'\;s and Ahmad'\;s participation across six sessions over two years\, analyzing their writing and visual art as interconnected semiotic systems.\nOur research question is: How do siblings'\; multimodal compositions reflect relational and cultural identity-making within an arts-based and trauma-informed literacy program for immigrant and refugee youth? Our findings reveal that a) familial relationships served as a primary resource for identity construction across both written and visual modes\; b) cultural anchors\, including language\, clothing\, religion\, and homeland\, functioned as recurring semiotic tools through which both youth asserted belonging and resisted displacement\; and c) the sibling relationship itself constituted a shared compositional and interpretive framework\, with each student'\;s work deepening and contextualizing the other'\;s.\nThese findings carry implications for how arts-integrated literacy programs can honor the relational dimensions of refugee youth experience. When adolescents compose alongside and in response to one another\, multimodal literacy spaces become sites not only of individual voice but of collective meaning-making\, cultural affirmation\, and well-being.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:2081dc2188913e5e96afa8ea47ddb2c5 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/2081dc2188913e5e96afa8ea47ddb2c5 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T150000Z DTEND:20261007T153000Z SUMMARY:Re-Seeing Together: Pláticas as Collaborative Visual Literacy Across Time DESCRIPTION:This presentation positions plá\;ticas\, a culturally grounded dialogic practice rooted in feminist and Chicana/o scholarship\, as a form of collaborative visual literacy and a structured way of seeing one'\;s own experience through the eyes of others across time. Drawing on a collaborative autoethnographic study of three Puerto Rican bilingual educators in rural North Carolina\, the presenter examines how a three-session plá\;tica approach created conditions for shared memory-making. The study draws on a personal archive of over 1\,800 handwritten diary pages and 63 blog posts produced during the researcher'\;s own migration\, which served as the analytical foundation for the collaborative sessions. Each plá\;tica session opened with voluntary artifact sharing that helped participants ground abstract memories in concrete images. By modeling vulnerability and sharing first\, the researcher established confianza (trust) as an epistemological condition rather than a relational courtesy. What emerged was a collaborative act of re-seeing. Participants helped each other identify colonial structures that had remained invisible or normalized in individual memory. The paper argues that plá\;ticas constitute a visual literacy practice that makes legible the images people carry internally of themselves\, their profession\, and their place in institutions. This presentation offers visual literacy scholars a model for participatory\, culturally sustaining approaches to memory research that center positionality and shared experience as conditions of collective sight.\n CATEGORIES:PANEL LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:5786722c024bf0b4d06ecaaf731594ba URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/5786722c024bf0b4d06ecaaf731594ba END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T150000Z DTEND:20261007T153000Z SUMMARY:Rage Against the Archive: Visual Literacy and the Afterlives of Colonial Photography DESCRIPTION:Rage Against the Archive is a practice-based research project that examines how colonial photographs can get decontextualized in digital archives\, losing their gravitas. This project focuses on "\;The People of India"\; (1868&ndash\;75)&mdash\;a British ethnographic publication produced after the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny to classify and document colonized natives. The camera functioned as an imperial tool of surveillance and governance\, producing visual records that categorized Indian subjects through a racialized lens. These images\, originally embedded in ethnographic frameworks that categorized Indian subjects\, now circulate online through digitized collections such as the New York Public Library (NYPL)\, where they are searchable\, downloadable\, and are also sold as fine art prints. \;\n\nAs these images move from colonial archive to museum websites\, their context transforms. Digitization reframes these historical documents as aestheticized commodities\, often detached from the power structures that shaped their production. This project asks: How can artists critically engage with institutional archives to interrogate the circulation of colonial images and foster visual literacy in our networked image culture?\nMethodologically\, this project employs browser-based interventions within NYPL&rsquo\;s online archive. Through real-time HTML editing and a custom browser extension\, colonial images are replaced with critical texts\, and the commercial purchase options associated with these images are disrupted in an act of Electronic civil disobedience. By intervening directly in the interface through which archival images are accessed\, this project demonstrates how digital platforms shape the interpretation of historical photographs. This project critically scrutinizes whether institutional archives like NYPL perpetuate colonial exploitation\, raising ethical questions about how we all should consume images of historical atrocities online. Transforming the browser into a performative and pedagogical site\, Rage Against the Archive demonstrates that visual literacy today must extend beyond interpreting images themselves to critically examining the technological and institutional systems that organize their display\, circulation\, and meaning.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:66ec8143d37b18e22d9af6d48c7bbd26 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/66ec8143d37b18e22d9af6d48c7bbd26 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T150000Z DTEND:20261007T153000Z SUMMARY:When Words Enhance Vision: The Role of Audio Description DESCRIPTION:Following a brief introduction to audio description as a form of accessible intersemiotic translation\, this paper advances the hypothesis that\, although AD was originally conceived for individuals with visual impairments\, this practice could be broadened to encompass a wider\, general audience. This constitutes the central claim of our study.\nTo this end\, we present\, on the one hand\, a fragment from a filmic work whose mise-en-scè\;ne features sculptures by a renowned artist\, accompanied by various audio descriptions in different languages relating to the same excerpt. This presentation offers an opportunity to reflect on the intended audience\, their cultural background\, and the reach or dissemination of the artist as conveyed through cinema. On the other hand\, we include the audio description of a building of significant architectural interest.\nThe translation of images makes it possible to introduce\, in a brief and concise manner\, specific information about the artist\, the artwork\, or its compositional elements\, and even to clarify particular terms. In this sense\, it constitutes a valuable tool in the service of education.\nSuch reflections ultimately serve to confirm or challenge the hypothesis proposed herein.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:ee37b1489e1d9fa422646a8032233c2a URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/ee37b1489e1d9fa422646a8032233c2a END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T163000Z DTEND:20261007T173000Z SUMMARY:Lunch DESCRIPTION: CATEGORIES:FOOD/BEVERAGE LOCATION:Garden\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:0031a6fc047f593404e87db5a5190cd0 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/0031a6fc047f593404e87db5a5190cd0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T173000Z DTEND:20261007T180000Z SUMMARY:Face2Face: From Lamprey Grid's to the Bounding Box DESCRIPTION:What does it mean to encounter someone&rsquo\;s face across time? Face2Face is a research-based art project that draws conceptual parallels between 19th-century anthropological photography and contemporary facial recognition systems\, critically examining how images function as enduring tools for classification\, surveillance\, and ideological control. Both of these forms of &ldquo\;scopic regimes of modernity&rdquo\; view photos as unbiased\, objective data that can help in understanding human identity and character through facial structure analysis. \;\n\n\nThis project draws on the photographic archive of the British colonial administrator Maurice Vidal Portman\, who\, in the 1890s\, photographed the native people of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. These images were produced using Lamprey&rsquo\;s Grid system\, a chequered backdrop designed for anthropometric measurement. Colonial subjects were often posed nude\, with measuring sticks against the grid. Their bodies became measurable visual evidence for imperial knowledge systems that advanced a pseudoscientific theory of racial hierarchy. Today\, these violative images circulate through digital archives such as the British Museum\, where they exist as visual datasets.\n\n\nFace2Face is an interactive art installation that recreates this colonial photographer&rsquo\;s studio and reimagines his lens as a facial recognition system that categorizes the audience. This system is trained on a biased dataset derived from Portman'\;s images and related writings. Here\, the colonial archive is transformed into an active computational apparatus&mdash\;one that gazes at and classifies viewers according to antiquated logics. Through real-time algorithmic categorization\, the viewer is placed in the position of the original subject. This encounter foregrounds how these vision systems produce knowledge by reducing humans to data while obscuring their subjectivity. These archival interventions collapse the past and present by tracing a continuum between anthropological photography and computer vision. Face2Face employs historical images not as passive vessels of memory but as active materials that inform visual literacy and cultural memory.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:c21944da00f04224f07197b5fc767c00 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/c21944da00f04224f07197b5fc767c00 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T173000Z DTEND:20261007T180000Z SUMMARY:Teachers Inducting Mexican Cultural Themes through Co-Construction of an Informal Mural DESCRIPTION:In this presentation\, we share the results of a mural co-construction activity with in-service teachers participating in a study abroad program in Mexico that aims to prepare and encourage educators to carry out culturally-reflective representation activities in their own classrooms. The activity was intentionally reflective of and synergistic with the rich heritage of Mexican muralism viewed by participants during study abroad (Rivera\, Orozco\, Siqueiros). The activity tasked teachers with initially collecting a mix of original visuals (e.g.\, photographs\, hand-drawn art\, sketches) and printed visual artifacts (e.g.\, brochures\, pamphlets\, newspapers\, magazines\, advertisements) in Puebla and Mexico City that reflected Mexican culture\, broadly conceived. Teachers were asked to bring at least eight printed images to a reflection session where they met in small groups to share and group images thematically where possible. A facilitator invited groups to share developing themes and asked follow up questions to help differentiate\, collapse\, and relate themes. A large wall covered in flipchart paper was then used for teachers to attach their images into themed collages. With the informal mural in place\, small groups used the Visual Thinking Strategies process (Gardner\, 2017\; Yenawine\, 2013) to critically examine what they had co-constructed and how it reflected Mexican culture (e.g.\, "\;What is happening in this picture?"\; "\;What do you see that makes you say that?"\;). In the presentation\, we will share the theoretical grounding for our activity\, including: preparation for culturally-responsive teaching by becoming learners of culture (Gay\, 2010)\; place-based education and learning \;in situ \;(Smith\, 2002)\; and material culture theory that calls for reading physical objects as primary texts (Cunningham\, 2004). We will also share results on how well the activity prompted teachers to see and value funds of knowledge (Moll et al.\, 1992) or community cultural knowledge during their time abroad.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:cac88a6b09574db4df196e7910454dff URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/cac88a6b09574db4df196e7910454dff END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T173000Z DTEND:20261007T180000Z SUMMARY:What Spaces Remember: Sensing Time Through Film\, Sound\, and Perception DESCRIPTION:What does it mean for a space to remember? And how might that memory be sensed rather than simply observed?\n\n\nThis presentation explores how film and sound engage the layered memory of place\, not as a fixed historical record\, but as a perceptual experience. Drawing from work across filmmaking\, music\, and visual direction\, it examines how architecture\, atmosphere\, and sonic presence shape the way time is felt within a space. Projects include a documentary centered on St. James Church (Los Angeles\, est. 1920)\, alongside additional works that explore how environments carry and transform lived experience.\n\n\nAcross these works\, sound operates not as accompaniment\, but as a force that alters attention\, emotion\, and spatial awareness. The presence of choral sound serves as one example of how resonance can bridge past and present within a single environment.\n\n\nThrough this creative practice\, Justin Baker-Rojas developed the Four Pillars of Human Perception&mdash\;Presence\, Resonance\, Meaning\, and Movement&mdash\;as a framework for understanding how individuals engage with image\, sound\, and space. These pillars emerged through interdisciplinary work and reflect how perception unfolds through the interaction of external stimulus and internal experience.\n\n\nBy sensing time through space\, this session invites a shift from interpretation alone toward a more embodied encounter with the environments we inhabit and the memories they continue to hold.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:b1cad4aaa54d96f48fbed3a013041392 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/b1cad4aaa54d96f48fbed3a013041392 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T180000Z DTEND:20261007T183000Z SUMMARY:Destabilized Places of Memory: Hudeček’s Painting from the Perspective of Visual Literacy DESCRIPTION:Ale&scaron\; Hudeček&rsquo\;s painting opens the problem of memory where the image does not preserve the past as a reconstructable event but organizes it through destabilized place. Rooms\, faç\;ades\, staircases\, patterned partitions\, decorative floors\, sculptural residues\, and figures remain clearly recognizable\, yet they do not consolidate into one stable site\, one historical layer\, or one closed narrative. Destabilized place names a situation in which spatial cues remain descriptively strong while staying referentially unsettled.\nAgainst this material\, the question becomes what form visual literacy may take when the image remains visually exact but referentially unclosed. Visual literacy is therefore not reduced to the simple ability to &lsquo\;read&rsquo\; an image\; it is approached as a practice of seeing that distinguishes among recognition\, spatial testing\, historical inference\, and return to the material surface of painting. Hudeček&rsquo\;s works make it possible to observe why the question of visual literacy becomes especially acute when an image offers many culturally legible cues while resisting rapid interpretive stabilization.\nLate-modern and late-socialist design elements enter here into tension with ornamental and baroque-monumental residues. In the Czech context\, such forms carry not only stylistic memory but also historiographic and ideological burden. The image thus does not function as a document of one recoverable past\, but as a field in which different temporal regimes\, experiences\, and visual habits collide. Hudeček&rsquo\;s figurative painting therefore opens a productive space for the theory and teaching of visual literacy whenever memory\, place\, and representation remain in lasting tension without definitive closure.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:fb4604553548dd78c464b2c2c43928ce URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/fb4604553548dd78c464b2c2c43928ce END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T180000Z DTEND:20261007T183000Z SUMMARY:The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater: Recalling the Artist\, Family\, and the Newly Imagined DESCRIPTION:Ralph Eugene Meatyard\, an optician and self-trained photographer\, is known for his abject works. Influenced by writers such as Ambrose Bierce and William Blake\, Meatyard&rsquo\;s work explores links between real and imagined worlds which come to life in his photographs. Leveraging techniques such as long and double exposure\, Meatyard elevates simple landscapes into dreamscapes. Would-be basic portraits are transformed into stills from horror films as grotesquely masked figures stand in abandoned\, decaying spaces. What is abject to viewers\, though\, is familiar for Meatyard: his family and friends are often the subjects of these photographs\, transformed into monsters through the masks. His final body of work\, \;The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater\, \;exemplifies this juxtaposition of strangers and family\, playing upon the family artifact of photo albums by inserting unfamiliar\, anonymized characters into what is typically used to remember family and precious memories. For Meatyard\, this family album is multipurpose. It documents his family and friends\, just like a photo album\, captures his spirit as an artist\, and also carries a narrative that must be supplied by the viewer. The anonymity and dreamlike atmosphere of his pieces abstracts the mundane just enough that viewers can project their stories upon the images. Thus\, \;The Family Album \;becomes the perfect space to examine photographs as mnemonic devices that allow us to recall and create. This presentation will provide a brief overview of Ralph Eugene Meatyard\, then dive into an exploration of his final body of work\, \;The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater\, \;examining how its numerous meanings can help researchers\, educators\, and viewers explore new ways to leverage photographs as mnemonic devices.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:46f90f5bf2a66955f8c01e781b0dfe1e URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/46f90f5bf2a66955f8c01e781b0dfe1e END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T180000Z DTEND:20261007T183000Z SUMMARY:The Impact of Visualization Across Multiple Intervention Phases on the Writing Growth of Bilingual Students as Measured by a Standardized Writing Assessment. DESCRIPTION:The use of visualization in writing instruction has been known to be effective with multilingual learners. Learners of new languages produce more content when they have access to alternative semiotic resources by reducing cognitive demands associated with written expression\, However\, less is known about the role of visualization as a tool for identity and cultural representation in student-centered\, equitable learning environments and its impact on personal narratives. In this presentation\, we will discuss the study conducted in a bilingual 4th grade classroom that included the use of visualization across multiple phases of writing instruction focused on personal narratives. In addition to presenting quantitative findings\, the discussion of qualitative data will highlight student growth through their increasing command of multimodality in personal narratives\, illustrating how visualization supported text generation. The audience will be invited to review and discuss student samples. Implications for the use of visualization in creating inclusive environments to support multilingual students represent their identities\, cultural and lived experiences. \;\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:b93337e26042d67ee06c54c91da4b351 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/b93337e26042d67ee06c54c91da4b351 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T183000Z DTEND:20261007T190000Z SUMMARY:Coffee and Tea Break DESCRIPTION: CATEGORIES:FOOD/BEVERAGE LOCATION:Garden\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:4b0ecd930cf673d0f378275e115df806 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/4b0ecd930cf673d0f378275e115df806 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T190000Z DTEND:20261007T193000Z SUMMARY:(IN)VISIBILITY CLOAK EMBODYING WHITENESS\, MEMORY\, AND TRANSFORMATION THROUGH ARTS BASED EDUCATION RESEARCH DESCRIPTION:This project explores how arts-based educational research can be used to investigate whiteness\, memory\, and identity through embodied making. Centered on the transformation of an inherited wool cloak\, the work engages personal and ancestral narratives as a way to question the social and emotional structures that shape what it means to be a &ldquo\;good&rdquo\; white woman. Drawing from family archives: photographs\, lace\, handwritten notes\; the cloak becomes both material object and living archive\, holding tensions between visibility and invisibility\, performance and authenticity\, harm and healing.\nThrough an improvisational and tactile process of stitching\, transferring\, layering\, and revising\, I worked in a way that prioritized intuition\, slowness\, and presence over efficiency or outcome. The exterior of the cloak reflects ideals of composure and beauty through formal portraits\, while the interior reveals more intimate and complex realities&mdash\;grief\, play\, resistance\, and contradiction. This duality mirrors the inherited scripts of whiteness and the often-unspoken emotional histories that sustain them.\nRather than seeking resolution\, this project embraces inquiry and disruption. It positions artmaking as a method for re-narrating the past\, not to fix it\, but to open space for new understandings. The work also extends into my role as an educator\, highlighting the importance of embodied\, relational\, and co-created learning environments that challenge dominant norms of productivity and knowledge.\nUltimately\, this project is an exploration of becoming\; of sitting with discomfort\, honoring complexity\, and using creative practice to hold space for transformation.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:cb91d3e30474b035b2ec16a37ee2b99e URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/cb91d3e30474b035b2ec16a37ee2b99e END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T190000Z DTEND:20261007T193000Z SUMMARY:Behind the Handbook: Editing and Curating Perspectives on Visual Inquiry DESCRIPTION:This presentation reflects on the editorial and curatorial process behind the Handbook of Visual Inquiry: Methods and Pedagogies for Visual Literacy. The aim of the book is to provide a comprehensive\, accessible\, and critically grounded resource on visual research methods and pedagogical approaches for visual literacy in education. As visual communication increasingly shapes how knowledge is produced\, circulated\, and learned\, educators and researchers face the challenge of engaging with images not only as teaching aids\, but also as objects of inquiry and as modes of thinking and producing knowledge.\nRather than focusing exclusively on the book&rsquo\;s content\, this talk examines the intellectual and collaborative labor involved in assembling a multi-author volume in an emerging interdisciplinary field. It discusses the editorial decisions that shaped the conceptual framework of the handbook\, the process of curating contributions across diverse methodological traditions\, and the strategies used to balance accessibility\, critical rigor\, and pedagogical relevance.\nBy sharing insights from this editorial process\, the presentation aims to illuminate how academic handbooks function not only as repositories of knowledge\, but also as curatorial interventions that help articulate and consolidate developing areas of research and teaching in visual inquiry and visual literacy.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:116e2ae219b3e880071325fa7b86687f URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/116e2ae219b3e880071325fa7b86687f END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T190000Z DTEND:20261007T193000Z SUMMARY:Social Media Elicitation as a Methodology DESCRIPTION:Research on media theory and media literacy has long held that mediated messages can help shape the way audiences come to view the world. To date\, researchers have looked at how film and television depictions of teachers\, classrooms\, and students play a role in shaping how pre-service teachers come to think about and prepare for their students. However\, the widespread use and adoption of social media represents a significant shift in how media are disseminated\, consumed\, produced\, and reproduced - and this shift\, which blurs the once starkly-drawn line between producer and consumer\, is one that also affects how today'\;s pre-service teachers think about and prepare for their future classrooms. As part of my dissertation study on critical social media literacy skill development amongst pre-service teachers\, I gathered date using media elicitation interviews. In such interviews\, media are used to elicit responses by helping ground the interview within the subject matter. In this case\, I asked participants to gather examples of relevant social media to bring in and discuss as part of their interviews. Thus far\, social media elicitation is a methodology that has the potential to be messy. This methodology has proven promising - participants revealed that in engaging with social media\, they generally take on the role of consumer and actively search for positive messaging about teaching. They also reveal that while they are mindful of the affect of the algorithim on their viewing habits\, they are less critical of content creators who present themselves as "\;real educators"\;. However\, I am interested in proposing a session in which attendees can discuss the methodology and share experiences with using social media as a learning tool.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:92dd32eac0c80d4743a3907d14a0946d URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/92dd32eac0c80d4743a3907d14a0946d END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T193000Z DTEND:20261007T203000Z SUMMARY:Artifacts of Becoming: Autoethnographic Inquiry into the Higher Education Experience Across Identity\, Place\, and Time DESCRIPTION:Doctoral scholars and graduates document their own becoming constantly\, in objects carried\, images made\, and texts written across the margins of academic life. This panel brings together three scholars (present and alumni) from the NC State College of Education to present autoethnographic inquiries anchored in personal visual and material artifacts\, each one a record of a journey that institutional measures of progress cannot fully capture.\nThe first presenter examines a charm necklace built incrementally across a doctoral journey\, each charm marking a milestone\, from conference presentations to completed semesters\, analyzing it as an alternative literacy artifact and a wearable autoethnographic document of what counts as growth. The second presenter draws on his critical autoethnographic study of his experiences as a Black Ghanaian student-athlete navigating NCAA Division I athletics\, centering visual and multimodal artifacts including photographs\, Adinkra symbols\, and scholarship appeal letters as primary data that honor African diasporic ways of knowing (Akogyeram\, 2025). The third presenter reflects on personal journals kept across a migration from Puerto Rico to rural North Carolina\, analyzing them as artifacts of linguistic\, cultural\, and geographic negotiation within doctoral education and her teaching profession that serves as the anchor of her dissertation.\nTogether\, these presentations argue that graduate scholars are already documenting their experiences in ways that exceed institutional recognition\, and that autoethnographic methods (Ellis et al.\, 2011\; Chang\, 2008) offer a framework for taking those documents seriously as knowledge. The panel connects directly to the conference theme by treating each artifact as an image that has traveled through time\, accumulating meaning\, memory\, and identity across the shifting landscapes of higher education.\n CATEGORIES:PANEL LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:be89bf752bd17f31ea148f430350e2fb URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/be89bf752bd17f31ea148f430350e2fb END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T193000Z DTEND:20261007T203000Z SUMMARY:Collage as Thought\, Form\, and Technology DESCRIPTION:This panel convenes artist-educators across graphic design\, illustration\, painting\, and sculpture to explore a shared premise: all visual art operates as a form of collage. Across disciplines\, artists construct meaning by assembling visual elements drawn from observation\, memory\, imagination\, and reference. Framing image-making through collage offers a powerful multimodal lens for understanding how ideas move across materials\, media\, and contexts.\n\n\nExtending this framework into contemporary practice\, the panel examines generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) imagery as a complex and evolving form of collage. While generative systems synthesize images from vast datasets\, technologically mediated processes often obscure source material\, raising critical questions around transparency\, authorship\, and ethics. Unlike traditional practices\, where influences may be visible or intentionally integrated\, generative AI complicates how images are constructed and understood.\n\n\nAs artist-educators\, panelists will also address the pedagogical implications of this shift. How do we prepare students for professional creative practice in a landscape increasingly shaped by AI/GenAI tools? How can educators foster critical\, responsible engagement with these technologies while preserving student agency and authorship? By connecting multimodal art practices\, visual literacy\, and emerging technologies\, this panel invites participants to reconsider what it means to make\, interpret\, and teach images today.\n CATEGORIES:PANEL LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:bdf5490e4d4b9720b2eccb957852ba20 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/bdf5490e4d4b9720b2eccb957852ba20 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T193000Z DTEND:20261007T203000Z SUMMARY:Shaping Visual Legacies: Memory\, Identity\, and Institutional Responsibility in Visual Literacy Education DESCRIPTION:Every time an educator chooses an image\, a story\, or a text\, they are making a decision about memory about what is worth passing forward and to whom. Universities shape those decisions more than they often realize\, and the visual legacies they create carry consequences for generations.\nThis panel brings together scholar-educators from National Louis University'\;s College of Education whose work spans critical visual literacy\, Latinx children'\;s literature and religious iconography\, cultural memory in picturebooks\, healing-centered embodied pedagogy\, and primary source inquiry. Together\, we ask what it means to teach with and through images that carry cultural\, spiritual\, historical\, and embodied memory and what responsibilities institutions hold in making that teaching visible\, sustainable\, and enduring.\nRather than arriving at conclusions\, this panel opens a conversation. Grounded in the collective work of its presenters\, the discussion turns outward. We invite attendees to explore what meaningful\, sustainable infrastructure for visual literacy might look like in higher education and across countries. A proposed Visual Literacy Center at National Louis University serves as one generative example: a potential hub connecting teacher education\, graduate scholarship\, bilingual education\, professional development\, and community partnerships across borders. We ask the field: what structures and resources would most advance visual literacy research and how do we build them together?\n CATEGORIES:PANEL LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:20799a7b4b3e6c40d27c40c142ff796b URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/20799a7b4b3e6c40d27c40c142ff796b END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261007T203000Z DTEND:20261007T213000Z SUMMARY:Journal of Visual Literacy Editorial Session DESCRIPTION:This interactive editorial session offers conference participants an opportunity to engage directly with the editorial vision\, expectations\, and publication processes of the Journal of Visual Literacy (JVL). Led by Editor-in-Chief Maria Avgerinou\, the session will discuss current directions in visual literacy scholarship\, emerging themes in the field\, and the evolving role of visuals in an AI-mediated world. Participants will gain practical insight into what makes a strong manuscript submission\, common reasons manuscripts are rejected\, and how authors can better position their work for successful peer review. The session will also address issues such as conceptual alignment with visual literacy scholarship\, methodological rigor\, theoretical framing\, ethical use of AI in academic writing\, and publishing expectations in interdisciplinary research. The session will include: * An overview of JVL’s current editorial priorities and scope * Guidance for first-time and emerging authors * Discussion of special issues and future publication opportunities * Q&A with attendees regarding submissions\, peer review\, and scholarly publishing Faculty\, graduate students\, researchers\, artists\, designers\, and practitioners interested in publishing visual literacy research are warmly invited to attend. CATEGORIES:PANEL LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:26a78bb0d9a14ded777103e5c1254295 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/26a78bb0d9a14ded777103e5c1254295 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T130000Z DTEND:20261008T133000Z SUMMARY:From Research to Empathy and Back Again: Reconstructing an Assignment to Improve Student Outcomes DESCRIPTION:This presentation reports on the third year of collaboration between an art librarian and a health sciences librarian for an acting for medical simulation course module that prompts students to empathize with patients facing bias while considering how images convey complex meanings. Two changes were made to the assignment: the professors limited the patient&rsquo\;s medical issue to pain and the final product was changed from a visual bibliography to a collage. \;\nAs in previous iterations\, students rewrote a standardized case template to empathetically reflect on the biases encountered by patients with less power in the healthcare system based on their intersectionality. To increase the focus on the patient&rsquo\;s intersectionality\, this time\, the medical issue was limited to pain.  \;  \;  \;  \;  \;\nVisual Thinking Strategies (VTS)\, an evidence-based method that promotes slow looking\, improves diagnostic reasoning\, and fosters practitioners&rsquo\; empathy by enabling learners to surface and challenge assumptions was again incorporated into the lesson. However\, visual annotated bibliographies were replaced by collages. This not only clarified expectations\, it allowed students to creatively explore visual language through a familiar and unintimidating medium. Images were selected and arranged to communicate the social and cultural identity and pain experience of their fictional patients and reflected on how formal visual elements convey meaning. \;\nThis presentation will cover the rationale for the revisions made to the assignment\, three-part lesson plan\, learning outcomes\, and practical best practices. Student examples will demonstrate how combining collage-based visual literacy with empathetic case rewrites focused on pain produces a richer understanding of patient experience. Attendees will learn how an interdisciplinary team of librarians and faculty have collaboratively designed and iteratively refined an assignment in enough detail that they could adapt it to their own cross-disciplinary work.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:187062ce6c4cc8cea03be61c34b7ddd7 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/187062ce6c4cc8cea03be61c34b7ddd7 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T130000Z DTEND:20261008T133000Z SUMMARY:Lasting spiritual and religious visual legacies rendered in Latinx-themed picturebooks created by Latinx artists DESCRIPTION:This presentation outlines the findings of a study on the visual representation of spirituality and religion in Latinx-themed picturebooks illustrated by Latinx artists and published in the US from 1932 to 2026. It specifically examines how their illustrators strategically place iconic religious images into their visual narratives\, creating well-rounded\, believable Latinx protagonists and settings. Although most of these picturebooks are not religious-themed or focused\, the incorporation of tangible and familiar faith-based visual references\, when examined as a whole\, can be seen to have established a 90+-year visual legacy of the faith traditions\, spiritual beliefs\, and values of Latinxs living across the United States. \;\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:32de92d2ddf24c2d28d06395e14731a6 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/32de92d2ddf24c2d28d06395e14731a6 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T130000Z DTEND:20261008T133000Z SUMMARY:Reimagining Post-16 pedagogy through Visual Literacy DESCRIPTION:With approximately 83% of information now disseminated visually (Zhu & Lim\,2024)\, the need for learners to become visually literate &ldquo\;critical consumers&rdquo\; (Moje 2015\, in Guo et al. 2024) is arguably of utmost importance. However\, existing literature on Visual Literacy has often overlooked its potential as a skillset within Further Education. This study identifies curriculum areas where Visual Literacy skills can be embedded through sustainable and meaningful approaches. \;\nA qualitative methodology was employed\, involving six 16&ndash\;18-year-old participants from a visual-arts A-Level course in three focus group discussions. During these sessions\, participants evaluated existing visual resources before creating and sharing their own in response\, evaluating the creative and academic reasoning behind their design. The findings address the contemporary learner'\;s lived experience of visual and technological change\, revealing tensions between personal creative expression and perceived educational demands prior to entering the workplace (Robinson 2006). \;\nThis research calls for a balance between engaging pedagogical approaches and the need to prepare learners for employment\, ultimately reframing what it means to be '\;creative'\; in their educational context and personal development.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:122b21839dd94c1427b71324d696a7bb URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/122b21839dd94c1427b71324d696a7bb END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T133000Z DTEND:20261008T140000Z SUMMARY:Curating with Care: Visual Text Selection as a Culturally Responsive Literacy Practice DESCRIPTION:What does it mean to choose a book for a group of students you are still learning to know? This presentation examines text selection as a visual literacy practice\, one that requires educators to read images\, illustrations\, and visual narratives not only for aesthetic quality but for whose identities\, experiences\, and ways of knowing they center or erase. Drawing on work with the Literacy Community Initiative (LCI) at NC State University\, a program serving immigrant and refugee youth\, we share a framework for curating picturebooks and mentor texts with intention and equity at the forefront. The framework integrates six criteria including mirrors\, windows\, and doors (Bishop\, 1990)\; authorship and illustrator diversity\; trauma-informed resonance (Dutro\, 2019)\; linguistic and cultural affirmation\; community alignment\; and pedagogical fit\, grounded in culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris & Alim\, 2014) and positive youth development (Lee\, Picart & Mann\, 2025).\nWe argue that text selection is never neutral. The images we bring into a learning space communicate to students who belongs in the story and\, by extension\, who belongs in the room. This session invites participants to examine their own text selection practices and consider how visual curation can become an act of care\, community-building\, and justice.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:02ffe7e37099b219cbc996b2cf5efe7c URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/02ffe7e37099b219cbc996b2cf5efe7c END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T133000Z DTEND:20261008T140000Z SUMMARY:Illuminating Women’s Impact Through Illustration and Design in Nonfiction Biographical Picturebooks DESCRIPTION:Nonfiction biographical picturebooks for young people that center individuals who have made a difference across a wide range of fields are being published in notable numbers today. Reading and viewing these texts offers an engaging and meaningful way for young people to learn about the people whose ideas\, creativity\, and courage have shaped our world\, made our lives easier and healthier\, more expressive\, and served as role models.\n\n\nHistorically\, nonfiction picturebooks have overwhelmingly centered on men and their accomplishments. A growing body of contemporary titles is giving long \;overdue attention to women who have influenced society in impactful ways. This shift offers a significant opportunity for young people to examine how women&rsquo\;s lives and contributions are being visually represented in picturebooks designed for them.\n\n\nWhat makes multimodal picturebooks especially powerful tools for enjoyment and learning is the combination of the narrative and the visual elements. The illustrations carry significant weight in representing the ideas\, stories\, and people at the center. Through design and imagery choices\, these books construct meaning that extends well beyond the written text and invite readers to see women&rsquo\;s contributions through intentional visual design.\n\n\nThis session presents a visual content analysis of nonfiction biographical picturebooks about women who have impacted society. It highlights emerging visual patterns\, representational choices\, and visual strategies in recently published titles\, offering insights into how illustration shapes young people&rsquo\;s understanding and celebration of women&rsquo\;s roles in culture\, history\, and community life.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:f32d6a73fee6f598774fa609e4545e87 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/f32d6a73fee6f598774fa609e4545e87 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T133000Z DTEND:20261008T140000Z SUMMARY:Teaching Visual Ethics through Play DESCRIPTION:The World Economic Forum&rsquo\;s \;Global Risks Report 2025 \;identifies misinformation and disinformation as the most significant short-term global threat. At the same time\, visual media&mdash\;particularly images circulating through digital platforms&mdash\;has become a powerful vehicle for spreading misleading information. Despite this shift toward image-driven communication\, educational debates often emphasize technological developments rather than the critical skills needed to interpret and evaluate visual media. Visual literacy education\, which encourages critical reflection on the ethics of image creation\, production\, and dissemination\, offers a promising response. However\, educators currently have limited pedagogical tools for teaching visual ethics. This study explores whether a tabletop card game can support the development of visual and ethical literacy in university classrooms. Using a mixed-methods approach&mdash\;including participant observation during game development\, student surveys\, and lecturer focus groups &mdash\;the research evaluates the game&rsquo\;s effectiveness as a teaching tool. Findings aim to expand game-based learning strategies and support visual literacy education across disciplines and educational levels.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:77c6460ec0d00654444f56e23f07b00c URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/77c6460ec0d00654444f56e23f07b00c END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T140000Z DTEND:20261008T143000Z SUMMARY:Coffee and Tea Break DESCRIPTION: CATEGORIES:FOOD/BEVERAGE LOCATION:Garden\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:f4cdea9ddfaabe9195b1593f7173149a URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/f4cdea9ddfaabe9195b1593f7173149a END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T143000Z DTEND:20261008T150000Z SUMMARY:Learning to teach with images: Examining preservice teachers’ emergent practices DESCRIPTION:There is a growing recognition of the need to include diverse literacies in schools that support the informational and technological challenges students face today. Despite this goal\, images in classrooms still typically function mainly as overlooked textbooks illustrations or as decoration. This study investigates a unit in a university social studies methods course in which preservice teachers learned to conduct image-based discussions. Utilizing a case study design\, video records and written reflections are used to examine 26 preservice teachers&rsquo\; enactment of a complex discussion strategy aimed at fostering visual literacy. Image-based discussion involves the teacher posing an intentional sequence of questions that guide students to analyze iconic photographs of historically significant events. The study is based on a theoretical perspective that treats images as texts to be closely read for meaning by considering their unique composition and the questions they raise about truth and representation. Instruction for the unit on image-based discussion took place over the final five weeks of the course. Findings revealed that pre-service teachers were able to apply fundamental principles of inquiry-oriented discussion by asking open-ended questions to guide the analysis. Although they were generally successful at adopting inquiry teaching principles\, their discussion facilitation inconsistently applied visual analysis strategies that addressed the image&rsquo\;s composition. Collectively\, the results of this study together add to our understanding of the ways that preservice teachers learn to enact a discussion strategy supporting visual literacy and the challenges they faced during rehearsal teaching.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:f6d3237ecdf2256e3646d96d18f857bc URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/f6d3237ecdf2256e3646d96d18f857bc END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T143000Z DTEND:20261008T150000Z SUMMARY:Memory as Compost: Food as Visual Material for MESI Sense-Making DESCRIPTION:Memory is often treated as archival&mdash\;stable\, stored\, and retrievable (Schacter\, 1996). This paper challenges that assumption by engaging memory through the metaphor of compost: a generative process in which fragments of lived experience decay\, intermingle\, and are reassembled into new meaning over time.\nDrawing on Musically Enhanced Self-Inquiry (MESI)\, a multimodal\, autoethnographic methodology that engages sound\, visuals\, and embodied reflection (Ramirez\, 2024)\, three scholars in thought partnership (Akogeryam & Ramirez\, 2026) explore how everyday objects&mdash\;specifically food as visual and sensory material&mdash\;become sites through which memory\, place\, and representation emerge and are reconfigured.\nThrough three reflexive memos centered on distinct food objects\, we demonstrate how sensory engagement (taste\, smell\, sight\, touch\, and sound) surfaces layered\, shifting memories rather than fixed recollections. These memos\, analyzed through visual reflection\, storytelling\, metaphor\, and arts-based practices\, function as compost materials: everyday artifacts that\, when engaged through MESI\, generate complex intersections of identity\, culture\, labor\, migration\, and belonging.\nAcross these cases\, we show how food operates not merely as sustenance but as visual and sensory material through which dominant assumptions of authenticity\, family\, and representation&mdash\;often embedded in material and visual culture&mdash\;are destabilized and reinterpreted through lived experience. In this way\, memory is not retrieved but emerges as a fluid\, relational\, and constructed process.\nWe argue that MESI offers a framework for engaging the &ldquo\;messy&rdquo\; processes of sense-making\, where multimodal and sensory engagement opens new reflexive possibilities. By positioning food as visual material\, this work expands visual literacy to include how we engage visual phenomena through our senses as critical sites of analysis.\nThis paper invites visual literacy scholars to reconsider memory as compost\, opening new possibilities for multimodal inquiry\, critical reflection\, and meaning-making. In this space\, MESIness offers room for reflection\, healing\, and the naming of lived experiences as we process and embody authenticity\, performance\, and belonging.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Circular Church\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:326a8eee124215fec1ee9b7d330cb623 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/326a8eee124215fec1ee9b7d330cb623 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T143000Z DTEND:20261008T150000Z SUMMARY:The Color of Money: Currency Design as a Cultural Self-Portrait DESCRIPTION:We often think of money in purely economic terms\, but it is also one of the most widely circulated visual artifacts that a country produces. Unlike art\, monuments or even consumer goods\, currency circulates constantly\, reaching people across geographic regions\, socio-economic classes\, and generational brackets. As currency passes from hand to hand\, its images of people\, places\, and symbols become so familiar that we don&rsquo\;t even notice them\, but they tell a story about what is considered worthy of public recognition&mdash\;of who and what deserves to be honored and remembered&mdash\;subtly reinforcing particular narratives while excluding others. Drawing on examples from multiple contexts\, this presentation will explore the ways in which currency design serves as a kind of cultural self-portrait\, revealing how a nation sees&mdash\;or wants to see&mdash\;its history\, its values\, and its identity.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:6ab495f2abb9b2785328b5d3287fce70 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/6ab495f2abb9b2785328b5d3287fce70 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T150000Z DTEND:20261008T160000Z SUMMARY:From the Same Soil: Collage\, Oral History\, and Place-Based Visual Literacy on Ohio’s Century Farms DESCRIPTION:This campfire session shares one element of my larger on-going project documenting Ohio Century Farms &mdash\; properties held by the same families for one hundred years or more &mdash\; through oral history and digital collage. Century Farms represent endangered ways of seeing and inhabiting land amid converging threats: dwindling profit margins\, generational crisis\, and pressures from developers and data center corporations bringing environmental concerns including strain on local water supplies.\nThe session focuses on translating Alice Herrick'\;s oral account from rural Metamora\, Ohio into visual forms. During World War II\, German and Italian POWs from the nearby Blissfield\, Michigan camp were granted work release to labor alongside her family &mdash\; Czech sugar beet farmers &mdash\; in the fields. Despite profound cultural differences and wartime bitterness\, shared labor produced mutual respect and genuine friendship. Tragedy deepened community bonds when a railroad accident killed POWs returning to barracks after their jeep stalled on tracks. Upon release\, several prisoners became U.S. citizens and married local women &mdash\; a remarkable arc from enemy combatant to neighbor.\nI will share three to four original digital collages created from the Herrick family'\;s photographs\, recombining images of Alice'\;s childhood\, sugar beet harvest\, and ceremonial life &mdash\; including the Sugar Beet Queen &mdash\; with historic land survey maps and contemporary views. Grounded in Aldo Leopold'\;s ethic of attentive seeing\, these compositions engage ACRL visual literacy competencies: interpreting images within contextual settings\, critically evaluating visual sources\, and creating meaningful media contributing to shared knowledge.\nThe second portion invites audience participation: What visual archives &mdash\; family photographs\, land records\, vernacular objects &mdash\; lie dormant in your communities? How can layered images make hidden histories visible? What ethical responsibilities accompany visualizing aging neighbors'\; stories? How might visual literacy practices serve communities facing loss of both land and stories?\n CATEGORIES:CAMPFIRE LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:0db1b42bf7e413668629068e2d31d768 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/0db1b42bf7e413668629068e2d31d768 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T160000Z DTEND:20261008T170000Z SUMMARY:Lunch DESCRIPTION: CATEGORIES:FOOD/BEVERAGE LOCATION:Garden\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:947ce5885b6dcb03ff067d2aaf7a798d URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/947ce5885b6dcb03ff067d2aaf7a798d END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T170000Z DTEND:20261008T173000Z SUMMARY:Family\, Culture\, and Place: Cultural Leisure Activities in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic DESCRIPTION:The frequency of contact with art and the degree of intergenerational transmission of cultural habits within the family environment represent key determinants in shaping pupils&rsquo\; relationship to culture. This paper focuses on the analysis of families&rsquo\; cultural leisure activities in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic as one of the crucial factors in the development of relationships to diverse forms of cultural expression.\n \;\nThe study draws on a questionnaire-based sub-study conducted among parents of primary school pupils in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic (N = 676) as part of the REFRESH project. The examination of families&rsquo\; leisure activities forms part of a broader research framework focused on the visual literacy of pupils in primary education.\n \;\nThe findings indicate that family patterns of leisure-time behaviour constitute an important context for cultural participation in a post-industrial region. They suggest that shared cultural experiences within the family form an important part of pupils&rsquo\; broader cultural environment and should be taken into account in research on the relationship between culture\, place\, and visual representation. In this way\, the paper contributes to the current discussion on the relationship between place\, memory\, and visual representation in contemporary education.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:f5e82beeca0ce8db2578bfd8713d43b6 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/f5e82beeca0ce8db2578bfd8713d43b6 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T170000Z DTEND:20261008T173000Z SUMMARY:Memorializing the Hibakusha Experience: The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Memorial Collection Fifty Years On DESCRIPTION:The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Memorial Collection\, the brainchild of the American Quaker nuclear abolitionist Barbara Reynolds (1915&ndash\;1990)\, originated in Japan in the 1960s\, as Reynolds strove to eradicate nuclear arms by shining a light on the plight of the A-bomb survivors. Following her relocation to the United States in 1969\, after eighteen years abroad\, she donated her archive&mdash\;the likes of which has no parallel outside of Japan&mdash\;to Wilmington College\, Ohio\, which led to the establishment of the Peace Resource Center in 1975.\n \;\nTo mark its fiftieth anniversary\, I was commissioned by the Peace Resource Center to curate an exhibition\, which opened at Wilmington College on August 6\, 2025\, eighty years to the day following the nuclear holocaust unleashed on Hiroshima. The resulting exhibition\, Memorializing the Hibakusha Experience\, subsequently traveled to Oakland University\, Michigan\, where I teach Visual Representations and the Nuclear Experience since 2011.\n \;\nComprised of photographs\, photobooks\, monographs\, magazines\, postcards\, scrapbooks\, textual documents\, A-bombed artifacts\, hibakusha handicrafts\, and other materials of Japanese origin\, this singular archive provides an exceptional opportunity to reflect on the legacy of visual culture as it informs our understanding of one of the most consequential geo-political events of the twentieth century.\n \;\nTo underscore how the past continues to shape the present\, Memorializing the Hibakusha Experience also prominently features five contemporary artists\, whose artwork retains the urge to memorialize the hibakusha experience. \;\n \;\nIn this paper presentation\, I aim to shed light on the genesis of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Memorial Collection in order to demonstrate its significance and how it will continue to counter the standard narrative that the A-bombing of Japan was morally defensible\, because its intent was to save lives by avoiding land invasion. \;\n \;\nClaude Baillargeon\nProfessor of Art History\nOakland University\, MI\nbaillarg@oakland.edu\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:32a90c3966edb8faedb8bd05fa76f62f URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/32a90c3966edb8faedb8bd05fa76f62f END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T173000Z DTEND:20261008T180000Z SUMMARY:Seeing the Moon Through Time: Cultural Memory and Science Meaning-Making in Children’s Picturebooks DESCRIPTION:Research in science and visual literacy shows that visual images are central to how learners construct scientific meanings and images of who does science\, and that thoughtfully designed visual work can particularly support underrepresented students&rsquo\; confidence and participation\, making classrooms more inclusive and identity‑affirming (Christidou et al.\, 2023\; Duque‑Arellano\, 2018). This session explores how picturebooks set in diverse cultural contexts represent the moon and its phases\, positioning these visual narratives as sites where cultural memory and scientific meaning-making intersect. Across time and communities\, the moon has functioned as a powerful symbolic and narrative element\, shaping how cultures remember\, interpret\, and explain natural phenomena through stories\, traditions\, lived experiences\, and imaginations. By examining a curated set of picturebooks from different cultural traditions\, this session analyzes how visual and textual elements construct culturally situated understandings of the moon.\nWhile these representations may not always align with scientific explanations\, they serve as cultural artifacts that reflect how knowledge is shaped through memory\, imagination\, and community-based ways of knowing. Drawing on visual literacy\, we examine how images act as carriers of cultural memory while also mediating children&rsquo\;s meaning-making about scientific concepts.\nThe session also provides implications for science teacher education. We argue that culturally grounded picturebooks can support students&rsquo\; science meaning-making by connecting disciplinary concepts with cultural narratives and prior knowledge. By situating representations of the moon within broader temporal and cultural contexts\, this session highlights how images shape understandings of science\, culture\, and identity\, and how educators can leverage these resources to foster more inclusive and meaningful learning experiences.\n\n\nReferences\nChristidou\, V.\, Kallery\, M.\, Pnevmatikos\, D.\, & Valanides\, N. (2023). Editorial: Visual images in science education. \;Frontiers in Education\, 8\, 1181754. \;https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1181754\nDuque-Arellano\, F. (2018\, January 3). \;Visual interpretation in science &ndash\; Strategies for English language learners. Intercultural Development Research Association. \;https://www.idra.org/resource-center/visual-interpretation-in-science/\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:df40320f0d05369a99a57b05b529cf00 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/df40320f0d05369a99a57b05b529cf00 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T173000Z DTEND:20261008T180000Z SUMMARY:Talking Trees: A-bombed “Witness Trees" Teach Peace DESCRIPTION:Eighty years ago\, one uranium bomb destroyed Hiroshima. Three days later\, a plutonium bomb devastated Nagasaki. Among the ruins of both cities lay tens of thousands of casualties. Rumors spread that an &ldquo\;atomic plague&rdquo\; would leave Hiroshima barren for 75 years. Yet\, by mid-September\, fireweed and morning glory wound their way through the rubble and bloomed with vigor. In the months and years that followed\, a few blackened trees sprouted new growth\, giving hope to survivors.\n \;\nFirst \;journeying to Hiroshima and Nagasaki \;in 2008\, I discovered a lush and vibrant landscape. Stumbling upon yellow-tagged &ldquo\;A-bombed trees&rdquo\; on that first visit\, I later discovered a registry indexing some 160 hibakujumoku&mdash\;literally "\;explosion-affected trees&rdquo\;&mdash\;preserved within Hiroshima and some 60 trees in Nagasaki. Unable to shake the impact of my first encounter\, I returned to Japan in 2013\, camera in hand\, seeking more of these green witnesses. Returning four more times\, most recently in April 2025\, I have crisscrossed Hiroshima and Nagasaki\, returning to favorite trees and seeking to discover others\, aiming to represent the indomitable spirit of these arboreal witnesses. \;\n \;\nAs many of the trees live on school grounds\, friends in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have helped me arrange visits with principals\, teachers and students. On one of these visits I met Hiroshima&rsquo\;s &ldquo\;Tree Doctor\,&rdquo\; Chikara Horiguchi\, who has been caring for the A-bombed trees for 60 years. These trees withstood unspeakable horrors and survived\, grounding the stories that remind us of the importance of peace and working through our differences. My paper\, accompanied by photographs\, elaborates upon the connections between practices of care\, the witness trees\, and hope for the future through peace education.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:63fd1ad8d0bf5a22d64860cd64b8c35d URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/63fd1ad8d0bf5a22d64860cd64b8c35d END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T180000Z DTEND:20261008T183000Z SUMMARY:Coffee and Tea Break DESCRIPTION: CATEGORIES:FOOD/BEVERAGE LOCATION:Garden\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:2ffcd623ffc747fe7b5628af9d2c9fed URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/2ffcd623ffc747fe7b5628af9d2c9fed END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T183000Z DTEND:20261008T193000Z SUMMARY:The Invisible Architect: A Clearer View of AI Ethics and Positionality in Visual Education DESCRIPTION:When we ask AI to create an image\, we often think we are getting a neutral reflection of our ideas. But beneath the surface\, AI tools carry &ldquo\;Invisible Architects&rdquo\;\, hidden biases and data-driven defaults that decide what "\;history\,"\; "\;freedom\,"\; or "\;culture"\; should look like. To achieve a clearer view of the AI landscape\, we need a new visual vocabulary that allows us to see and discuss what the machine is doing.\nIn the first 20 minutes of this session\, I will share a powerful visual story: the contrast between two AI-generated images of decolonialization. We will look at how the "\;default"\; AI gaze often produces images of struggle and physical upheaval\, and how we can disrupt that code to generate images of intellectual joy and celebration. Using my unique lens as a Black woman educator and researcher\, I will demonstrate how our personal "\;voice"\; is the most important tool we have when navigating the black box of technology.\nAs a Campfire Session\, the focus will then shift to the room. This is a space for all participants to share their own "\;Aha!"\; moments and challenges with AI. Together\, we will facilitate a dialogue about:\nWhose gaze is dominant? Identifying common stereotypes AI defaults to.\nWhat is missing? Noticing the cultural silences in AI outputs.\nHow do we "\;write back"\;? Using our own professional expertise to demand better\, more diverse representations.\nWhether you are a creator or an educator\, this session will help you move from being a passive user to a critical auditor of the digital world. Let&rsquo\;s gather around the campfire to co-construct a clearer path toward visual equity in the age of AI.\n CATEGORIES:CAMPFIRE LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:0df680de88e967628203a168aff90a13 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/0df680de88e967628203a168aff90a13 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T183000Z DTEND:20261008T190000Z SUMMARY:Seeing Without Seeing – Visual Imaginaries in Craft Learning DESCRIPTION:Craftsmakers&rsquo\; understanding and knowledge are shaped through a complex weave of material\, action\, and communication. In the encounter with the possibilities and limitations of materials\, in conversation with others\, and through personal experience\, imaginaries emerge that guide the making process (Andersson & Johansson\, 2017). The development of becoming knowledgeable\, skilled\, and artistically accomplished differs from one individual to another\, but is often marked by encounters with a more experienced practitioner. Within craft traditions\, this encounter has been described as a narrative in which the more knowledgeable practitioner conveys their knowledge through action and language (Nielsen & Kvale\, 1999). This narrative carries traces of the knowledge of previous generations and makes it possible to understand making across time. At the same time\, a form of visual imaginary is created in the learner\, where what is described is transformed into an inner image within a personal space of learning (Jernströ\;m\, 2000). This interview study is based on an expanded understanding of visual representations\, in which mental images and imaginaries are also seen as part of how visual meaning-making takes place in learning processes. The study examines how practicing craft teachers and craftspeople perceive the formation of such inner visual representations and the significance they have for learning in craft practices. Particular attention is given to the difference between imagining an action through description and experiencing it through direct visual observation. Interpreting and understanding visual expressions&mdash\;whether mental or concrete&mdash\;requires a prior understanding that influences how knowledge is developed (Andersson\, 2021). By analyzing craft learning as a process in which visual imaginaries are created\, negotiated\, and reinterpreted\, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how images&mdash\;even those that are not materially visible&mdash\;function as carriers of knowledge and memory in learning process.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:7b6867ee83b8ce6ed7e8a59f2f3221b1 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/7b6867ee83b8ce6ed7e8a59f2f3221b1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T190000Z DTEND:20261008T193000Z SUMMARY:Manufactured Authenticity: Examining the Use of Hungarian Kalocsa Embroidery in It’s a Small World DESCRIPTION:With its infectious theme song and iconic visual design\, It&rsquo\;s a Small World is possibly the most instantly recognizable attraction within the Disney Theme Parks family. Millions of people have experienced Disney&rsquo\;s interpretation of the world&rsquo\;s countries\, cultures\, and people since its installation at Disneyland in 1965. What is less known are the origins of the ride\, which was created for UNICEF&rsquo\;s pavilion at the 1964-1965 New York World&rsquo\;s Fair. The work of Disney Legend and costumer Alice Davis was critical to the attraction&rsquo\;s success\, but her research methods raised some questions regarding authenticity as related to cultural traditions\, clothing\, and landscapes. Unable to complete research travel in the nine months Disney&rsquo\;s team had to design and build the attraction\, Davis turned to popular anthropological publications\, such as \;National Geographic\, for inspiration. While this was a creative workaround\, a quick survey of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century \;National Geographic \;issues reveals these articles were typically presented through the lens of Western anthropologists\, which often provided a reductionist view of the people and cultures under study. Thus\, Davis&rsquo\; cultural imagination in regard to the costumes for the children of Small World raises questions regarding the extent and type of authenticity of the clothing that was based on nostalgic portrayals of traditional costumes\, some of which may have only been worn for specific cultural\, regional\, or religious ceremonies but co-opted as representative of their nations based on their perceived festive\, colorful\, or entertaining components. With 26 nations or regions represented in Small World\, it would be impossible to identify them all in this presentation\, so the use of Kalocsa embroidery in the Hungarian portion of the attraction will be used as a case study for understanding how Davis borrowed culturally significant iconography to create a lasting\, but fabricated\, visual impression of global traditions and people. This examination of Davis&rsquo\; contributions is still relevant today as It&rsquo\;s a Small World is the only attraction found in all Disney Parks around the world\, thus emphasizing its sustained impact on reinforcing cultural stereotypes and narratives more than 60 years after its creation. \;\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:a7054a90b0cc809f4fab51d30b01e550 URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/a7054a90b0cc809f4fab51d30b01e550 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T193000Z DTEND:20261008T200000Z SUMMARY:The Materiality of Dissent: exploring viewer perceptions of protest signs from the Flagship ‘No Kings’ rally using a visual literacy framework DESCRIPTION:Images of protest signs act as visual anchor points for social movements\, serving not only to communicate messages but to record a moment in time and a place in history. In modern visual activism\, images of ephemeral artifacts taken at local protests can be immediately shared digitally through online social networks. As visual tools for social change\, protest signs are frequently designed and consumed rapidly\, yet they carry significant rhetorical weight. \;From a local perspective\, this paper draws on visual rhetoric and semiotics to analyze protest signs photographed at the Flagship Minnesota &lsquo\;No Kings&rsquo\; rally to explore how perceptions of authenticity and creativity vary by medium and influence the credibility of the protestor and the movement. Using a visual literacy framework\, this paper discusses how materiality triggers distinct cognitive and emotional responses in both rally participants and remote observers. Preliminary results of a pilot study indicate that viewers perceive hand drawn\, visually imperfect\, and unique messaging as more authentic and emotionally resonant. The personal effort required to make a protest sign\, correlated with perceptions of an individual&rsquo\;s creativity as did rarity of sign verbiage and imagery.  \;Conversely\, digitally produced signs\, while sometimes visually striking\, were perceived as less authentic\, which decreased emotional resonance and trustworthiness. The initial findings demonstrate that for protest posters\, perceived authenticity is important for visual literacy education.\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:6312d225bd29b30da049f009cc80149a URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/6312d225bd29b30da049f009cc80149a END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260609T052715Z DTSTART:20261008T193000Z DTEND:20261008T200000Z SUMMARY:“Visual thinking” without the visual: Aphantasia and implications for visual literacy DESCRIPTION:Aphantasia\, clinically defined just over a decade ago\, is a neurodivergence that results in a person having little to no ability to internally visualize. The intertwining of visual literacy with visual thinking\, often an assumed pairing\, thus demands reconsideration with the knowledge that\, \, for some individuals\, visual thinking simply does not exist. This presentation will define and explore the current research on congenital aphantasia\, meaning a diagnosis of aphantasia from birth\, based on the results of a scoping review\, and discuss potential concerns for visual literacy practitioners and researchers going forward. \;\n CATEGORIES:PAPER LOCATION:Studio\, Charleston\, SC\, USA SEQUENCE:0 UID:7e02772303b5a06d3995776a824092dd URL:http://ivla2026.sched.com/event/7e02772303b5a06d3995776a824092dd END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR