Hear the Images Talk – Visual Literacy in the Face of Today’s World

The changing world of arts has its foundational pillars on 7 types art. They are Painting, sculpture, literature, film, theater, architecture, and the world of the mesmerizing music. Some of the Art Styles are Modern Art, Contemporary Art, Pop Art, typography, Still Life and Abstract Art. We have beautiful Art everywhere and the most prominent being the Visual Arts. We all love to chat using emoji, share memes, et up beautiful profile pictures and share "edited" photographs on social media and thus our ability to successfully do so indicates our catch on visual literacy skills. In simple word visual literacy is the ability to read, write and create images. We use these skills for thinking, understanding, visualizing, communicating and expressing our thoughts and ideas. The drawings on the prehistoric caves, the signs and symbols of the hieroglyphs, tells us how long of a process it has been. Considering the idea that visual images are a language, some authors consider visual literacy to be more of a metaphor, relating imagery interpretation to conventional literacy, than a teachable skill. A human being can develop these skills by seeing the imagery and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiment. The development of these skills is fundamental to the normal human learning. It is remarkable that this field is credited with the development of educational programs that enhance students' abilities to interpret and create visual messages, as well as improvement of reading and writing skills through the use of visual imagery.


INTRODUCTION
As the world changes, so do the different forms of Art.Below are 7 prominent Art forms though they have been they have been altered severe times because of the arrival of the different type of art forms throughout the times of Humankind -

WHAT IS VISUAL LITERACY?
According to the IVLA (International Visual Literacy Association) the term "Visual Literacy" was first coined in 1969 by John Debes.In simple word visual literacy is the ability to read, write and create images.It gives us the ability to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media in the context of cultural, ethical, aesthetic, intellectual, and technical components involved in the production and use of visual materials .This current generation students are expected to use images in their academic work, and to produce visual materials that effectively communicate their research and scholarly activities.Today, our communications are more peppered with visuals than ever, including emoji, memes, profile pictures, advertising imagery, etc.

WHY DO WE NEED VISUAL LITERACY?
We've all heard the old adage "A picture is worth a thousand words."Learning to read those pictures gives us advantages for everywhere we go.We use these skills for thinking, understanding, visualizing, • Email: editor@ijfmr.comIJFMR23056778 Volume 5, Issue 5, September-October 2023 4 communicating and expressing our thoughts and ideas.Some of the reasons why we need visual literacy are -• Information processing -Large amount of complex data can be easily presented in the form of pie charts, graphs, tables and diagrams help us understand the process the data • Communication -Visuals can transcend language barrier.It gives us the ability to explain our complex thoughts, emotions and ideas into simpler yet powerful visual.So a property drawn poster without any text can be understood by anyone from any country no matter whether they are literate or not.We need visual literacy skills for graphic designing, animation and even cinematography.

INTERDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF VISUAL LITERACY
Visual literacy is an interdisciplinary field that intersects with multiple domains and disciplines due to its broad applications and influences.In everyday life we use it for the reading of maps and x-rays, complex ideas of mathematical or chemical Formulas, architectural plans advertisement, social media, magazines, textbooks, fashion industry, graphic designs and many more.The combination of pictures plus text gives the best medium for the students for studying.It broadly Includes the following-

VISUAL LITERACY -FUNCTIONS IN OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
The books of Kindergarten students have mainly visual images which explains the very basic things of our life.They have detailed elaborative visuals which builds their imaginative, memory and recognizing skills.Texts just have a supplementary role here.Later as children climb up in the higher studies, diagrams play huge role in understanding human biology, botany, complicated organic chemistry mechanisms, cycles of natural sciences, astronomy, maps in geology, pie charts, bar graphs and charts in mathematics.We are also taught to make presentations and projects where are required to firstly analysis our information and put it in visual forms for the proper communication.It is important that children are given the opportunity to experiment with graphic software.Exposure to graphics packages such as Adobe PhotoShop or Adobe Photoshop Elements Broadens the scope for visual expression, allows discovery and is an ideal means for exploring Individual visual thought processes.
Creating more presentations making more labelled diagram, drawing a concept map helps specially needed children to understand concepts.

LEARNING TO DECODE PHOTOGRAPHS TODAY!
Visual Literacy in photography is all about decoding meanings from images.

WANT TO SHARPEN YOUR VISUAL LITERACY SKILLS? THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT HOW TO PLANT THE SEEDS OF VISUAL LITERACY SKILLS IN CHILDREN WITHOUT THEM KNOWING!
For adults simple everyday things can be used to introduce visual literacy such as reading the washing instructions on the clothes labels, health of nutritional symbols on food, images on groceries and snacks packets, book Covers, billboards, advertisements, magazines and CD covers, pamphlets, movie posters, computer games, video Covers, films, comics, animations and DVDs.
But for children we need other methods like some fun classroom activities for introducing visual literacy could include: -Looking at greeting cards and understanding the images, text types and relationship of text to Images on and the 'feel' created after looking at them.Also show them various greeting cards made for various occasions.

CONCLUSION
visual literacy is a crucial skill that empowers individuals to understand, analyze, and communicate effectively through visual means.It enables us to make informed judgments, express creativity, and navigate the visual-rich world we live in.This is best developed through to Interesting and varied images and through thoughtful and thought-provoking questioning and discussing about them Learning visual literacy skills will not only help us successfully navigate the world but will also engage us deeply with the world.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the individuals and institutions who have been instrumental in the completion of this paper.Their support, gratitude and encouragement have been invaluable, and without their assistance, this endeavor, would not have been possible First and foremost, I extend my sincere thanks to my principal Dr. Jagmeet Madan and Dr. Armaiti Shukla HOD of the Textiles and Fashion Designing for giving me this Opportunity and my mentor Mrs.Anju Talshyan, for their unwavering support and expert guidance throughout this project.Their valuable insights and feedback have been crucial in shaping the direction of my research.I would also like to thank to faculty and staff of Sir Vithaldas Thackersey College of Home Science who provided access to essential resources and facilities that facilitated my research and learning process.My appreciation also goes to my friends and family for their unwavering encouragement, Understanding and patience during this time.Their belief in my abilities motivated me to persevere through challenges and stay committed to the project.Once again, thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey.Your support has been a driving force behind the completion of this paper publishing.

Fig 8 :
Fig 8 : Explainatory diagram of the working of Human Heart

Figure 9 :Table 1 :
Figure 9 : How to decode a photograph

Figure 11 :
Figure 11 : Greeting cards -By telling the children to look at packaging, description, logos and Visuals printed on the packets of their favorite goodies in the supermarket.Tell them about what is real and what is manipulated or created.

Figure 13 -
Figure 13 -Photograph manipulated using PhotoShop App Author 1 -The Author's name is Bhagyashree Narnaware.She is currently studying in her final year of Textiles & Fashion Designing Department at Sir Vithaldas Thackeresy College of Home Science (Autonomous) Author 2 -The Author's name is Mrs Anju Tulshyan.She is currently the Associate Professor at Sir Vithaldas Thackeresy College of Home affairs (Autonomous)