On the afternoon of May 27th, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, the academic lecture “Reflections and Insights on Visual Literacy: Exploring Text-Image Collaboration,” hosted by the Research Center for Linguistics at the School of Foreign Studies (SFS) at Nankai University (NKU), was successfully held in Liangzheng Hall of SFS. The lecture was delivered by Professor Nathanial Gardner from the University of Glasgow, UK, who specializes in Latin American Texts, Images, and Culture. The event attracted over 30 faculty members and students for learning and exchange.
Professor Gardner pointed out that we live in a highly visual world. Understanding how we use images and how they are employed around us is key to engaging with our society. This lecture focuses on the classic visual theory, the power of visual narrative, Latin American immigrant photography projects, cultural metaphors, the way to cultivate visual literacy, and future image literacy, and explored the comprehensive use of images in society and the interactions between people and the images they create, as well as the images that constitute the visual language of the modern world. Professor Gardner particularly emphasized the need to guard against the deceptive nature of technology: the instantaneous dissemination of digital images does not equate to the integrity of reality—all visual representations are fragmentary captures of reality and reconstructions of meaning. Images are “imperfect translations” of reality, constrained by both technological limitations (such as the inability to develop film instantly in the film era) and subjective choices.
At the end of the lecture, Professor Zhang Zhizhong from SFS, NKU, pointed out that photography is also a form of translation in the broadest sense, with numerous parallels between the art of photography and the art of translation. During the Q&A session, faculty and students actively engaged in discussions and posed questions on visual theory and narrative. The lecture presented profound concepts in an accessible manner, combining theoretical depth with practical insights, sparking lively discussions among the attendees.
