The European Conference on Arts and Humanities 2014

Brighton, United Kingdom



Official Conference Proceedings

The European Conference on Arts and Humanities 2014

Brighton, United Kingdom



Official Conference Proceedings

The European Conference on Arts and Humanities 2014

Brighton, United Kingdom



Official Conference Proceedings

Visual communication is a global activity and often demands using visual language
that will be understood across cultures. Lack of place specificity is often considered
desirable in design. But the trend toward visual globalization can have the
disadvantage of taking students in many regions away from the visual language they
are familiar with, leaving them, visually, speechless. For my students in the Gulf
region, this often results in appropriation of only partly understood signs, symbols and
images, resulting in problematic visual communication.

In effect, not only do I ask students to use a verbal language, English, that may be
their second or third one, but I also ask them to use a visual language that my derive
little from their own visual experience. If we apprehend the world primarily visually
as Arnheim argues, the ability to use one's personal visual vocabulary is necessary for
effective visual communication.

The paper will discuss the development of locally based narratives in animation, film,
and graphic novels in the context of the UAE. Students make use of locally sourced
textual and visual information. Once subject matter is grounded in a familiar locale,
appropriation from other cultures becomes less problematic.

Some student produced narratives are illustrated texts, while others begin with visual
information around which a narrative is formed. The paper will propose that emphasis
on local narratives and imagery can play a small part in transforming the region from
content consumer into a net content creator.

Keywords: Education, visual narrative, illustration, Arabian Gulf, teaching. creativity

Bob Dahm