Learning to See Differently
Eric Zeigler
University of Toledo, USA
Aaron M. Ellison
Sound Solutions for Sustainable Science, USA
Abstract
Visual literacy takes for granted that humans are the main perceivers and decipherers of visual stimuli into meaningful information. The focus of this paper is to introduce the idea of a non-anthropocentric visual literacy and explore how it could help us better understand the myriad species that coexist with humans on Earth, their interactions with one another, and our interactions with them. Our work attempts to visualize the world beyond our vision — in the infrared and the ultraviolet. Using photography, we have imaged our world to translate what is visible to non-humans into the visible for humans. The information contained in these images reveals “hidden stories” about how organisms interact and make decisions, perhaps helping us to envision a more responsible future not only for our own species but also for the tens of millions of other species with whom we share the Earth. In sum, we propose that learning to see the world as other organisms do should be a part of visual literacy study and practice.
Keywords: Anthropocene, cognition, photography, non-visible spectra