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Visual Essentialism and the Object of Visual Culture by Mieke Bal
Mieke Bal’s article examines the question of whether Visual Culture is a discipline or an interdisciplinary movement among other disciplines. For Bal the question, which can be argued either way, is really about avoiding visual essentialism. Visual essentialism is at the heart of the problem of visual culture. Two particular issues are present in this development, the object domain that is the object of study; the disciplines object of study and how that object domain can avoid visual essentialism. Bal defines visual essentialism by stating that …. “visual essentialism, that purity assuming cut between what is visual and what is not…”(6). Thus the problem with visual essentialism is that it becomes rigid in its examinations and delineates according to old paradigms. Furthermore, the work of visual culture for Bal, is at its heart about taking the visual and creating an object of study that is… “defined in terms of kinds of objects, is subject to the same regime of truth that attempts to leave behind or challenge.”(12). In a sense, the problems of art history as a discipline, and it regimental approach is the very thing that visual studies is attempting to rectify. However, the idea of visual culture becomes problematized when cultural studies impulses take over and nullify the visuality in preference to the object. Bal proposes specific tasks for visual studies methodologies for the development of visual culture studies.
Bal, Mieke. Visual Essentialism and the Object of Visual Culture. Journal of Visual Culture, 2003; 2: 5-32.
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