Looking & Learning Story
People have been sharing stories for thousands of years.
Much of what we know about the past has
come to us as stories, often told by older
members of our family or community. Stories
allow us to visit faraway lands, meet fascinating characters, and imagine the way people
lived in the past. When a storyteller tells a tale
orally or in writing, we follow the words and
create pictures in our mind. Some storytellers,
however, create the images for us. The people who create stories for television and film,
for example, combine images with sound to
move their stories through time. Comic strips
and graphic novels also use multiple images
to move a story along. A single image, like a
family snapshot, can also suggest a story.
We encounter visual stories in our homes,
but also in public. Globally, community stories
are carved in stone or painted on walls. These
public narratives might tell about the past,
communicate a special message, or simply
entertain.
The challenge for any storyteller is to tell
a story in such a way that an audience stays
interested. When we encounter a narrative
artwork, we should ask, “What story is being
told here?” We might consider whether the
story is a documentation of an actual event
or if it is fictitious. We might also ask, “What
is the purpose of this story?” “How did the
artist keep the viewer interested?”
