Aperture On Sight: Teaching Visual Literacy Through Photography

This exhibition features photographs and photobooks made by students of Aperture’s 2016/17 visual literacy program, Aperture On Sight. Over the course of twenty classes, these students strengthened their visual literacy skills by learning how to analyze and interpret images—a cognitive ability that is decidedly valuable in today’s wired world. Aperture’s curriculum expands students’ visual literacy by teaching them to look carefully, articulate ideas using photographic language, and interpret and create meaning through an understanding of form, content, and context. The lessons encourage collaboration and inquiry-based learning so that students may connect personally with photographs made by both their peers and master photographers. These students learn how to visually communicate their ideas, construct and defend their interpretations, create photographs with intention and meaning, and make self-published photobooks that share their stories. It will be the visually literate among us who will be the most effective communicators in the digital age, which is why Aperture Foundation is committed to helping young people strengthen their visual literacy, critical thinking, and communication skills.

The Aperture On Sight curriculum is now available online as a free open resource for use in a variety of learning environments.

Aperture’s program this year was offered at five locations, including Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School (BCAM), Highland Park Community School, M.S. 136 Charles O. Dewey, Storefront Academy Harlem, and East Side Community High School.

Aperture’s teaching artists include Community Partnerships Coordinator Alice Proujansky, Zalika Azim, Alexis Lambrou, Christopher Lopez, Pete Pin, and Emily Stewart. Additional support was provided by school staff members Trayisha Adams, Gordon Baldwin, Kyle Heyward, Leigh Klonsky, Sarina Maros, Sarah Monteleone, James O’Brien, and Nida Sahr. Aperture’s Education staff includes Deputy Director Sarah McNear, Manager of Public Programs and Education Ashley Strazzinski, and Education Work Scholar Emily Stewart.

The 2016/17 programs have been made possible with support from The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, The Bay and Paul Foundations, and The Pinkerton Foundation. Additional public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts with the Support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with City Council and Grand St. Settlement. The curriculum aligns with the national Common Core standards for college readiness and the New York City Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts.