To Whom It May Concern,

I remember standing in an art gallery looking at all of the paintings and wondering why this was 'art'. There was an intense variety of art work on the walls and it was obvious that all of the work had been done by different people at different moments yet that did not necessarily make it art. So what did? How could a picture mean so much to someone that they deem it 'art'?

My fourth lecture in Journalism and Communication presented to me the notion of picture stories as being just as powerful as the written word. In my view, the written word will only influence those who can relate to it or who crave to understand it. So can that be said for pictures? Doubtless. Yet, it is the people interpreting those images and their stories that decide whether it is powerful or not.

Consider Jason deCaires Taylor. This is a man who sculpts for hours upon hours and then literally throws his artwork out to sea. I thought it was a perfectly insane thing to do so I looked into his work. It is beautiful. Truly, incredibly breath-taking. To me.

One of his images in particular holds a place in my heart.

(It's definition can be translated to mean a change in circumstance/fortune)

Vicissitudes

If you go to Grenada in the West Indies and dive five metres down you will come across twenty six people. Isn't that just so deliciously absurd?! But more than that is who are these people? Why are they holding hands? Why face out and not in? One of the most astounding realisations is they were put underwater for people to find? Here, in this picture of  26 individuals, joined by the hands, at the bottom of the ocean. There is no explanation given. We know from the title that these people are experiencing a change in circumstance. We probably could have figured that out alone. The remarkable thing is that  there are thousands of stories we could tell from this picture.

Thus, I have come to realise that the old saying was wrong. A picture does not tell a thousand words. It tells a thousand stories. People can relate to stories and that is why it must be art.