In “Storied Lives on Instagram: Factors Associated With the Need for Personal-Visual Identity” Nicole Hummel O'Donnell's research on identity expression intersects with visual communication to show “that individuals want to express a unique visual representation of self; however, these expressions are mediated by objectification and self-confidence” (p. 141).
Gabriel B. Tait and George L. Daniels use visual semiotic theory as an interpretive framework for analyzing 150 front pages upon the death of two icons in “Are They the Greatest? A Visual Comparative Analysis of Muhammad Ali and Maya Angelou Published on American Newspaper Front Pages.” Tait and Daniels reveal findings that demonstrate how the two celebrities met some of their benchmarks for “greatness” after all.
Brian Carroll's “Monumental Discord: Savannah's Remembering (and Forgetting) of Its Enslaved” analyzes the city of Savannah as a text that “lacks a chapter on enslavement, which, more than any other single factor, explains Savannah's existence and historical significance” (p. 156). Carroll illustrates the entanglement of the past, in how it is memorialized, with the present, in the narratives constructed about places and its people, to produce structures of power. Carroll suggests, “The right to participate in public discourse is at the heart of claims to public space like that represented by the Savannah's slavery memorial and, perhaps, public memoria of the city's enslaved yet to come” (p. 166).
In “Spectacular Resilience: Visualizations of Endurance in TIME Magazine's ‘Beyond 9/11’” Marnie Ritchie suggests four features to the visual stylization of “spectacular resistance” showcased in TIME's commemoration. Ritchie suggests that “events” are constructed features of the news media, and argues that visual scholars and photojournalists should “document and politicize minor forms of endurance to undercut spectacular ossifications of suffering” (p. 178).
Together, these article contributions choreograph a narrative about lost stories and lost lives, which Ross Taylor showcases in the Portfolio section. “Lost Moments is a documentary photography series that shows the human-animal bond—specifically, the last moments before, and after, the passing of a pet at home with its owner” (p. 183). This documentary project illustrates grief, care, love, and compassion.
Finally, in this issue we hold in memoriam Rick Williams, a member of the VCQ community whom we have loved and lost. Rick passed on August 3, 2018. We continue to honor Rick and send sympathies and warmth to Julianne Newton, his wife and former editor of the Quarterly, and to his family.