Jordaan, Danie2016-07-212016-07-212010Jordaan, D. (2010). Reflective visual literacy: far more than meets the eye. Communitas, (15), 21-37.1023-0556 (print)2415-0525 (online)http://hdl.handle.net/11660/3604The commonly accepted notion that a picture is worth a thousand words paradoxically places greater communicative value on images than on spoken or written language. Ironically, a lingering precedence of letters and numbers over images still characterize “enlightened” contemporary discourse, in spite of many claims that we live in a society dominated by the visual. This article explores the hermeneutics of photographs and visual images on a conceptual level, touching on issues such as validity of interpretation, the fallacy of a universally understood and pictorial language and the distinction between functional visual literacy and nuanced reflective visual literacy. Finally it makes a case for including visual literacy as part of the formal curricula at school and at tertiary level.enHermeneuticsPhotographsFunctional visual literacyReflective visual literacyCurriculumArticleDepartment of Communication Science, University of the Free State