Seeing Matters

In Seeing Matters, Sarah Awad offers a psychological exploration of how images shape our actions, perceptions, and identities. She examines how we use images to symbolically and materially influence the world, others, and ourselves, while also revealing how the images around us shape our thoughts, emotions, and memories. Awad investigates the social and political dynamics of visual culture, questioning who is seen, how they are portrayed, and why these representations matter. By using clear language and real-world examples, she makes complex theories accessible to readers, offering diverse methodological approaches for analyzing a wide range of image genres – such as graffiti, digital memes, photojournalism, and caricatures. This comprehensive analysis addresses the politics of visual representation, making the book an essential guide for researchers across disciplines, while providing valuable insights into how images impact society and our everyday lives.

Author Biography

Sarah H. Awad is Associate Professor of sociocultural psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark. She received her Ph.D. in cultural Psychology from Aalborg University and her M.Sc. in social and cultural psychology from London School of Economics and Political Science. She studies processes by which individuals make sense of change through visual and narrative tools and the influence of visual culture on identity, collective memory and politics within a society. She has coordinated different art facilitation programs and public service visual campaigns in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program and the British Council. Her most recent co-authored books include Remembering as a Cultural Process (2019), Street Art of Resistance (2017), and The Psychology of Imagination (2017).