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The term “visuality” might at first appear obscure. We define visuality as “the quality or state of being visible or visual”. This definition might actually make you wonder, why didn’t I simply use the term “visibility”?

However, I like what “visuality” conveys. It’s not merely the quality or state of being visible/visual, as the dictionaries inform us. Rather, I see visuality as a philosophy of seeing.

That’s an impossible weight for a humble word to carry, and doubly so because this is simply the way I choose to see the word. Guess what, however? That’s precisely what I’ll be talking about in this article: the subjective rendering of reality through visual representation.

A Cat Is not a Cat Is not a Cat

The lazy well-fed kitty in the image above is a cat in Athens. And yet, it’s not just that. What I see in this image is not merely what is visible in it.

In other words, what I see exceeds the inadequate dictionary definition of “the quality or state of being visible or visual”.

What I see in this image is the sum of what is visible plus elements that I, personally, bring into the rendering of this scene.

The visuality of this image is what I see literally (a cat sleeping in Athens) plus what I see metaphorically.

It’s a memory- and experiencing-triggered process where I “see” the scent of thyme carried on the wind. I also “see” the sound of birds chirping in a lazy summer afternoon.

The very same process is also what allows me to also “see” things that one can’t see (literally), hear, smell, touch, or taste. I “see” the feeling of anticipation embedded in my childhood (which I now meta-experience from a future temporal perspective).

Does This Mean Visuality Is just Memory?

No. Visuality is not memory. Rather, as I mentioned further above, I define visuality as a rendering of reality that is subjective and has visual foundations.

In simpler terms, you could think of it as a filtered or edited way of seeing things. That’s why I also referred to it as a philosophy of seeing. (Just to clarify, I am using the term liberally. If you are interested in a more in-depth analysis, see the Stanford article on the philosophy of depiction).

Ultimately, visuality as I define it here is an important tool for authors, from the perspective of the importance of memory. Perhaps memory and experience are strange bedfellows in terms of fiction, but they can work wonders in terms of feelings. Which is also why having a visual reference is the surest way of triggering an emotional response.

Before you write, you must experience. But there is a series of connecting links between the two processes, experiencing and writing, and one’s ability to visualize is an integral part of this chain.

More importantly, it is precisely the subjective aspect – visuality – that translates experiences into worthy words, as it translates vision into affect.