Visual Codes and Conventions in the Painting: George Robinson Welcomes Natives to Wybalenna

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Recommended: Socio-cultural contexts in art

Visual texts can be seen to be an attempt by their creators to represent particular ideologies to their viewers. It is the viewer's attitudes and values however, that determine the contemporary meaning of the image. The painting George Robinson welcomes Natives to Wybalenna, is a Colonial document portraying the Christianizing of indigenous people on Flinders Island. Visual codes and conventions employed in the image, such as positioning and framing depict the entwined values of white, patriarchal and Christian ideologies of the 19th Century. However, change in how society identifies itself, also changes the dominant ideology in its culture. Subsequently, the historical context of Post-Colonial attitudes and values in contemporary society, evoke a contemporary meaning in Robinson's painting, one of racial and religious prejudice.

The convention of positioning is vital in constructing the Colonial ideology of Robinson?s image. It has the potential to provide the viewer with visual associations, which translate to language in the form of binary oppositions. For instance, the most c...

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