Please join Drexel University Kline School of Law online on March 4, 2022 from 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. for Picturing Truth, a conference exploring issues surrounding the use, reliability and interpretation of visual information through a legal lens. This conference will bring together leading multidisciplinary experts with those who have an interest in the interpretation of visual media in the legal context.

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About Picturing Truth

Photographs, video and data representations serve vital functions in legal decision making. The law often treats images as static, self-evident objects; interpreted as if their meaning is singular and authoritative. In contrast, a significant body of multidisciplinary scholarship does not treat meaning as fixed. Multi-disciplinary scholars use different methodologies to explore the use, reliability and interpretation of visual information. For example, some contend that representative images consist of constructed meanings based on ways of seeing, communal symbols and collective communicative activities. Others are engaged in the problems inherent in using visuals to represent real-world events. In an era where the concepts of truth and post-truth are under examination, understanding how visual images convey information has become more valuable than ever.

The conference will include four sessions. During the first three sessions, experts from various disciplines will introduce a rich set of frameworks for understanding and interpreting visual media. These sessions will provide legal scholars with an understanding of a variety of frameworks for thinking and writing about visual images.

The final session will be an opportunity to workshop ideas and scholarship from attendees. To have your work considered for this portion of the conference, please send a 100-300 word abstract of your idea to Professor Amy Landers at picturingtruth@gmail.com by February 17, 2022. Your abstract should describe your project and its relation to visual media. You are encouraged (but not required) to submit at least one image (or link to media) along with your abstract. Notifications of acceptance for this discussion phase will be sent on March 2, 2022.

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