Seeing Matters

In an age dominated by visual culture, the dual power of images, to both democratize and polarize, is more evident than ever. Drawing on her forthcoming book Seeing Matters (Cambridge University Press), Sarah Awad (Aalborg University, Denmark) will explore how images, from protest imagery, political campaigns, photojournalism, to social media memes, actively shape our thoughts, emotions, and actions. Rather than simply reflecting our world, images now serve as dynamic agents of change – mobilizing movements, influencing public debate, and at times deepening societal rifts. Awad’s analysis challenges us to rethink the power inherent in the act of seeing. 

About the speakers  

Sarah Awad is an Associate Professor at the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark. Her research lies at the intersection of cultural psychology, communication, and social development, focusing on how art, storytelling, and visual methodologies reveal insights into identity, collective memory, and politics during times of change. 

Olga Eisele is an Assistant Professor at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (University of Amsterdam). Her work examines political crisis communication, focusing on the European Union and the legitimation challenges facing democratic organizations. In her work she is applying automated, quantitative methods and computational text and image analysis. 

Josephine Hoegaerts is Professor of European Culture after 1800 at the University of Amsterdam’s European Studies group, where she explores the histories of speech and sound in modern democracies. Her research investigates topics from citizenship and political participation to the embodiment of authority in nineteenth-century Europe. 

Ofra Klein is an Assistant Professor in Mediatisation and Digitalisation at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute. Her research focuses on the radical right, social media and online political mobilisation. 

Joost Vintges is a research associate at GAGE/ODI and PhD candidate at the UvA. In his PhD research, he investigates the interplay between architectural visualisations and financial real estate in the fast urbanization of the Egyptian desert.