Image-Thinking

Art making as thinking

• Proposes a new model of synthesis of creative and intellectual work that will benefit practitioners, students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences
• Merges theoretical and practical considerations in innovative and empowering ways
• Clarifies difficult concepts through accounts of practice including trauma, agency, identity and affect
• Closes with a discussion of cultural memory
• Includes 10 in-depth case studies of films made over 20 years where each case study integrates concrete analysis with theoretical reflection

In this rich, highly illustrated book, Mieke Bal takes us on a journey through the range of her work, using the concept of image-thinking as a point of connection between cultural analysis and artistic practice. Sharing a lifetime of experience of writing about art, making films and installations, as well as curating exhibitions, she shows us how these may be brought into dialogue with insights from theory.

Bal teaches us how to think with images, but also how to write and think – as artists and writers – about our own creative work. This is Mieke Bal at her most personal and her best.