The visual artist Yolanda Domínguez reflects on the power of the image to change the world

Yolanda Domínguez, visual artist and feminist activist, led a training activity at the Medialab-Prado centre on December 13. It was a lecture open to the public associated with the i+d project “The resignification of the woman-victim on social networking sites: implications for the construction of vulnerability and resistance in online activism” by the Rey Juan Carlos University. This intervention was part of the programme of lectures of the Master’s Degree in Digital Communication, Culture and Citizenship under the direction of the principal investigator of the project (PI) Sonia Núñez Puente.

The speaker, an expert in visual communication, traced a journey through the history of images, from painting to the mass media, revealing the mechanisms with which they act and how we can use them in an active manner to achieve the social changes we desire.

Domínguez pointed out that images exert a fundamental role in the construction of our identity: through them we know who we are, what is expected of us and what place we occupy in society. In an era where most communication is based upon the exchange of images it is vital to understand how they work, what influence they have on people and how to filter and regulate their messages, the artist explained.
Through Dominguez’s activist works, concepts such as power, gender, freedom of expression, collective creation and social networking sites were discussed.