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Journal of Visual Literacy, 2014
Volume 33, Number 2
Analysis of Signs and Symbols of Caring
and Nurturing in Photographs of
Female Teachers
Edna Barromi Perlman
Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts
Tel Aviv, Israel
Abstract
This study explores how teachers visualize their professional per-
sona. It is based on six case studies of female teachers in Israel,
who photographed themselves at work, focusing on images of ideal
situations of teaching. The study explores the self-perceptions of the
teachers, which led to the construction of the images, by analysis
of the signs and visual information in the photographs and through
interviews. Uses of body language, visual expressions of physical
proximity to pupils and visual signs of gender, are related to. The
notion of teaching as a practice of caring is discussed in its relation
to visual feminine attributes
Keywords: photographs, Israel, female, body, gender, teachers,
work, caring
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
54
Introduction
The aim of this study is to investigate how school teachers in Israel per-
ceive their role in their work place, by means of analysis of photographs
they took of themselves at work. The analysis is aimed at understanding how
self-perceptions of professional personas are expressed visually. This study
is based on six school teachers, who were all rst year, graduate students,
studying Visual literacy in an M.Ed program in Tel Aviv, Israeli. They were
required to create photographs of themselves in their work place, focusing on
ideal images of teaching. The photographs were taken in various locations
in and out the schools and during different activities. The analysis of the
photographs and related narratives explored the use of signs and symbols in
the photographs, chosen by the teachers. It was aimed at understanding and
decoding the overt and covert messages conveyed in the photographs in rela-
tion to their narratives. The study explores how these photographs can pres-
ent nuances and unarticulated issues, related to the practice and profession
of teaching. The observation of the photographs raised discussions regard-
ing feminine attributes of teaching, of teaching as a practice of caring, and
how this relates to the profession of teaching in the eyes of female teachers.
Tsemo (2011) wrote that the profession of teaching is connected to caring and
to combining personal emotions with instruction (p.700). She explains that
“Emotion and instruction must go hand in hand. Effective teaching can exist
only when emotions are present…as an integral part of teaching, to challenge
the power structure” (Ibid). Kulik (1976) writes that “feminine professions
are expected to emphasize sensitivity and expressiveness” (p. 103-4). She
explains that “according to the classic approach… feminine behavior is char-
acterized as expressive, emotional, sensitive and oriented toward the wellbe-
ing of others” (ibid).
I have accumulated material from over 120 students over the years, and
selected six case studies for this research. Although most of the class is fe-
male, there were male students, Jewish and Muslim students, but the choice
of photographs was not gender or religious based. The photographs I selected
were the ones containing visual signs that enabled a development of a dis-
cussion. The general background of the teachers contains similar aspects:
the participants of the study are female, Jewish teachers, teaching in Jewish
secular schools, in formal educationii. The age of the children ranged from
iThe course took place in the Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv, Israel.
iiThis study focuses on the choices of self-perception rather than on the school environment in Israel.
Therefore, information regarding the schools themselves, the pedagogy of the school, the topics taught at the
schools, the location of the schools, the amount, background and age of the pupils is mentioned only in the
case it has an effect on the image construction. In some cases, the images are isolated, self-reective forms
of expression, so that information regarding the institution employing them has no direct bearing on the
reading of the photograph. Thus, the information in each case study is appropriate for the individual reading
of the images.
55
Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
kindergarten up to Middle School. The schools are located in the central part
of Israel (one kindergarten teacher works on a kibbutz. One teacher works in
an Arab-Jewish school in Jaffa).
My previous research (Barromi Perlman, 2010) has shown that the prac-
tice of photographing in schools in Israel is geared largely towards docu-
mentation of school activities: trips, outings, theatre productions, learning
products, sports events, religious and civil ceremonies, military activities
and graduation ceremonies. It is used for administrative purposes as well.
Schools use photographs in their websites, in order to promote the school’s
activities amongst the website’s users (p. 35). The teachers are often photo-
graphed in informal situations, such as in outings, parties and ceremonies.
These photographs do not present the teachers in a way in which they can
control; the photographs do not always present their professional status and
are not always carried out with their permission or in accord with them. In
general, it is fair to say that the teachers have little or no control over their
visibility in the school, in relation to public relations, media and internet and
school culture. The practice which is missing, in my opinion, is that of pho-
tographing the teachers at work, with their pupils, in their class rooms. The
day in and day out of the work of the teachers, which comprises the bulk of
schoolwork, is left visually unrecorded. Teachers are busy teaching and are
not able to photograph themselves during working hours, such that visibility
of the actual practice of teaching is not accessible to the public, but rather
only visible to the pupils in their classroom, behind closed doors. As a result
of this void, the teachers are not in the habit of seeing or viewing their pro-
fessional persona at work. I identied the need to challenge these teachers
and to ask them for the rst time to aim the camera lens at themselves and to
determine how they would ideally choose to be photographed, while control-
ling image production.
Methodology
The power of creating self-portraits of an ideal teaching situation involves
turning emotions and preconceptions into visual signs which can be read and
interpreted by others. The choice of requiring a depiction of the ideal was a
result of the desire to avoid regular documentation of the everyday experi-
ence of work, but rather that of constructing and devising an image, either by
straightforward shooting or by image manipulation. The process of dening
this ideal image for themselves required thought and planning, so that the
photographing itself could not be carried out spontaneously. Berger (1980)
explains that “Photographs bear witness to a human choice being exercised
in a given situation” (p. 292). The choices involved a process of elimina-
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
56
tion of conventional visual symbols of teaching in favor of images dening
their personal ideal as well as self-reection in relation to feelings and self-
perceptions at work. The activity interjected with the teacher’s every day
and demanded of them to reconstruct their familiar practices of teaching into
visual constructions. Questions needed to be addressed by the teachers, such
as: is my work place ideal? How does the ideal manifest itself visually? How
should I present it? What is lacking in order to create the ideal? How do I
present what is lacking? The process enabled the students not only to visual-
ize the ideal but to connect to it, to see how they can achieve it, and whether
the ideal is tangible. Presenting what is lacking or is absent is challenging.
The range of creations was vast, and the case studies I preferred to choose
were those which present an argument as to whether the ideal is a visible no-
tion, and as to what it contains on the overt and covert levels.
Research Methods
The study is a visual research, based on visual material as a primary
source of data and incorporates visual research methods in the process of
analyzing the photographs and related narratives of the teachers. The study
is based on methodologies in which researchers rely on records produced by
those researched (Banks, 1995). In this form of research, the researcher asks
the participants to create photographs for the sake of research, and the visual
material is analyzed in conjunction with related data, the interviews and the
narrative. The study relies in a partial way on a collaborative form of enquiry
(Denzin & Lincoln, 1994) in which those researched address themselves as
self-determining participants, in the sense that that their personal experiences
and interpretations are part of the data. Their thinking contributes to generat-
ing ideas and drawing conclusions. The nal analysis was determined by my
understanding and interpretations.
The narratives are based on semi-structured interviews which took place
individually with the participants. The interviews were aimed at understand-
ing how each individual teacher views herself professionally and how she
interprets her images. The character of the interviews was a form of photo
elicitation, in which we observed the photographs, while I directed the ques-
tions to the visual choices and their relation to the professional persona. Pink
(2004) writes that when informants view photographs, they can be engaged
in interpreting the photographer’s visualization of reality (p. 68). In this case,
the teachers already had an existing preconception of their reality, so that the
process of the interview helped them articulate this preconception and dig
deeper into its meaning. Pink adds that “photographs may become a refer-
ence point through which an informant can represent aspects of his or her re-
57
Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
ality” (p.69). The collaborative process that took place directed the interview
into the direction of their self-perception as female teachers.
Deconstruction and reconstruction of the images from a critical view-
point are based on the concept of reading of reality as a form of visual lit-
eracy. The photographs are analyzed by investigation of the information in
the photographs, through decoding the signs and symbols, as well as the for-
mal construction of the image. The foreground and the background of the
frame are observed, so that the whole composition needs to be considered,
controlled and thought-out. All the visual information contributes to the read-
ing of the image and is relevant to the construction of knowledge in relation
of the image. Proxemics, the space that is maintained by individuals around
their bodies is related to, along with body positioning and haptics - the study
and analysis of touch. (Barromi Perlman, 2007, p. 26-29). Observation of
the photographs involves looking for what is seen and what is not seen. Ac-
cording to Berger (1980) the photograph contains two poles, the absent and
the present: ‘A photograph, whilst recording what has been seen, always and
by its nature refers to what is not seen. It isolates, preserves and presents a
moment taken from a continuum’ (p. 293). The visibility and the lack of vis-
ibility are both meaningful data, which are not always conscious choices, but
in this case are related to during the analysis itself.
Although the framework of the study took place in a college semester
course and the participants were students, the study does not seek to inves-
tigate my teaching methods or to improve the quality of the course nor the
quality of photography of the students. It does not assume that there is a ‘bet-
ter’ photograph or an aspired result as in action research, but rather assumes
that any photograph can be read and interpreted in context. Berger (1997)
explains: “the problem is to construct a context for a photograph, to construct
it with words, to construct it with other photographs, to construct it by its
place in an ongoing text of photographs and images” (p. 46). This approach
to data analysis sets the study within the methodological framework of visual
research, based on visual data and analysis of the form of construction and
the contextual background of the photographs. Having said this, the study is
part of a teaching- learning process and involves basic instruction as to how
to use a camera, using a tripod and choice of lens. The exercise is mandatory
and is completed within a two week timeframe. The students were required
to present between 2-3 digital photographs in their nal product, in digital
format, from which I made the nal selection for the research. There was no
limitation to how many photographs could be taken in order to arrive at the
nal product. They were advised to have somebody assist them in the shoot-
ing, to decide on the time and place in advance and to possibly take several
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
58
rounds of photographs before arriving at their goal. The students participated
actively in the reading and interpreting of the images; they voiced their analy-
sis and discussed it in the context of the course work.
Ethical considerations needed to be addressed: ensuring written permis-
sion from the school and parents before conducting the exercise and address-
ing all the required school-ethical guidelines. The photographs needed to be
ones that did not compromise the children or the status of the teachers at
work. The images were read as they were presented, the reading was accom-
panied by their narrative; the analysis related to their attire, body language,
information on the walls, the titles of books appearing in the photograph, the
responses and body language of the children. Rose (2012) writes how “an
image can be read differently by different audiences…by different genders
and sexualities” (p. 33). In this case, the photographs were created for a spe-
cic, limited and supportive audience, which consisted of me and of fellow
students. The viewing site was considered to be a safe space, so that the
teachers were able to present themselves freely, without fear of endangering
their work positions. It needed to be carried out within the boundaries of a
visual framework, without delving into issues of photo therapy or counseling.
This was later followed by interviews with the case studies selected for the
research.
The students for the most part are not used to being photographed or
with dealing with their self-perception by means of portraiture. Some photo-
graphed their everyday experiences, one created symbolic imagery on Photo-
shop. The products were not uniform, so that the analysis varied in length and
in relation to the data brought out in the interviews. The study showed that
the phenomena they were asked to photograph could not be photographed in
all cases, some photographs actually presented notions of dystopia at work,
in which case the analysis needed to rely on a supporting narrative in order
to extrude meaning from the images. Harrison (2002) writes that in the case
in which photographs cannot provide data about particular experiences, then
narrative picturing needs resolution (p. 90), which was the case in the rst
and second case studies.
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Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
Case Study Photographs
Figure 1. “I protect myself.”
Iris
Iris is a kindergarten teacher. She chose to present herself twice, to bring
two comparative pictures of herself, once at work as a kindergarten teacher
and another photograph taken by her husband on holiday abroad. Iris has
recently changed her work situation and transferred to the public education
system, as opposed to her previous position as a private nursery teacher in a
small kindergarten. She states that she is challenged by the work load and the
overpopulated classrooms.
Iris: I am tense because I am naturally shy and don’t like to stand before
an audience. It demands a lot of inner strength on my part to talk before an
audience…When I go to work, I feel that I am wearing a uniform, and I put
on makeup. Teaching is a profession which puts you in vulnerable situations
and you don’t always have the tools to deal with it. Each person nds the
means to protect himself. I put physical barriers between me and the parents:
there are restricted calling hours. I don’t have a facebook account, they can
ask me concrete questions by mail, if they need to have a conversation about
the emotional state of their child only between 8-9 pm on the phone or they
make an appointment to meet me. In the meeting, I make sure to place three
chairs of the same height. I sit next to the parents at eye level, I protect myself.
I notice how I dress to work. The world of the parents in the kindergarten is
such that I have never made friends with the parents. I am careful with them.
I am an open person, but at work there are limits, I am on alert. In front of the
children I am relaxed. I understand that I can’t behave with the parents as I
do with my friends. In this photo, I know that the parents were coming, that
I am going to be assessed by them, and that I will need to stand up to their
standards.
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
60
Analysis: The moment in which this photograph was taken was a private
moment, while she was waiting for parents to arrive, after having nished
the preparations for an evening Hanukah party, in the form of a workshop
for parents and children. The door is open, she is standing at the threshold,
baby strollers lined up at the door, and it is clear that something is about to
happen - it is an in between moment. Iris explained that the photograph was
taken by her helper, a fourth year student in a college. She had been follow-
ing her around that day, taking photos of her. Iris’s photograph does not show
an ideal teaching situation; her body posture shows visual signs of tension.
Observation of the photograph shows that she is seen from afar, one hand is
placed on her hip, her body posture indicates that she is waiting and possibly
seems uncomfortable in this waiting position. She is dressed in slacks; her
hand is covering her stomach, attracting attention to her physicality and her
body. Blessing wrote that the hand is: ‘the locus of many kinds of indexical
marks, demonstrating a relationship to the real’ (2004, p. 19) In this case, her
reality seems to need the support of both hands on her body, one at her side
and one on her front. She appears to be protecting her body, enclosing it and
shielding it. There is no direct eye contact with the photographer and her
gure is small in relation to her surroundings.
Iris felt the need to add a second photograph, taken by her husband on
holiday, which shows how she feels and looks in her personal life, on vaca-
tion. The holiday picture shows her smile, there is direct eye contact, her face
lls the frame and the colors of the scarf and her hair blowing in the wind
create a sense of openness, presence and freedom.
Figure 2. Holiday photograph.
This photograph contains a sense of here and now and of capturing the
experience to its fullest, in order to remember it. It brings her closer to an im-
age of utopia that she would like to remember. The two photographs contrast
61
Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
each other in form, style, content, essence, being and presence. The work
photograph contains signs of enclosure and of shielding her body, demon-
strating her need to protect her body which connects to her own description
of her sense of vulnerability at work. The holiday photograph opens her to
the viewer and exposes her, while maintaining eye contact, her face lls the
frame. It was taken in a safe environment. The fact that it was taken on holi-
day enables the use of a different set of visual codes that are personal and
belong to the people sharing a private experience while viewing a photo-
graph of pleasure and leisure. They belong to her and to the person who took
the photograph, in this case her husband. The work photograph, in contrast,
exposes her; her choices of presentation, body posture and verbal narrative
point to her feeling unsafe in her work environment, one in which she needs
to shield herself and be on guard.
Figure 3. “I am professional; I am a leader and need to administer boundaries.”
Sari
Sari is a kibbutz member and a full time kindergarten teacher on her kib-
butz, in the central part of Israeliii. She has been teaching for 20 years. There
are 23 children in her kindergarten, ages between four to six years old. Most
of the children live on her kibbutz and others come from surrounding farms.
Kibbutz pedagogy is connected to nature, based on observing natural phe-
nomena and nature cycles. This approach is most clearly manifested in early
childhood education and revolves around the kibbutz natural environment
and its agriculture. The classes can take place outside and this is why Sari is
chooses to sit on the ground with the children.
Sari: I, as a kindergarten teacher, would like to see myself as part of the
learning process - investigation and experience by the children. This being
said, I decide on matters, focus their attention, try to enrich them with knowl-
edge and understanding of processes through cooperation and attention to
iii I have erased their faces for ethical considerations.
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
62
the place of the children and their points of interest. I think that if things are
done together, in the right manner, the children are empowered. The moment I
show interest in something (a rock, ant, ower, cloud in the sky, book, picture
and more) I create an initial stimulation for the children. I am a very warm
person. Beyond that my physical being is a problem. I am tall and large and
not exible. It is not easy for me to sit on the ground; I have physical limita-
tions, and am not 20 years old. I believe in tenderness, smiling, hugging,
which is a different form of femininity. I want to appear as a woman in my
photographs, to look good, but I am never happy with photographs taken of
me.
Analysis: In the photograph taken from above, Sari is seen engaging
with the children; there is physical proximity between the children and her.
She is the central gure and she is focusing their attention around a point of
interest. She is leaning forward, targeting on the point of interest with her
body. One child is leaning on her and the group is focusing on her explana-
tions. They are all carrying out the same activity and seem to concentrate on
what she is talking about. At the same time, she is taller and keeps a delicate
separation between herself and the children. Sari’s body posture is self-con-
tained, her hands serve as a barrier, and she does not invite further proxim-
ity. Sari would like to be part of their learning process and experience, but
acknowledges that she is in charge and decides. She is not seeking to create
a feeling of equality with the children and maintains a physical separateness
which works together with her professionalism. It seems as if her rigid body
posture distances her from the children, but at the same time there exists a
tenderness in her posture; the slight forward inclination of the body indicates
an internal reservation. This case study presents an imbalance between the
way she is presented in the photograph and the way she says would like to be
presented. She claims that she has yet to create the photograph that she will
feel comfortable viewing, that would express her feminism, at work, to her
approval.
Merav
Merav teaches in a small, local Jewish secular elementary school in the
center of Tel Aviv and is in charge of various other pedagogical functions
in the school, she has been teaching Hebrew grammar and language for 16
years. The classes run from rst grade to sixth grade. Her school has applied
a vision plan for the children to develop mutual respect for peers and for
teachers; the school tries to address the children’s needs through trust and
dialogue, by means of special educational programs and activities, developed
by the staff. This affects the norms of rapport and communication between
63
Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
children and teachers in this school. This photograph was taken by a mother
of one of the pupils whom Merav is friendly with and agreed to assist Merav
in creating her construction of the ideal image of teachingiv.
Figure 4. “I feel comfortable with my body, with my physical presentation,
with my height.”
Merav: I feel comfortable at work. I am relatively small, but I do not
pay attention to the question of height at work. I bend down often, I feel au-
thoritative with the children through my relationship with them. The children
accept me naturally. I believe in creating boundaries at work but at the same
time I am very close to the children emotionally, they conde their intimate
expediences with me. I display warmth to my pupils; I am an understanding
person and this is the part of the magic of my work. I like to move with ease
in the classroom, I feel natural in my school, in the class. I wear no masks of
rigidness and do not try to terrorize or frighten the children, I behave towards
them as equals and respect them, and they respect me back. I try to be under-
standing while treating them as equals. Experience has taught me to become
exible. My training as a teacher was very structured; I constructed my own
agendas from my personal teaching experiences and was able to ow with
my teaching methods and beliefs. I can maneuver between various functions
simultaneously; I can spread out between different tasks and feel comfortable
about it.
Analysis: The photograph of Merav emphasizes her positive relation-
ship with her students. She expresses her satisfaction from her work place
and claims that her rapport with her students makes room for emotional and
physical contact which seems to be reciprocated through the pupil’s body lan-
guage and smile. In the photograph Merav is kneeling on her feet and is situ-
ated below her student, on a lower step. Her pupil is looking down at her and
iv Photograph by Ruth Mandel Halevy
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
64
is empowered by the fact that her teacher is communicating with her from
below. Merav’s reference to her physical being and feeling of condence in
her physical presence can be seen in the photograph. Her condence might
also lean on her role as a senior staff member. The photograph shows how
that her physicality and exible posture work hand in hand with her peda-
gogical beliefs. Merav says she feels empowered through her relationships
with her pupils. She is able to teach them, guide them, befriend them and also
be authoritative, in a satisfying way. Her particular height has no resonance
in her work environment, to the point in which she feels comfortable being
photographed while crouching below a pupil, appearing even smaller than
her. She sees this as her strength.
Figure 5. “My professional persona is that of a motherly being, which I
consider feminine.”
Havatzelet
Havatzelet has been teaching for 32 years, and is the homeroom teacher
of third grade pupils in an elementary school in Jaffa, teaching Hebrew, read-
ing skills, math, bible lessons, and social skills. Her task is challenging be-
cause of the diverse population in the school. 50 % of the pupils are Jewish,
of which 10% are immigrants from Russia. The remaining 50% are Arabs;
Christian and Muslim residents of Jaffa. Havatzelet employs various strate-
gies in order to cope with the diversity of the population and to position
herself as an authoritative gure in the eyes of her pupils and her community,
making great efforts to bridge the political and cultural divide she encounters.
She is active in her school social life and after school programs. She founded
a community garden, in which local Arab and Jewish residents cultivate the
garden and interact. She has been successful in raising funds, volunteers and
involving the municipality as well as the local community in developing Arab
and Jewish social activities in the garden.
65
Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
Havatzelet: In my case, my femininity is part of my professionalism. It
has always been so. I chose to become a teacher when I was ten years old.
Teaching is an ideology for me and I connect it to motherhood. In my class I
consider myself as the mother of my pupils. My femininity is the tenderness I
show and my ability to contain everything, it helps me teach the material and
helps the pupils learn. I feel that they are absorbing what I teach them as if
they were feeding off of me. Motherhood is connected to nurturing and feed-
ing and breastfeeding, every child needs his mother. Everybody tells me that
in my class there is a different atmosphere, because of my motherly connec-
tion to my pupils. This is what little children need, a parental gure at school.
I am an adult, I am 55 years old and even at my age, in my graduate studies,
I connect to lecturers who behave and teach like me rather than to lecturers
who are distant, who only teach their material as if they were shooting at a
target range. A humanitarian approach is very important in the profession of
teaching, and I express it this way. It is also something I recognized with my
daughter, from when she was one year old, it is intuitive. This is how I suc-
ceed and push my students forward, like the case of a little boy (Arab) (her
pupil) who felt worthless and is now a successful lawyer.
Analysis: in the photograph, she is very close to the child, and is actually
sitting in the child’s chair, while the child is sitting on her knees. Her attire
in this photograph is one that resembles the casual attire of the children, both
wearing a headband, which indicates that she is not trying to create a barrier
by means of her attire. The child is smiling and cooperative. Their bodies
are intertwined; each one is extending a hand, one’s left hand and one’s right
hand, working together. Her embrace prevents the child from falling off her
knees, meaning that the situation is dependent on her embrace, at that mo-
ment. The seating appears to be uncomfortable and unsafe, which creates the
impression that this only took place for a few minutes, after which she might
have moved on to another pupil, extending herself once again to another
child. The seating presents them both at the same level, and the photograph
taken from above gives an overview of the other children in the class who
seem engaged in their work. The strong physical embrace is typical of her
close, intimate and caring rapport with the children she teaches.
Landeros writes “Elementary education in particular has traditionally
been viewed as woman’s eld, due to an emphasis on emotional care work
over the craft of teaching” (2011, p. 249). Havatzelet clearly identies her
teaching role as a motherly and feminine role, which involves emotional care
and she embraces these notions to the fullest. The visual signs in the photo-
graph correlate with her narrative and complement it with visual codes of
warmth, protectiveness, intimacy, proximity and caring.
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
66
Photographs Using Symbolism
Figure 6. “You love the children as if you gave birth to them yourself.”
Anat
Anat has been working as a kindergarten teacher for 20 years, with 4-5
year-old children. There are 32 children in her group. She chose to bring in
constructed images, taken at home, rather than at work.
Anat: The parents of the children in my kindergarten tell me that I am
amazing. They say “you love the children as if you gave birth to them your-
self”. The image of my pregnancy is a form of balance I am trying to create.
I merged existing photographs of my children inside of me and asked my own
children to support me, while being pregnant with my twins.
This second picture is a picture of knowledge, as I see it. I don’t feel
that it is enough to love and support children as a kindergarten teacher. It
is important to construct knowledge in the kindergarten. I am split between
my femininity and my professionalism. Am I making fun of myself? If so, then
humor has a great part in my life. I seem tired in the photograph, trying to
satisfy my needs, trying to construct knowledge, balancing and juggling be-
tween obligations.
Analysis: In her rst photograph, Anat manipulated an image on Photo-
shop, which presents herself and her children as a metaphor of her maternal
feelings at work. Anat chose to create another image that presents her profes-
sional aims and challenges, from a personal, humoristic point of view. The
kindergarten children are in her belly, supported by her sons. This seems
inuenced by the style of work of photography re-enactment of Jo Spence
and Rosy Martin (1988). Anat is observing herself from the outside and
67
Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
Figure 7. “Picture of knowledge.”
choosing the symbols necessary to convey her message, while controlling the
meanings and taking ownership over the possible interpretations. Anat is pay-
ing attention to the visual signs: the choice of books, which includes children’s
literature, a dictionary and the bible. The appearance of the weight of the books
is central, so that the mass of bulk of books hide her body and her hands. The
color marker in her mouth indicates that her teaching responsibilities may be
overwhelming. They load is presented in a physical form, as an obstruction af-
fecting her physique, in an unattering, though humorous way. In this frame,
she does not seem to be paying attention to her feminine presentation, nor that
of a being a motherly gure, such as in the rst photograph. Her professional
dilemmas override questions of gender, as seen in the photograph.
Ayala
Ayala has been teaching math in a Jewish secular middle school for 29
years, situated in an afuent neighborhood. There are 38 children in her class.
Ayala: A woman contains: she contains education in the physical sense;
she collects everyone together and gathers them. This is a feminine action,
collecting and containing. This manifests itself in my work; I receive new
pupils, gather them and contain them.
Analysis: In the photograph she is seen cradling a loaf of halla bread
in her hands. The halla bread is traditionally eaten in the Jewish religion as
part of the “Kiddush” ceremony on Friday nights, during the prayer celebrat-
ing the Sabbath. The word halla is similar to the Hebrew work “hahalla”,
which means-to contain. Ayala was playing with the sound and signicance
of the word, by conveying the message that she cradles and contains her
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
68
Figure 7. “I contain my students like a loaf of halla bread.”
pupils in the same manner she is cradling and containing the loaf of bread.
Before teaching math in this middle school she ran an old age home for four
years. This might indicate that she has a caring nature and is able to deal with
needy populations. The use of halla bread in the photograph enables Ayala to
present hers professional persona by means of a symbol. Being able to use a
metaphor to describe one’s workplace demands to be able to distance oneself
enough to be able to choose the one symbol that engulfs all the feelings into
one image. This usually comes from a feeling of empowerment and control.
The halla bread symbolizes her respect to her profession, rather than choos-
ing an everyday loaf of bread. In her photograph, her head is slightly tilted
to her right, which diminishes any sense of control that could be achieved by
standing straight. It creates vulnerability by exposing a moment of introspec-
tion rather than a direct return of gaze at the viewer. This slight tilt presents
a humane side of her that correlates with the symbol of cradling the loaf of
bread. Although she is facing the camera, her eyes are closed, she appears
to be pondering deep thoughts or possibly praying. The moments, along with
the long white tunic, seem spiritual. The impression is that Ayelet feels com-
fortable with the visual symbols she chose and is using them to convey her
emotions freely.
Using Photography
The teachers I approached were happy to participate in this research and
stated that the process itself was enlightening to them. The fact that the prod-
ucts of their course work were worthy of analysis and that their everyday
practices served as data for research raised their self-esteem. One of the most
common symbols I found was that of a tree; the teacher is often presented as
a trunk or as roots and the children are the leaves or the owers. I have also
69
Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
seen rainbows, sunrises and gorillas hanging from trees. The photographs I
have chosen for this study were those of the teacher’s who were willing to
being looked at and exposed.
The case studies have brought forth various discussions, all deriving
from personal experiences of the teacher’s work environment. The questions
related to issues such as: is there a return of the gaze? Is their body visible?
Are they hiding behind their children? Are they taller than the children? Is
anything missing in their photographs? What is present and what is absent in
the discourse and narratives that accompany the photographs? The uses of
visual signs in the photographs are diverse and each one is a universe in its
own right. The visual messages presented in the case studies vary between
creating boundaries, owing with the children, containing the children and
juggling between responsibilities. These are presented by means signs such
of embracing, crouching down, leaning forward, and shielding one’s body.
Part of the instruction given to the students was to aim at gaining con-
trol over their visibility at work while nding a proper way to present their
‘self’. The task was challenging, since the teachers who are used to being in
charge of their classes and pupils are transformed from subjects into objects,
exposed to viewers. The teachers exposed themselves to the viewers; their
inner world is presented to the viewers and to themselves, in order to be seen,
judged, and analyzed, which stands in contrast with the aim of gaining con-
trol over their image.
Barthes wrote about himself that when he is being photographed, he
feels ‘observed by the lens, everything changes: I constitute myself in the
process of “posing”, I instantaneously make another body for myself, I trans-
form myself in advance into an image’ (Barthes, 1984, p.10). Barthes implies
that only the snapshot is candid and that any other photograph taken is posed,
since the awareness denies a sense of naturalism. The teachers in this study
had to deal with the question of whether the photographs constitute a repre-
sentation of their personal, private selves or professional selves, or whether
there exists a distinction at all. If there is, then should a professional persona
of a teacher be a posed photograph, as in the photograph of Ayala while the
personal one should be snapshot style, as with Havatzelet? What I saw in
most of the photographs was rather a hybrid; one of naturalism combined
with pose. I saw that Merav calculated her height in relation to her pupil; Sari
leans over cautiously in order to be warm and affectionate.
Female Gender and Visual Stereotypes of Teachers
The study relates to how femininity manifests itself visually in their pho-
tographs, to the forms of presentation chosen by teachers and to their percep-
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
70
tion of gender in relation to their teaching practices. The profession of teach-
ing is highly gendered in Israel. Kulik (1976) explains that “when members
of one gender predominate in a given occupation, that occupation eventually
becomes sex typed. It is characterized as typical of the dominant gender and
atypical of the opposite gender” (p. 103). Interestingly, the narratives and ex-
planations given by the teachers to the chosen photographs indicate that they
mostly created images that are not based on conscious notions of gender ste-
reotypes or gender imagery. What we have seen is that female teachers, who
incorporate caring as a teaching strategy (Anat, Ayala, Havatzelet) incorpo-
rate physical attributes of caring into their work, which could be identied as
nurturing, or mothering. This is not presented as a contradiction, but rather as
a form of inclusion: a professional teacher is perceived as one who includes
feminine attributes of caring, nurturing, etc. This self-perception is not based
on how they are viewed by males or by society in general, but is rather deeply
ingrained in their role denition The teachers stated in general that they
view themselves fore mostly as professional teachers and that this profes-
sional persona embodies feminine traits and visual attributes of femininity.
The ndings show that all the teachers related to the notion of femininity in
relation to their profession in one way or another. There were two groups of
photographs, the rst group endorsed feminine and motherly attributes and
related to them in their narratives (as in the case of Ayelet, Merav, Anat and
Havazelet). The second group did not show clear signs of feminine visual at-
tributes (Sari and Iris) and was apologetic in explaining why they chose not
to, either based on physical reasons or professional choices.
Sari and Iris’s need to defend their photographs is a response to what
they thought the viewers expected to see. Rose (2012) explains that there
is a relation between image and audience; it is an internal relation which
manifests a mutual constitution of visual images and spectators (p. 155). The
photographs of the teachers are ‘viewed’ and the meaning that is constructed
is relative to interpretations brought to bear upon it by the viewers. Mulvey
(1989) wrote that women are used to being looked at, that that looking is
generally seen as an active male role while the passive role of being looked
at is immediately adopted as a female characteristic The pleasure of looking
is meant to satisfy the active male gaze; looking at the passive female. The
gaze in itself is a question of control and is code for power struggles. The
gaze participates in creating gender identity and relates to what she describes
as voyeurism, a way of seeing that is active and distances and objecties what
is looked at. Women are dependent on how men see them, the woman func-
tions as an image while the man is bearer of the look (p. 19). Mulvey states
that the female gaze is the same as the male gaze, this means that women
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Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
look at themselves through the eyes of men. Some of the photographs pre-
sented seem to have been created to be viewed and gazed (Ayala and Anat).
The others photographs show that teachers are actually busy teaching, there
is no conscious existing gaze in the image. In these cases (Merav, Havazelet
and Sari), the notion of the male gaze was also not part of the narrative of the
teachers.
Jacqueline Rose (2009) writes that “the sexuality lies less in the content
of what is seen rather than in the subjectivity of the viewer” (p. 411). The
viewers in this study constituted a safe audience and the images were intend-
ed for viewing in a context of non-dominant ways of seeing and observing,
the choices made were not constructed in relation to a passive role of “being
looked at.” Having said this, the visual constructions relate to subconscious
choices and are not often addressed openly. For instance - did they dress up
for the shooting? Did they opt to wear make-up? Were they concerned about
what male colleagues might say about the photographs? Iris addressed this
issue directly by bringing two photographs - one created by her female assis-
tant, a younger woman, and another created by her husband on holiday. The
latter one contains a return of the gaze, and is directed at the person who is
looking at her and photographing her. Her smile is pleasing and is a response
to a situation which existed prior to the shooting of the photograph. This is the
photograph she prefers, which presents her in dialogue with a male observer.
The return of the smile shows a recognition that her smile is acknowledged.
The photograph taken by her husband shows that she is not trying to be in
control, it has a submissive air to it, so that the male photographer is in con-
trol. Rose (2009) writes that “the image… submits to the sexual difference,
but only so far as reference itself is questioned by the work of the image” (p.
412). Iris is aware of how she appears while being observed by a male and
knows how to present herself visually to the male world, but acknowledges
that there is a diving line between her personal codes of presentation and her
professional ones. Lips (1993) claims that power is held to be unfeminine
and that women trying to exercise power behave in anti-feminine ways, in the
traditional sense (p. 106). Iris is trying to be in control at her workplace, and
cannot allow herself to appear to be submissive and in fact there are no signs
of feminine attributes or stereotypical female codes in her work photograph.
In general, gender attributes in relation to teaching involve caring, fe-
male teachers who incorporate caring as a teaching strategy often incorporate
physical attributes of caring into their work. The conventions of creating pho-
tographs containing visual codes of caring and nurturing are usually found
in childhood photograph albums, in which affection and love is presented in
the form of physical bonding and closeness (Barromi Perlman, 2012, p. 110).
Journal of Visual Literacy, Volume 33, Number 2
72
Embracing, body proximity and bending down and eye contact are visual
codes which are often adopted when photographing family children. These
are codes which indicate to the viewer that there exists a caring relationship.
This could explain why female teachers might unconsciously create images
which resemble mothering and position themselves as caretakers and mater-
nal gures at work. If we expect female teachers to behave this way and to
incorporate these visual outward presentations of caring, as presented in the
photographs, (such as in the case of Havatzelet), then we would be “sex typ-
ing” women (Borker, 1987). Sex typing is a notion introduced in relation to
women’s professions, one of which was teaching (p. 183). Borker wrote that
teaching was considered an acceptable profession for women in the US after
WW2 along with nursing (p. 182). It was considered an extension of the jobs
women traditionally did in the house hold, becoming a female profession.
This female profession has acquired feminine attributes and features, such as
caring.
Conclusion
The analysis of the photographs produced an insight as to how the teach-
ers perceive themselves and how they are able to present themselves to the
public. The photographs present suggestions and possible readings, each pho-
tograph in this research is an ‘ incomplete utterance’, a message that depends
on some external matrix of conditions and presuppositions for its readability,
such as presented in this study (Sekula, 1982, p. 85). What the contextual
framework of the study has brought to light is a phenomenon which is yet to
be determined. Do female teachers ultimately choose to photograph them-
selves at work, professionally, with feminine attributes? Is this a conscious
decision which is a result of sex typing and a result of the conception of the
profession of teaching as a nurturing, caring profession, suitable for women?
All in all, the teachers struggle with the notion of gender, either by embracing
it or denying it, but the case studies in this research, the notion of gender was
an underlying factor that was either addressed outwardly or indirectly. The
notion of teaching of kindergarten children and elementary school children
is associated with caring and nurturing; it is associated with teaching his-
torically and culturally and is accepted by the teachers themselves as part of
the denition of their role, as described in their narratives. The photographs
show that the teachers embrace these notions in a physical form and that they
constitute a strong part of their self-perception and personication of female
teachers in their work place.
The frame work of the study integrated a process of construction of
self-portraits as a means of self-investigation, aiming amongst other things,
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Barromi Perlman - Analysis of Signs and Symbols
to enable the teachers to claim control over images of teachers in schools,
which can lead to personal empowerment in the work environment. This can
be achieved by inuencing decision making regarding images of teachers at
schools in Israel, rather than leaving this to the school board to determine
how teachers should be photographed. Friere (1970) calls this a “process of
self- awareness through collective self-inquiry and reection (in Denzin and
Lincoln, 1994, p. 328). Over the years, many participants in the course have
gone through a process of self-investigation and reection as to how they
are presented in the school media and public relations, and in the eyes of the
staff and public in general. The feedback that I have received from them is
that the process has changed their attitude and opened their eyes. Some have
incorporated changes in the schools’ conventions of documenting teachers
and have introduced immediate changes in the school website, so that the
choice of photographs is carried out in accord with the teachers themselves.
This raises the hope that the visual platform of presenting teachers in schools
will be considered, thought out and done with respect and appreciation of the
needs of the teachers.
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