Visual Methodologies for Communication Studies : making the familiar Strange and interesting again

The Spring School on Advanced Methodologies for Communication Studies [1] was organised with the aim of exploring questions concerning both the multiple dimensions of communication methodologies at the intersection of culture and communication, and innovative methods for designing communication research and interrogating objects of analysis. This paper reflects my contribution to this discussion, Visual Methodologies; which is embedded within the data production and analysis approaches I have adopted researching within the fields of psychology and sociology. The paper embeds creative modes of data production within the field of visual studies and draws on research conducted with mothers and their daughters in south Wales, UK, focusing on issues of familiarity, creativity and interpretation. Lastly, the paper reflects on why it is important for students and practitioners in communication studies to have the analytical tools to decipher the meanings that the image maker intended, as well as the meanings later assigned to visual images.