Flashback to all the events in your childhood that molded you into the person you are today. Many people have different memories that they recall as important throughout their childhood. In the visual essay, “Journey through Childhood” by Sarah Kanuch, she takes readers through her childhood and shows them important events that molded her to who she is. She shows readers the importance of education through her use of repeating images, colors in the photos, and the layout of the images throughout the essay. 

Throughout the visual essay, readers can feel how important education is in childhood due to the repetition images that have to do with school. Four of the six photos show the girl in some area of education. The first photo of the essay may be the most important one, as it shows the first day of school. Since essay starts off with the first day of school, readers get the immediate feeling that school is an important factor in the author’s life. Just like the reader may remember their first day of school, they can tell that the girl is nervous for her first day based on her body language. Readers can see the nervousness of the girl because she has her hands clinched down by her side and she is gripping onto her shorts tightly. The young girl’s smile also looks like it is forced which helps to create the understanding that she is nervous. Readers can see that the smile is forced because it is a weak smile. Her smile is not showing teeth like the boy next to her is. The girl looks as if she is trying to smile for the picture but is not excited enough to give a true smile. In the fourth image readers are shown the girl in school again as they see her in her first year of high school. The girl looks more comfortable about school in this picture which can be seen by the girl’s body language. She is more relaxed than she was in the photo showing the first day of school which can be seen by the unforced smile on her face. There is no clinching of her hands or tension in her face but she is just relaxed and enjoying her time. She is also shown with another girl, that we can assume is her friend, and the two of them are holding awards. The girl is most likely less nervous about school by this age and winning an award shows that she is involved in school and achieving her goals. The final two pictures of the essay show the girl at her high school graduation and moving to college. In both the pictures, the girl looks extremely happy as she has a large smile on her face. In the picture that shows the girl at her graduation, readers see that see is standing up tall which they can then realize that the girl is proud of her accomplishment of graduating high school. Readers can also see that the photo is taken outside which can be interpreted as the girl’s first step out into the real world. She is no longer protected by the walls in school, but now all the decisions she makes are hers alone. In the photo of the girl moving to college, readers can see how excited she is to start college by her body language and her clothing. The girl is leaning on the college sign which can be interpreted as the girl is leaning on the school because she feels comfortable where she is and is excited for her next educational journey. Readers can also see that she is excited to be going to the school because she is wearing a shirt and hat that represents the school she has picked. The author choosing to put four pictures related to school into her essay shows the readers that education was an important part of her childhood and helps put an emphasis on how important education is throughout everyone’s childhood.  

Colors are usually not something readers pay close attention to, but the colors that are used throughout this visual essay help the reader feel the mood of the memories. There are many bright colors and none of the pictures are black and white. Due to the multiple colors, readers are able to feel that all the memories are happy memories. The best example of the colors helping set the mood is in the fifth picture which is of the girl’s high school graduation. In the background, we can see a bright blue sky which helps to show that it was a nice day outside. It gives the reader the feeling of not only it being a nice day regarding the weather but also with the event going on. Readers also see rays of sunlight beaming down onto the girl and her friend’s face which they can interpret as a spotlight being on them for their accomplishment of graduating high school. Readers can see an example of this again in the final picture of the essay as the photo shows there is a lot of shade but the sunlight is directed down onto the girl. It can be interpreted as her spotlight for the effort she has put in that got her to where she is today. The quality of each image also has an impact on the mood the readers feel when they see them. The pictures are clear which allows readers to see clearly what is happening. If the pictures were not clear, readers could feel like the events were not as important since the girl wouldn’t have a clear memory of them. Overall, every image has multiple colors which plays a key role in setting the authors mood throughout the entire visual essay.  

The layout of all the images in a visual essay can play a large part on a reader’s understanding of the photos. In “Journey through Childhood” there are two photos on each page with space between the two of them for a caption. Having only two photos per page it makes it so that the photos aren’t cluttered. When they aren’t cluttered readers can focus on each pictures detail and interpret their meaning. With just two photos per page, it also can be interpreted as those photos have relations to each other. The author could have grouped the photos into twos based on the point in childhood that they were taken at. The photos were also placed on a white background which plays a role in the focus of the images. When placed on a white background we are able to focus on the details and the colors of each image versus being distracted by the color that is behind the picture. When a reader sees that the visuals are placed on a white background, they can immediately focus all their attention onto the photos which puts more emphasis on the importance of each photo and its individual details. The author is also using personal images versus another form which helps a reader to feel like the visual essay is more personal. If the author used images from clip art or other sources, it would not be as personal and therefore the reader may not take as strong of an interpretation as they can get with the personal images. The layout of the photos and them being placed on the white background help to guide the reader in their understanding of the photos.

Visuals can be just as powerful as words when trying to convey a message to a group of readers. The theme of visual text can be determined through visual features that can be found throughout the essay. Readers can interpret the theme of the visual essay “Journey through Childhood” by looking at the visual features the author used. Her use of repetiting images helps to show the emphasis she has about education throughout childhood. Her use of color and the layout of the images also plays a role in the readers being able to analyze her photos and see how important education was throughout her childhood. 
