Representation of Rays

EXPLORING THE CONTRADICTORY REPRESENTATIONS OF RAYS THROUGHOUT HISTORY, CULTURE, AND THE MEDIA

This leaflet was designed as part of my Visual Culture module, looking at the representations of rays throughout history, culture and media. This project looks at how different cultures view rays and why this is - there are many parts of the world where rays play a significant role in their culture. 

As well as different cultures, this project looks at how rays are represented in modern popular culture. Rays have appeared in both children’s animated films and the horror genre. Examples like this influence how the audience views animals so they have a significant impact on the portrayal of the animal world.

The idea of this leaflet is to show the stark differences in representation through history, culture, and media. This is shown through colour choices, imagery and information. One side of the leaflet shows a positive timeline of representation with imagery of Manta rays and bright fun colours. This reflects positive representations in media - specifically children's animated films. The other side of the leaflet shows a negative timeline, noting all the times, cultures, and media examples that have villainised rays. This side of the leaflet is a murkier grey colour to reflect the negative representations in media.  

The leaflet is designed to show different information and imagery depending on which angle you look at it - to visually reflect all the different viewpoints through history and culture. 

To the left is the full unfolded leaflet. Below is all four angles of the leaflet.