What is Visual Rhetoric?

Visual Rhetoric is defined by the Dictionary of Visual Discourse: A Dialectical Lexicon of Terms as:

The Discourse pragmatics of visual representations:

• A synonym for ‘visual discourse’ (or videology)
• A term for the analysis of visual discourse, the structures, processes and functions of visual rhetoric, imagery, and so on, in human practices and culture (one domain of logological enquiries);
• Understood metaphorically, a term for the forms and contents of visual culture.

This definition is further expanded by Janis Edwards in 21^st Century Communication: A Reference Handbook as “rhetorical expressions in visual form.” Edwards continues by explaining that images such as protest signs and political cartoons qualify as visual rhetoric in that they “feature a visual image that functions to convey meaning.”