Orientation to picture–based communication. Paper presented at Culture NERA´s 34th Congress, University of Turku, Faculty of Education, March 15 – 17

What makes an aesthetic practice communicative? A wide view of language as opposed to a narrow view of verbal language is the focus of this presentation. Pictures are significant as signs, communicating how a person refers to and thinks about the world. Generally we do not count the hand-drawn picture (chirographic) as a statement. The informants in this study are students at an art school. They are mentally retarded and have a minor intellectual dysfunction. A theoretical framework called the "educational socio-semiotic perspective" (Ahlner & Malmström 1998) forms the basis of the present analysis. The world is recognised and interpreted by means of signs; signs allow us to speak of, refer to and think about how we think. The present research demonstrates with the aid of observations, interviews and picture analysis how a unique aesthetic practice can usefully employ participation and acknowledgement to enable the members to develop presence of mind and artistic uniqueness. The matrix of an extended social picture ground developed by the author has clear benefits, particularly with regard to the explication processes of aesthetic learning and meaning construction.