Further to Andrew Crouch’s five questions of a cultural artefact, another question relating to visual artefacts, but potentially other stuff too. Of course, the two sets of questions are exclusive; we could argue that questions 2,3 and 5 are likely to elicit similar responses.

In an essay about visual culture, W.J.T. Mitchell (editor, Critical Inquiry) suggests that, “…the questions to ask about images are not just, ‘what do they mean?’ or ‘what do they do?’ but ‘what do they want?’” The question of what images want sets up the proposition for a more ethical reading of images, one that reveals the social, cultural, and political entanglements embedded therein. So what does a photograph of a polar bear stranded on a melting ice cap want?

via Worldchanging: Bright Green: Proposal Toward Visual Eco-Criticism.