Vol. 17 No. 7 (2025): Critical Visualities and New Cultural Narratives in the Postdigital Era

Coordinators: 

Dr Luis Rodrigo Martín, University of Valladolid.

Dr Almudena Barrientos-Baez, Complutense University of Madrid.

Dr Joan Francesc Fondevilla, University of Girona.

The so-called postdigital era, characterised by the constant entwinement of the physical and the digital, has opened up new possibilities for the creation, circulation, and reappropriation of images. Within this context, visual narratives are not neutral: they are imbued with ideology, emotion, memory, and power. They challenge us as social subjects, citizens, consumers, and embodied beings in relation to others. Through them, narratives are constructed around war, gender, success, nationhood, marginality, or technology—often naturalised within media, artistic, and institutional discourses.

This special issue stems from a critical intention: to examine how these visualities operate across diverse symbolic territories, from political campaigns to audiovisual true crime; from the representation of women in precarious labour sectors to emerging forms of feminist or anti-racist visual activism; from inclusive museographic strategies to the cultural regeneration of public space through urban art.