Summary：

This open toolkit guides learners through a connected and systematic sequence of observing, questioning, comparing, and rewriting in response to a contemporary artwork. The process emphasises interpretation as a constructive act shaped by perspective rather than correctness. To support online learners who lack real-time interaction, this version includes a collective comment section at the end, where participants can share insights, see others’ reflections, and learn through comparison. 

Learning Outcomes: 

1. 1. Describe an artwork using concrete visual evidence.

   2. Recognise how cultural, historical, and curatorial contexts shape meaning.

   3. Produce an interpretive output in any format they prefer (text, wall label, notes, audio, etc.).

   4. Engage with peer reflections to expand their own interpretive perspectives.

Step 1: Initial Response (2 mins)

At the beginning of the exercise, a short moment is spent simply looking at the artwork and noting down their most immediate, unfiltered response. This could be a feeling, a brief impression, or even a single word that comes to mind. The aim is to capture the intuitive reaction that emerges before any analysis, as this often forms the basis for later interpretation.

We take Santiago Yahuarcani’s artwork as an example:

Santiago Yahuarcani, Sin título (Untitled) 2021, natural pigments and acrylic on llanchama, 60 x 87 cm. © Santiago Yahuarcani. Photo: CRISIS Galler.

To activate intuitive response and to articulate immediate affective and visual reactions.

Step 2: Seeing Otherwise (3 mins)

The response is then written down and examined more closely. Rather than moving away from the initial reaction, it is deepened by considering what in the artwork may have prompted that feeling or association. In this process, a vague or intuitive response gradually becomes more articulate, as the emotional reaction is traced back to specific visual elements within the work.

Step 3: Using Prompt Card: Seeing Through a Lens (5 mins)

Learn to observe with questions, experience different frameworks of interpretation. Choose one of the four prompt cards and respond to any question that you find interesting and helpful：

1. Relations & Perspective

• Who is in control and who is being observed?
• What does the positioning or scale in the image reveal?
• From whose perspective is this work meant to be viewed?

2. Context & Background

• How is this work connected to the cultural, historical, or narrative contexts you know?
• Would the meaning of this work change if it were set in a different time or place?
• Does it address a particular social issue or belief?

3. Form & Visual Language

• Which forms, colors, materials, or sounds stand out the most?
• How do repetition, rhythm, or contrast affect your feelings?
• Do these forms suggest a metaphor or emotion?

4. Display & Experience

• How would you display it if you were the curator?
• Can space, lighting, and placement affect understanding?
• What role do viewers play in the work?

The four categories represent four perspectives of curatorial thinking, and the question is more important than the answer.

Step 4: Text Reading: Contextual Insight (3 mins)

Learners read short curatorial texts and highlight the key terms.

Before reading the curatorial excerpts, a brief introduction of the artist is given to support contextual understanding： 

“Santiago Yahuarcani is an Indigenous painter from the Amazon region of Peru, whose work is rooted in his familial and communal heritage. His practice reflects both the pain of loss and the love of family in sacred storytelling. Yahuarcani works on large-scale surfaces made from llanchama (a bark cloth made from the ojé tree), and employs natural pigments drawn from the Amazonian environment. His imagery draws heavily on Indigenous cosmologies, ancestral narratives, and the cultural memory of colonial and ecological violence – particularly the devastation of the rubber boom era. In his art, animals like pink river dolphins, mythic hybrid creatures, and luminous particles serve as visual metaphors for displacement, transformation, resistance and healing. Understanding this background helps learners see beyond formal appearance: the gestures of embrace, predation or ceremonial dance in his work are not merely decorative, but echo deeper narratives of belonging, loss, and regeneration.”[1]

Understanding this background helps to recognise why in this work you might see figures such as dolphins, mythic creatures, spirits, and gestures of embrace or danger – and appreciate how these visual motifs convey multiple layers of meaning beyond pure aesthetics.

For this artwork Santiago Yahuarcani, Sin título (Untitled) 2021, I will paste the readings below.

“…the work Untitled (2021) which shows a series of pink river dolphins embracing mermaid-like creatures. The dolphins have symbolic value in Uitoto culture but become predators in Yahuarcani’s painting, reflecting the “deceit and danger of outsiders with exploitative behaviour”, says a wall text, which explains that colonial violence at the time of the rubber boom re-shaped elements of Indigenous cosmology.”[2]

Step 5: Compare and Reframe (7 mins)

“Curators display objects… along with associated images and texts, and thereby produce interpretations for visitors; meanwhile visitors deploy their own interpretive strategies to make sense of the objects, the displays and the experience of the museum as a whole.”[3]

Revisit the earlier notes and place them in dialogue with the curator’s interpretation. Identify any differences, unexpected points, or shifts in understanding that emerge from this comparison. Focus on how framing, context, and perspective influence the interpretation of the artwork rather than seeking a single correct reading.

After considering these insights, consolidate the initial intuition, visual observations, contextual information and comparative reflections into a final interpretive outcome. Present the interpretation in any preferred format: curatorial text, wall label, or reflective paragraph. Aim to express a position that is both personally grounded and contextually informed, shaped through the process of moving between one’s own perspective and the interpretive frameworks encountered.

Comment Section

After completing the final step, you are invited to post your interpretive outcome in the comment section. This may include your final reflection. Reading others’ responses encourages comparative thinking and expands the interpretive possibilities generated through the toolkit.

References: 

[1] Horacio Ramos, Santiago Yahuarcani, “As the Amazon Shrinks, the Message Grows Louder.” MoMA Magazine, December 17, 2024, accessed November 25, 2025, https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1161.

[2] Gareth Harris, “From a Football Feast to Deceitful Dolphins: Three Art Exhibitions Not to Miss at the Manchester International Festival,” The Art Newspaper, July 4, 2025, accessed November 18, 2025, https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/07/04/from-a-football-feast-todeceitful-dolphins-three-art-exhibitions-not-to-miss-at-the-manchester-international-festival.

[3] Eilean Hooper-Greenhill, Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture (London: Routledge, 2000): 124.