“Years ago, Susan Sontag famously called for an ‘ecology of images’. This book answers the call through imaginative and illuminating explorations of the embodied and contextual ways in which we encounter the images saturating our lives. The contributors not only analyze but exemplify ‘seeing whole,’ thereby demonstrating that critique need not lose its ethical depth and political edge when delighting in the wondrous elements of the visible world.”Mark ReinhardtClass of 1956 Professor of American Civilization, Chair of American Studies, Williams College“As we all know, but don’t reflect on enough, seeing is an act, not a passive absorption, and that act is social. It is also encompassing, not fragmented by the proverbial blinders. These essays explore the consequences of this elementary property of seeing in a great variety of domains, times, and situations. The complex world of the visual comes alive, gains in depth, range, and complexity. Seeing whole is seeing better, as the Introduction states. The book presents a great variety of aspects of what that means.”Professor Mieke BalCultural theorist and critic, video artist, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam