Visual Storytelling Through the Lens of Legal Perspectives: Understanding Colorado’s Stalking Laws

Visual storytelling has become a powerful way of publicizing a message about a serious topic. Through the still image, the art of telling a story, one can virtually take an emotional journey and explore the intricacies of life without over-expounding or antagonizing the viewer to the point that they disassociate from the message. By incorporating the work of secretly talented photographers, like Stephanie Alison, whose work is both captivating and chilling, who provides both the emotional content and frequency of visual impact capable of evoking real thought about the subject, one can learn about the dark corners of our city’s culture that police and prosecutors deal with on a daily basis and thereby gain insight into your own emotional history and state of being. Let’s explore the intricacies of the legal issues surrounding stalking by looking at a photograph that captures their essence and lets the viewer see the effect of such a law. Any artist can tell you that the emotional expression of a piece, the nuances, the weight and message behind it needn’t be stated. It need only convey the emotions of the situation effectively. Watch what happens when you let the art do the talking. A photograph can bring life to any narrative by unearthing a profound emotional message. The art of visual storytelling becomes a platform for contemplation as art embodies a story onto itself ? about life lived, experiences had and will be had, incorporating all of the emotion of human existence. How a photograph makes you feel is a good indicator as to whether or not it resonates with you. Take for example the following: Maybe there’s something here that brings attention to a legal topic that needs to be studied more closely. Legal photos are used to explain how a process works and to show what ends up becoming the legal topic under review. Using art to capture the emotion found in our legal systems used to punish and protect those victimized by behaviors and acts that violate their very existence, and to educate our society about modern law and how it should be applied to protect these victims, is the key to helping people see with their eyes, ears and hearts what the law is meant to accomplish. Photos tell us stories, and this photograph tells us the story of adults who engage in outdated conceptions of acceptable relationship behavior. Instead, stalking, harassment, intimidation, menacing and other crimes of violation have been isolated and renamed by the modern legal conscience. One can see the emotional impact of a legal incident in terms of obstacles and perhaps literal separation from a marital partner by the photo at the top of this post. Artists find a way to evoke the emotions of complex legal issues in a way that is accessible to the viewer. Photos convey the emotional impact of a particular situation within the realm of a legal case. Photography elevates the theme so that the emotional impact can be conveyed and understood with one glance and one breath. When used correctly, visual imagery enhances our understanding of the emotional impact of the impact of laws and behaviors. A picture will more quickly evoke a trusted human memory vs. having to dig through repressed and hidden emotions in order to recall how you felt about a similar situation. By aligning modern artists with those in the legal profession, we can more quickly and easily overcome emotional stasis and apathetic outlooks towards what stalking really is and how it affects people. Incorporating some legal topics into visual art and photography can help bring about deeper emotional understanding and transference. Maybe there’s a reason the website exists. Perhaps a clearinghouse is needed to show everyone how laws are being treated in modern society. The show may simply break down the legal experience for the observer to translate into normalcy. We see event after event over the last ten years where stalking has become a regular phenomenon in modern society. Perhaps the law just hasn’t had enough time to catch up with what we have now come to expect. Whatever the case may be, visual storytelling should help you understand the laws around stalking on a deeper, more personal level.