If you know me an my philosophy for / with children (p4wc)  work you know that I'm a big fan of Wonder Ponder. I have all the games / book and I do a lot of #p4wc workshops that start with one of Wonder Ponder thinking provocations. 

We recently had Ellen Duthie as a guest on #chatp4c, a Twitter chat organized by Jane and Gina, focusing on discussions about #p4wc and education. In each edition, we invite a guest to delve into a particular topic. On June 13th, Ellen Duthie led us in exploring the realm of visual philosophy. 

I greatly admire Ellen's work and have taken numerous courses with her, which I highly recommend. I'm thrilled to be part of the #chatp4c team and I loved hosting this edition.

The Twitter chat was so intense that it inspired me to write this blog post. I invite you to read this blog post and experience our discussion firsthand.

What is Wonder Ponder? Who is Wonder Ponder?

Wonder Ponder is at least 3 things, maybe more! It is a publishing project based in Spain but also published in Germany, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil (also available in English). Wonder Ponder is also a programme of philosophy and art workshops for all ages at schools, public libraries and museums, as well as a teacher training programme and online academy. was founded in 2014 by Ellen Duthie, Raquel Martínez Uña (editor) and Daniela Martagón (illustrator). Since 2017 we also direct FLAI,  a course on philosophy, literature, art and childhood held every year in Albarracín (Spain). 

What is Visual Philosophy? 

Though many kinds of images are used as provocation/stimulus for enquiry, the visual philosophy images we create at Wonder Ponder are carefully and creatively composed to provoke questions and thought. They are deliberately philosophical. 

Illustration is used in p4c materials, but it is often decorative or accessory, rarely adding meaning or philosophical complexity to the text. With what we call visual philosophy, we could say that the images are the text.

I asked Ellen about visual philosophy, if it is a result of your philosophy for / with children's work. The anwers was YES: "it started within a project at a Spanish state school, and when we developed it into the first book, the creative and editorial process was carried out with children of all ages in philosophy sessions, observing, correcting and improving as we went along."

Promoting dialogues about cruelty

I was quite curious about the book / game Cruelty Bites, the first of the Wonder Ponder series. Why did Wonder Ponder choose cruelty as a topic? 

Cruelty Bites invites readers of all ages to look at and think about a collection of 14 thematically connected illustrated scenes designed to provoke questions, reactions, reconsideration of our initial reactions and comparisons between the different scenes.

Cruelty is both repulsive and fascinating, or at the very least puzzling, which makes it a perfect topic from an age where kids are learning to navigate the limits of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable to do to others and for others to do to you

 

What are the advantages of using visual philosophy to help us think about sensible topics, like cruelty? Ellen answered:  "Using visual philosophy images can be different from using other kinds of images. Because we purposely load the image with all the ambiguity we want, with all the nuances and all the counterpoints we wish, they often make for particularly rich inquiries. It incorporates the possibility of comparing and making connections between complex scenes from an early age, as well as an opportunity for readers to become authors, by making their own Wonder Ponder images and becoming provokers, as well as being provoked."

(Here's an example of a Wonder Ponder scene I drawned:) 

During the Twitter chat, we discussed upcoming books and explored the role of visual philosophy in museums. You must follow the hashtag #chatp4c on Twitter to know all about this juicy conversation.

Please take a look at those links to learn more about #chatp4c team and Wonder Ponder:

- Jane Yates

- Gina Parker

- Wonder Ponder website & linktree