This book develops a new theory and practice of Freirean art literacy based on decolonial principles. It investigates the implementation of Freire's ideas in the context of middle school visual arts education based on the author's research and experience of teaching in Italy and Europe and drawing on art works and theory from Brazil, Chile and Africa. Vismara offers an auto-ethnographic analysis of personal experiences of art teaching, educational tools, workshops, and strategies. She proposes an innovative and decolonial approach to school planning that starts from the students' words and world. Artists' words, youth street culture, imagination, and the iconography of mass images are presented throughout the book as examples of how educators can use visual art to develop the process of Freirean conscientization with their students. This book rediscovers and reinvents Freire's ideas, applying his critical and political approach to visual arts literacy in new theoretical and practical ways.

Gisella Vismara is a visual art educator and school teacher. She earned her BA in Art, Music, and Entertainment (DAMS) and a specialization in Visual Art Teaching at Bologna University, Italy. She taught “Museum Education” at Brera Academy of Fine Arts (2006-2020). She collaborates with the Lucio Saffaro Foundation. She has written books and articles concerning school, art education, museum didactics, cinema, art criticism, and literature. In 2023, she received a Ph.D. in Art Theory and Cultural Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna concerning Freire and visual art teaching.