Artwork Descriptions
Visual Art
The Basics | Artwork Descriptions and Alt-text
Alt Text
Alt text is used exclusively in digital spaces, such as websites, social media, or digital documents and presentations. These short descriptions tell people what is in an image, such as text or basic essential details. If an image fails to load, alt text will display in its place. People who use screen readers also depend on Alt text to get a brief description of the image that they may not be able to see. Search engines also index alt text information and consider it a factor when determining search engine ratings.
Alt text should be about 140 characters (or a short sentence or phrase) this is the basic or essential information about the image. (You should create and include alt-text with any digital presentations of your artwork, such as on your website, social media posts, digital publication or virtual exhibitions.) See more details in the Digital Presentations of Artwork section.
Artwork Description
An Artwork description - or an image description in a digital context - gives more details than alt text; it allows someone to learn more about what is depicted in the artwork, as well as the material aspects of the work. Where alt text gives someone the most important information, an artwork description provides further descriptive and contextual detail. Writing an artwork description is an opportunity to expand accessibility while also creating an iterative version of your work that engages a different form of communication. While writing an artwork description consider the style of words, tense, length of sentence, or other creative writing techniques to create a description that best pairs with your work.
An Artwork Description should be about 50 to 100 Words (roughly 250 to 500 characters) two to four sentences with more details and context about the artwork. You can also consider including a little information about materials and process, if you like - this might help the reader better understand the materiality of the artwork.
Guidelines for Writing Artwork Descriptions
Consider an artwork description as additional part of your “artwork information” (such as title, material, dimensions, year created.) You should include an Artwork Description and Alt-text whenever this other information is required.
Start with the container. Folks that rely on image descriptions find it helpful to know the setting (“the container”) at the beginning of an image description, so the details aren’t “floating around in a void.” In the first phrase or sentence, be sure to include the setting (e.g. in a bedroom, on the beach, inside a yurt.)
Like a funnel, begin with the big picture and then describe finer details until you run out of space. We don’t want to be so focused on the “thin washes of blue” and “collaged newspaper strips that are pasted on top of something textured” that we fail to mention that it’s a composition of a person walking their dog.
Consider how you would describe the image to someone over the phone. Try to consider what information might be most important to a Blind or low-vision person and focus on conveying that in your artistic voice, versus explaining every visual detail of the artwork.
What details are most important to you? What visual information do you feel is okay to leave out of the description? Do you want to reveal information in the description (such as the specific ethnicity of the people depicted) that might not be evident in the visual artwork?
As long as you make sure the description serves its function as an accessibility feature, you can make creative choices that compliment your artwork. Consider the tense, type of adjectives, length of sentences, etc.
Include references to your process and materials within the description to help people who can see or touch the work better understand the artwork’s material qualities
Objectivity vs. Subjectivity: There are differing opinions about what information to include in regards to describing physical characteristics of humans. Some people believe that all information related to gender, race, use of mobility devices, or any other physical characteristic, should be left out of image descriptions. However, many others say this denies the people represented in the image an important aspect of their identity. Whichever you choose, the important thing is to be completely consistent across all of your descriptions.
Recommendations regarding describing physical characteristics: Include appropriate identifiers for all human figures, including gender (or gender expression) and race/ethnicity/skin tone, and disability. Be as specific as possible, and use “presenting” language if you do not know the person’s identifiers (e.g. male-presenting or white-presenting). Include any other identifiers that may be central to the subject matter, or essential to the person shown (such as the use of mobility devices, hair color, or attire). Ideally, as the artist you will be familiar enough with the human subjects in your work to identify them accurately.
Test the image description with a screen reader to know what it sounds like; a screen reader can be added as an extension onto your browser (for Chrome, we recommend the Google Screen Reader extension) or downloaded on to your computer (we recommend the commonly-used and free NV Access screen reader)
As an additional layer of creative accessibility, you might want to create audio versions of your artwork descriptions to be used on your website or as an audio guide in an exhibition of your work. In a digital space, this can provide a more human alternative to a description read by a screen reader.
Examples
Example | Visual Artwork
Patricia Kalidonis | Remote Connection No. 6 | Mixed Media on unstretched canvas | 21 by 24 inches | 2020
Artwork Description | Vibrant color blocks and ghostly, overlapping lines on naturally colored canvas depict a conversation on zoom. A large rectangle encompasses the photo of a bald white man with thickly framed glasses seen only from the chest up. The lower half of his face and his shoulders are covered by opaque light blue paint. Intertwining, multicolored outlines of the same man crowd the screen-shaped box. Beneath the man within the box are four small rectangles filled with blurry purples and blues. Paint drips of orange, magenta, light blue and navy fall from the bottom of the small boxes to the lower edge of the canvas.
Alt Text | An abstracted portrait of a Zoom conversation in vivid colors and overlapping ghost lines.
Learn More
Creative Approaches to Artwork Description
Alt Text as Poetry
Alt Text as Poetry by Shannon Finnegan and Bojana Coklyat | Created by two Disabled artists - Finnegan and Coklyat - based in New York City, the Alt-text as Poetry project uses conventions of poetry, such as “attention to language, word economy, and experimental spirit” to create and explore Alt-text. In the artists’ words:
“Framing alt text as a type of poetry allows us to approach it with some of the ideas and strategies that have been developed by poets. That said, we’re not interested in producing alt text poetry that exists outside of making the internet more accessible. We recognize that others have used alt text and code as inspiration and media for poetry, but for us, increasing website accessibility remains the first and most important condition of alt text’s poetic potential.”
Check a couple Alt-text as Poetry virtual workshops to learn more about creative approaches to writing Alt-text:
Megan Bent
Megan Bent is a lens-based artist interested in the malleability of photography and the ways image-making can happen beyond using a traditional camera. This interest started to occur after the diagnosis of a progressive chronic illness. Drawn to image-making processes that reject perfection, accuracy, or any certainty in results, she is interested instead in processes that reflect and embrace her disabled experience; especially interdependence, impermanence, care, and slowness.
Bent includes Artwork (Image) Descriptions with all of her artwork. If you are interested in seeing an example of Image Descriptions for Installation artwork documentation, take a look at her Entanglement of Movement and Memory II series webpage.
Resources about Artwork Descriptions
The following resources offer a great introduction to image descriptions and alt text as an element of accessibility. These articles and videos provide essential guidelines for image description and alt text and how they can be applied to artwork. Please review these resources, as you start to think about how you can incorporate alt text, image description, and other accessibility features into your art practice.