Standing in the Ottawa Art Gallery I stumbled across this one wall with a large canvas that was painted a light green. That was it! A one tone light green canvas. It was the only piece on that wall and it took up the majority of it. What message did this piece have? What was going through the artist’s mind when they painted this? Was it supposed to represent something? As I stood there, I thought of the phrase “green with envy”. Was jealousy the motivation of this piece? I guess with such a massive and uninviting canvas any meaning can be conjured up by anyone.
Sturken and Cartwright wrote in this chapter about looking at something versus seeing and how our lives are surrounded by visual images with all their own meanings. Also each of these images makes us feel different emotions. Much like the large green painting made me think and feel jealousy. Seeing is something we do on a daily basis but looking is an action we choose to do or not to do. When we look at an image we interpret the meaning which may be different for someone else but our own meaning helps us understand our world around us.
When it comes to images and what they represent I guess it depends on where you grew up and how you were raise. Each culture has its own images and words to represent the world. When they used the example of Rene Magritte’s The Treachery of Images (1928-29) it made the definition of representation clearer. This is a painting of a pipe. So some people might wonder why he put the phrase “this is not a pipe” underneath it. Many people would argue with this statement but it is true. This is, in fact not a pipe but merely a representation of a pipe. Both images and words can be used to describe the things around us. Using my example above, the color green has many representations. Since it is not an image of anything it leaves the piece open to the viewer.
Photographs are images that are used for telling the truth or proving something. They are also images that can carry a meaning in a subjective or objective way. Many might argue that a photograph of evidence for courtroom would be objective but in a way you would have to think of the investigator who took the picture. “What is the best way represent this object as a piece of evidence?” they might ask themselves while choosing a frame. I personally think all photographs that are both perspectives. Other examples include family, vacation, and birthday photos; all of these are used to prove these events took place (objective). The subjective part comes into play when questions are asked to whoever is taking the photo. “What would be the best lighting?” “What type of frame do I want to capture?” Also making sure that Grandma Blanche is in the photo! Each part of photography has an objective and subjective aspect to it.
When we look at an image that holds the same meaning as everywhere else it is called ideology. Sturken and Cartwright define ideology “ as the broad but indispensable, shared set of values and beliefs through which individuals live out their complex relations to a range of social structures” Things like nationalism, freedom, and the importance of family\home are everyday feelings. When it comes to ideologies I think it would be more common in a culturally diverse city rather than a small tight-knit community.
Many times when we view an image that is commonly known , another culture may have a different meaning for it. Using the formula that Roland Barthes (a French theorist) created we can see how one image can have multiple meanings.
Using different elements from different images create a new sign. For example the large green painting from my trip to the gallery could look like this:
That is just one sign of many that can be created.
