Alex Potts- Sign

Roland Barthes- Extracts from Camera Lucida

"One day, quite some time ago, I happened on a photograph of Napoleon's youngest brother, Jerome, taken in 1852.  And I realized then, 

with an amazement I have not been able to lessen since: 'I am looking at eyes that looked at the Emporer.' "  Thus begins Barthes series of essays where he attempts to link the photograph with his own reality.  These essays were written while Barthes was still in mourning over the death of his mother, and the many of them document his search for a photograph of his mother that truly embodies her essence. 

While going through these photographs of his mother, Barthes wrestles with the connections between the image, time, and death.  He is attempting to do what is nearly impossible in looking for the "truth of the face I had loved."  Yet he finds what he seeks in the Winter Garden Photograph.  This image depicts her as a little girl and Barthes connection to the image give him relief from his grief.  Barthes very personal search and experience leave one to ponder how his attempt to reconstruct the photograph connects to Alex Potts' essay, Signs.  Potts examines the relationship between each person's observations and connections to art rely on a specific language that is formed from one's cultural and social background.  A sign is an entity that "on the grounds of previously established social convention, can be taken as something standing for something else."  It is the idea of the sign that then plays into Barthes' two themes in the reaction the viewer has to a photograph.  The first is stadium- which is a general sort of appreciation or attraction to a photograph due to cultural and social background.  Examples include news photographs and war photographs.  The second is punctum- which is he describes as a wound or a prick.  It is a detail in that photograph that deeply connects to the viewers emotions and personal experiences.

Some examples. 

Susan Meiselas- a Magnum photographer who is probably best known for her coverage of the insurrection in Nicaragua and documenting human rights issues in Latin America.  As an American viewer especially, I feel we have sadly reached a point of desensitization with these kinds of images.  The theme of punctum is distinctly evident here for while I am drawn to the photo out of pity, concern, horror- all those emotions are more of general feeling.  I have nothing to personally connect me to this image, so while it informs me, it does not cut through to truly pierce my emotions.

Lauren Greenfield's documentation of adolescent girls however is a collection of works that illustrates Barthes' theme of punctum for me.  Especially her series "Thin."  While I have never dealt with anorexia, her images of girls going through such a difficult time is something that resounds personally for me.