Chapter 1 - Images, Power & Politics

"We live in cultures that are increasingly permeated by visual images with a variety of purposes and intended effects." page 10

The question becomes why. Why do images take up so much of our lives, filling our landscapes and invading our homes? I think it is because we are very visually creatures. Our sight has given us advantages over the world around us and made us the dominate animal on the planet. So we inherently trust what our eyes show us. It is only when sense of aesthetics stops us and makes us wonder if the image before us is real or faked.

"The material world has meaning and can be "seen" by us only through representations. The world is not simply reflected back to us through representations that stand in for things by copying their appearance." page 12

The truth of what we see, is not always the truth of what an image is. We have learn the constructs of their meanings through the creation of images. This creation can be influenced by social climates, emotions, and sense morality. It is uncommon that an image is a true reflection of a place. Viewer don't always trust images of a place, unless the viewer has seen the place the image was taken of for themselves.

"We learn the rules and conventions of the system of representation within a given culture. Many artists have attempted to defy those conventions, to break the rules of various systems of representation, and to push the boundaries of definitions. of representation." page 14

In some ways, we must first learn the rules so we can understand how the systems work. With out this working knowledge, we would flounder and be unable to function. It's like learning to walk. We simply don't go from crawling to running. We have to learn our balance, learn how to make the muscles do as we wish, and strengthen them to hold our weight.

Once we understand these mechanics, it's only natural to want to see what's beyond them. Our humanity compels us to push all boundaries and look beyond. Without it, the world as we know it today would not exist. All concepts are forever evolving and will continue to do so until the last human dies.

"Photographs are also objects in which we invest deep emotional content. ... They are crucial to what we remember, but they can also enable us to forget those things that were not photographed." page 18

While we can have a good memory, it is not infallible. We use photographs as way to preserve days that will never happen again. Weddings, birthdays, or any other special event that we deem in need of saving. While the smell of flowers and the sounds of friends and family at a wedding will fade, these small testaments of time will forever show that day and time to anyone wanting to see.
"Thus this photograph is valuable both as an empirical document of what has been and as an expressive vehicle of what was at that moment and what would soon be." page 20

In times of political struggle, photographs have been used to show those who weren't on the front lines what is truly going one. The civil war is an example of that. Some newspapers printed such photos, causing public out cry.

Pictures of the battles fields, numerous bodies littering the ground were in stark contrast to the novelty of calling card and family portraits of the time. But this was also a time when port mortem photograph was very popular as a way to remember a child who died.

"Images are elements of contemporary advertising and consumer culture through which assumptions about beauty, desire, glamour, and social values are both constructed and lived." page 23

Stylized beauty has always been influenced by what is considered the "social norm" of the time. They have changed wildly over the last 100 years. At the turn of the century, women reveiled very litte flesh. High neck dresses with long sleeves and skirts that touched the floor were what was socially acceptable for a proper woman to wear. A short 20 years later, woman were wearing pants and skirt lines had risen to above the knee.

Each generation sets it's own sense of these social norms and each generation after it look back and thinks they were being stuffy.

"We decode images by interpreting clues pointing to intended, unintended, and even merely suggested meanings." page 26

When we learn about the world, our perceptions are shaped by those who teach us. First with our parents, who teach us what their parents have taught them and by their expirence of the world around us. In some ways, we learn by parroting our parents. Our first set of social likes and dislikes are nothing more than blueprints handed down to us from our recent ancestors. It's not until we get older do we start to construct our own set of perceptions.

It is these perceptions that we use to decode images. While they may be similar, no two people have the exact same interpretation of an image, giving us all a unique perception of an image.

"What gives an images social value? Images do not have value in and of themselves; they are awarded different kinds of values--monetary, social, and political-- in particular social context." page 34

Personally, I think took much hype has been put into the so called "historical masters" of the art world. While I believe that for their time, they were thought in different lines that was was socially acceptable at the time. But how is that any different than any artist that pushes beyond what is socially acceptable by today's standards? Will they be considered "historical masters" in the future? Or will they be lost in the annuals of time like so many other artists?