Exercise 5.6: Context and meaning.

Exercise 5.6: Context and meaning.

This a précis of John A. Walker’s essay ‘Context as a Determinant of Photographic Meaning’.

• The meaning of an image changes according to who views it and where it is viewed.  The subject, photographer, the depth of interest of the viewer, and the nature of the viewing space all influence the meaning to that viewer.
• While photographs contain non changing subjects contained within their frames the meaning and context may change according to who views it, where it is viewed and what emphasis is put upon an object in the image.  The viewing of two images placed together may also influence how they are read.
• The progression from a single painted image to multi photographic images allows an image to be seen in many different places and in many ways simultaneously.  The same image may be seen as a news item in a daily paper and as a work of art when displayed in a gallery.  
• A photograph fixes a place in a particular time.  When viewed later it is sometimes necessary to shield the image from the present.  
• The life of an image depends on its circulation and currency.  An image will be used and reused in various contexts.  While relevant and in circulation it has has currency and when interest wains it dies.  
• Circulation:- distribution and transmission of an image.
• Currency:- the value of an image while in circulation.
• Views about photographs are personal and depend on the viewer’s preconceptions and memories.  Their background will influence what they see.   Only language can limit the way they can describe it.
• Photographers influence what is in an image by what they include and how an object is portrayed.  Peter Marlow’s images of the National Front marches in New Cross seek to show the weak and pathetic side of the marchers rather that of their tough and aggressive one.
• Evaluating how people view images is more difficult than evaluating the image.  We all bring different experiences to a viewing but are limited by language in how we describe our feelings.
• The power of a single image to influence us is diluted by the many other images we see every day.  It is said by some that images now have no effect while others say they represent a view of the norm.
• When social context changes,as in revolution, then the view of past imagery also changes.  The old norms are seen, sometimes, as representing the old ideals and as such are swept aside.
• Photographers working on the left try to retain control of the context of their images so that the viewed will see only what the photographer wants shown.
• The idea that everyone sees an image in a unique way is not possible and is disproved by the fact that many viewers will view it from the perspective of similar experiences.  The language available to them will also limit divergence.
• How an image is encountered adds to the ambiguity and complexity of it.  This adds a mental context to how the image is read.  Viewers will have their own opinion of an image but are able, through discussion, to share their view and hear others views.
• The influence of context has spread and grown over time and is now found in architecture as well as in art.  
• Thoughts on context and meaning.
• I looked through Peter Marlow’s images of the New Cross/National Front confrontations with some interest as I was there at the time.  Not as a marcher or as a protester but as a Police Officer.  The National Front seemed to think that just because we were protecting them from the anger fueled mob we were on their side.  The left wing agitators were, as usual, looking for a fight with the Old Bill and doing their best to provoke us, and assumed, wrongly, that we were on the side of the National Front.  This was the first time I had met National Front members and still remember them as some of the most odious people I have ever met.   In the grand scheme of things there were few arrests as every arrest took officers away from the action.  Those that did get arrested worked at it.  It was interesting to to see us as others saw us.  We were there to keep the two waring factions from harming each other while allowing both to have their democratic say, yet looking at the images we are seen as the oppressors. As usual at these events it ended up with both sides hating us so I supposed we had done our job fairly.  
• It was also interesting to see the attributes of toughness, masculine virility, aggression, and latent power were laid at the door of the National Front during the New Cross confrontations.  This was largely bluster and carried out from the safety of a Police cordon. These traits were displayed far more menacingly by the miners during their futile support of Arthur Scargill.   Any working miner who dared to cross a picket line felt the full force.  
• We can all put different interpretations on images.  In the case of pictures published during the miners strike the strikers and pickets will see themselves as justified defenders of their jobs.  The miners who wished to work will see the same strikers as thugs and bully boys who were stopping them earning a wage.  How the public saw the events varied hugely depending on which paper or publication displayed them.  The approach of The Telegraph and The Socialist Workers Party to the same pictures was going to be very different.   The context in which they were shown was the deciding factor.   
• We are told a picture is worth a thousand words but without some words the picture will lack context and its meaning may be lost.