From Inside to Outside and Vice Versa
A Contribution on Spatiality in Analogue Photography
abstract
The aim of this paper is to identify the mechanisms for producing meaning in the visual through the visual itself, the interpretation of which should not be entrusted to the dimension of the extra-figurative. Focusing on the theoretical opposition of opacity and transparency theorised by Louis Marin, here, three analogue photographs from the early to the mid-twentieth century will be analysed following the visual semiotics methodology. In those photographs, which propose a complex representation of semiotic relevance, the opposition between the represented space and the material surface of the medium will be explored through the analysis of the traces of enunciation within the text.
Keywords: Transparency • Analogue photography • Opacity • Visual semiotics • Enunciation • Louis Marin • Image Theory