Aydın Sanat Yıl 2 Sayı 3 (2016) (1 -13)

What Do Images Mean in Visual Semiotics?

Veysel Kılıç1 Zekiye Sarıkartal2

ABSTRACT

“There can be no words without images.” (Aristotle)

We all live in a visually surrounded world. We are intensively surrounded by exciting and moti- vating images. This is visual communication, which doesn’t include language codes in a sense. The production of meaning from visual objects can be evaluated and examined with the help of semiotics. Images mean everything. Commercials and visual objects mean lots of things without using language codes. This paper offers a kind of analytical perspective for under- standing and producing meaning from visual objects with a special reference to semiotics.

Keywords: Semiotics, Code, Icon, Index, Image, Visual Semiotics

Görsel Göstergebilimde İmgelerin Anlamı Nedir?

ÖZET

“Hiçbir sözcük imgesiz olamaz.” (Aristoteles)

Görsel bir dünyada yaşıyoruz. Yoğun olarak hoş ve ilham verici imgeler tarafından çevriliyiz. Bu, bir bakıma dil kodlarını içermeyen görsel iletişim. Görsel nesnelerden anlam üretimi gösterge- bilim yardımıyla değerlendirilebilir ve incelenebilir. İmgeler herşeyi ifade eder. Reklamlar ve görsel nesneler dilsel kodları kullanmadan pek çok mana barındırabilir. Bu makale, görsel nesneleri anlama ve anlam üretme üstüne, göstergebilimi referansalara analilitik bir bakış açısı sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Göstergebilim, Kod, Ikon, Index, Imge, Görsel Göstergebilim

1 (Prof. Dr.), Mardin Artuklu Üniversitesi, Güzel Sanatlar Fakültesi 2 (Prof. Dr.), Mardin Artuklu Üniversitesi, Güzel Sanatlar Fakültesi, [email protected]

1 What Do Images Mean in Visual Semiotics?

“One picture is worth a thousand words. Yes, but only if you look at the picture and say or think the thousand words.” William Saroyan Introduction Communication is an act. It is the act of It has got unique properties of which the transferring meaningful signs from one communication models lack. According to party to another. Apparently, there are vari- George Yule, a natural language has some ous forms, means and categories of com- unique properties. These properties distin- munication. A message, speaker’s intention guish human language from other commu- nication systems. They are: is sent through a proper channel to receiv- er’s ear. Speaker first thinks of his message, Displacement: Language is independent his intention then he chooses appropriate from time and place. Human language re- grammatical rules and vocabulary–lan- fers to the present, past and future. We can guage codes and articulates them. The re- also communicate with people those who ceiver receives this message; he first tries are thousands of miles far from us. to detect the sounds and then language codes in order to comprehend the mes- Productivity/Creativity: Human beings sage. In other words; speaker encodes the are continually creating new expressions message and receiver decodes it. Effective and novel utterances by manipulating their communication is the one, which minimiz- linguistic resources to describe new objects es potential misunderstanding. In the era of and situations. This property is described as information, we have to send, receive and productivity or creativity. process lots of messages everyday via dif- ferent channels. When we send messages, If we internalize the rules and the basic vo- we don’t only send language codes; we add cabulary of our mother tongue, we can pro- our emotion to the messages as well. In an duce infinite number of sentences, which effective communication we are supposed we have not heard before, and we can ut- to understand the emotion of the sender ter sentences which we have not uttered behind the message. According to Baudril- before, because language is open-ended. It lard successive phases of the image are; “It also can create new words when the situa- is the reflection of basic reality. It makes any tion demands. perverts as basic reality. It bears no relation to any reality. Whatever it is, its own pure simu- Cultural Transmission: We learn every- lacrum.” (Baudrillard, 1988: 170) thing from our ancestors via language. Although we may have inherited physical Among various communication tools hu- features from our parents, we do not inherit man language-natural language is the their language. On the contrary, we acquire most effective and sophisticated means of language in a cultural situation with other communication. Human language is differ- speakers. This process, whereby, a language ent from other communication models or handed down from on generation to next is means because it is unique. described as cultural transformation.

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Duality: Human language is organized at The founders of semiotics are Swiss linguist levels or layers simultaneously. This prop- Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sander erty is called duality. In speech produc- Peirce. Saussure is the founder of linguis- tion, we have a physical level at which we tics and semiotics both as sciences, which produce individual speech sounds like /n/, study the role of signs as a part of social /b/, /i/. As individual sounds, none of these life. Actually the origin of semiotics can be discrete has any intrinsic meaning. In a par- linked to structuralism, which is a method ticular combination, we have meaningful of analysis that looks for deeper structure units such as bin and nib. and meaning behind the surface structure. According to structuralisms’ all phenomena Arbitrariness: There is no logical relation are ruled by some unseen rules. between signifier and signified. The con- nection is quite arbitrary; the aspect of re- American linguist Chomsky says that every lationship between linguistic signs and ob- sentence has got two structures; surface jects in the world is called arbitrariness. In structure and deep structure. In order to other words, there is no logical connection get the meaning of a sentence, we have to between what comes out of our mouths reveal the meaning from deep structure, and what they refer to in the world. so structuralism tries to reveal the hidden rules, which organize anything from how Semiotics: Semiotics or semiology is con- people interact in particular social context. cerned with meaning. In other words; how The structural semiotics is more concerned meaning is represented in its broadest with the relation of elements to each other. sense, it generates meanings or processes “Semiotics studies how this referring results meaning by which readers or viewers com- from previously established social conven- prehend or attribute meaning. Representa- tion.” (Eco, 1976: 16) tion of meaning is realized by language, im- ages and objects. Semiotics can also offer a Semiotics is often employed in the analysis useful perspective about formalist analysis. of the text. Text doesn’t necessarily mean Semiotic analysis can be applied to liter- written language. In the broadest sense, ary texts as well as visual objects. Semiotic anything has got a message can be defined analysis, in effect, acknowledges some vari- as text. Furthermore; written language, able relationships. It is the study of signs movies, films, pictures etc. are texts, shortly and signifying practices. “Semiotics studies a text can exist in any medium verbal and how this referring results from previously es- non-verbal. tablished social convention.” (Eco, 1976: 16) A sign can be defined basically as an entity Some other approaches to textual analysis such as words, images and objects. A sign other than semiotic approach are rhetori- refers to something else other than itself. cal analysis, discourse analysis and content Signifying practices simply refers to how analysis. Semiotics is also very closely affili- rather than what meaning is produced and ated with cultural studies; content analysis finally the social convention with meaning is rather well established within the main- is called a code. stream tradition of social science research.

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Although content analysis concerns a tween signifier and signified is arbitrary. -Ar quantitative approach to the analysis of bitrariness is one of the unique properties manifest contents of media texts, semiotics of language. The arbitrariness of the sign is is rarely quantitative and often involves a a radical concept because it proposes the rejection of such approaches. autonomy of language in relation to reality.

A social semiotic would also emphasize the There is no one-to-one link between sig- importance of the significance, which read- nifier and signified; signs have multiple ers attach to signs within a text. Saussure meanings rather than single meanings. Sig- saw linguistics as a branch of semiotics be- nifiers change from culture to culture. Con- cause semiotics is concerned to stress the vention is the social dimension of signs; it is social aspect of signification, its practical, the agreement among the users about the aesthetic or ideological use in interper- appropriate uses of and responses to sign. sonal communication; there meaning is The relationship between one’s concept of constructed as semantic value produced fishers and the physical reality of fish is sig- through actually shared codes. nification; it is one’s way of giving meaning to the world of understanding it. Signs The study of signs is the study of construc- Peirce classified signs in terms ofsymbol, tion and maintenance of reality. “We only icon and index. Signs can be classified in think in signs.” (Peirce, 1931: 58) Signs take terms of these three modes without refer- the form of words, images, sounds, odors, ence to the purpose of their users within flavors, acts or objects, but such things particular context. A sign may consequent- have no intrinsic meaning and become ly be treated as symbolic by one person, as signs only when we invest them with iconic by another and as indexical by the meaning. No sign makes sense on its own third. but only in relation to other signs, because the value of signs is determined by the re- sense lationships between the sign and other signs within a system as a whole. The signs are organized into codes paradigmatically and syntagmatically. The meaning of a sign is determined mainly by its relationship to other signs. The study of codes emphasizes the social dimension of communication. Shortly, the word code means a signifying system. sign vehicle referent Saussure defined this sign to the relation- ship between signifier, which carries or Sense: The sense he made of sign produces meaning and the signified, which Sign vehicle: The form of the sign is the meaning itself. The relationship be- Referent: What the sign stands for

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Saussure’s model of signification: Sign is a concept of

Signifier (physical existence of sign) Signified (mental concept)

Signification: is the external reality of meaning Symbol A mode in which the signifier doesn’t re- (smoke, thunder, footprints, echoes, non- semble the signified but which is funda- synthetic odors, flavor and medical symp- mentally arbitrary or purely conventional, toms, signals, pointers and recordings, all so that the relationship must be learned; for words, sentences, books and other conven- instance, language in general (plus specific tional signs or symbols… It is the effect of languages, alphabetical letters, punctua- what is filmed. As Peirce says we think only tion marks, words, phrases and sentences) with signs. Nevertheless, anything cannot numbers, Mors codes, traffic lights, national be labeled as a sign as long as it is not in- flags. Symbol is the situation in which signi- terpreted as a sign. Signifier can be inter- fier doesn’t resemble the signified. Signifier preted as a physical aspect of sign. Both is the arbitrary convention of signified. signifier and signified are the forms rather than content. Signifier is interpreted as the Icon content of sign. A mode in which the signifier is perceived as resembling or imitating the signified According to Hjelmslev signifier is expres- (recognizable looking, sounding, feeling, sion, signified is content. Barthes referred tasting or smelling) being similar in pos- specifically to non-linguistic signs “as being sessing some of its qualities: For instance; so open to interpretation that they constitute a portrait, a cartoon, a scale model, ono- a floating chain of signifieds.”(Barthes, 1999: matopoeia, metaphor, realistic sounds in 39) A sign is also something physically per- programed music, sound effects in radio ceived by our senses; it refers to something drama, dubbed film sound track, imitative other than itself; and it depends on recog- gestures and sound and music. “Thus iconic nition by its users than it is a sign. (Fiske, signs are particularly ruled by convention 41). but are at the same time motivated; some of them refer to an established stylistic rule, Language is experienced as nomenclature; while others appear to propose a new rule.” its existence precedes our understanding (Eco, 1979: 16) of the world. Words seem to be symbols for things because things are inconceivable Index outside the system of differences, which A mode in which signifier is not arbitrary constitutes the language. Yet even an im- but is directly connected in some way phys- age is not what it represents, the presence ically or casually to be signified-this link can of an image marks the absence of its refer- be observed or inferred: e.g. pastoral signs ent.

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The difference between signifier and signi- “The difference between denotative and con- fied is fundamental. Nevertheless; when the notative meaning is not (as many authors signifiers are experienced as highly realistic maintain) the difference between them “uni- as in the case of photography and film and vocal” and “vague signification.” (Eco, 1979: it is particularly easy to slip into regarding 55) them as identical with their signifieds. Meanings are produced in the interaction Similarly, these very things seem to be rep- between text and message. Meaning pro- resented in mind in an autonomous realm duction is a dynamic act in which both ele- of thought because thought in the essence ments contribute equally. symbolic, dependent on the differences brought about by the symbolic order. And Denotative Meaning: Denotative mean- so language is overlooked or suppressed in ing is the first, inherent, literary meaning. favor of a quest for meaning in experience This is first order signification. What we dis- or in the mind. The world of things and sub- cern in our mind when we heard a word is jectivity then becomes the twin guarantors denotative meaning. Shortly; denotative of truth. meaning describes the relationship be- tween signifier and Signification: In semiotics, sign functions syntagmati- signified and the external reality. In terms cally (horizontally) and paradigmatically of visual image a photograph is a sign, in (vertically). The essence of pragmatics is other words it is a text. As for the example the understanding of how sign works in of photograph, denotative meaning is what the linguistic system. The system is related is photographed and connotative meaning to the reader or viewer and his/her social is how it is photographed. status and his culture and background in- formation. From this token, it is possible to Connotative Meaning: Connotative say that the same sentence likely conveys meaning is secondary, associative, reflected different contexts. meaning. Every word has got one denota- tive meaning but it has more than one con- The interaction between text and reader, notative meaning. Connotative meaning is interaction between reader and writer is the second order of signification which uses determined by conventions. Interactive denotative sign (signifier and signified) as ideas or messages can be analyzed by the its signifier and attaches to it and addition- system formed by conventions. al signified. Related to what connotation is, Roland Barthes refers to myth; “Barthes All signs have got two types of meaning de- argues that the orders of signification called notative and connotative meanings. There denotation and connotation combine to pro- are two orders of signification. Barthes duce ideology, which has been described as a called the immediate visual impact deno- third order signification.” (Fiske and Hartley tative meaning and the cultural meaning 1994: 287) According to Barthes, another connotative meaning. second order of signification is called myth.

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“Barthes thinks of a myth as a chain of related Signs in Analyzing Plastic Arts and concepts. Thus the traditional myth of British Drawings: policemen includes concepts of friendliness, reassurance, solidarity, non-aggressiveness, Color: Color can either be examined indi- lack of firearms.”(Fiske, 1990: 88) vidually or collectively. Colors sometimes can be considered as an institutional model A signifier might have different referents in on their own. Each color is the unit of ex- different languages and it might have dif- pression and it is determined by the mea- ferent signifieds because signified is a men- sure of sovereignty. Each color is connected tal concept. In other words, many words in with other colors in visual communication. particular language refer to the same thing, “Viewer should comprehend physical and however; they reflect different evaluations. cultural message at the same time.” (Barthes, Furthermore, a signified shown by one 1964: 42) word is subject to historical change. Under- standing consists in the reduction of one Structure: Structures should be classified. type of reality to another. Images generally considered in two dimen- sions. It gives impression of touching. Codes: Codes are very important in semi- otic analysis. In that respect the analyses Form: In order to comprehend the differ- of traffic lights for example is a code. That ences between limit and line, the counter is why codes can be called the system in should be determined. Each image has which signs are organized. Like all other got physical limits/borders. These limits systems- from the point of view of structur- become concrete in accordance with the alism- are governed by rules which are ad- forms. mitted by the members of the community using that particular code. Apparently, the SAMPLE study of codes stresses the social aspect of SIGN MAGAZINE communication. “Almost any aspect of our ADVERTISEMENT social life which is conventional or governed SIGNIFIERS AN IMAGE OF A MAN by rules consented to by members of society, SIGNIFIED A PERFECTLY can therefore be called coded.” (Fiske, 1990: HARMONIOUS 64) Paradigmatic analysis of the sample: Therefore, understanding a sign fullfleged- The paradigmatic approach emerges from ly involves the application of an appropri- the structuralist work of Claude Levi-Strauss ate code, which is familiar to the interpreter 1966 and considers the patterns of opposi- or reader. As far as a text is concerned it is tions that exist within the narrative and how possible to say that every text is a system they contribute to the development of the of signs organized according to codes and text. Possibilities of tension and struggle sub codes, which reflect certain values, at- between images and their meanings have titudes, beliefs, assumptions and practices been denoted and negated by some artists as well. of the 20th century. The process of labeling

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Image 1. Rene Magritte, “Cecin’est pas unepipe”, 1929 the work itself has become the main ques- it is not a pipe. The signifier (image of the tion consequently. pipe), which is supposed to refer the object, a real pipe in life, is indicating that it is not Among the most well known paintings, the pipe that it refers to but the concept of which can be underlined as examples to a pipe, as it is confirmed by the text. Since understand the visual semiotics, is the this painting makes reference to semiotics, “Cecin’est pas une pipe” (French for “This is it has inspired some arguments in structur- not a pipe”) by Rene Magritte, finished in alism and post structuralism. The text, the 1929, from his serial “Treason of Images”. letters, are in an uncertain relation with the Magritte was also a friend of Michel Fou- painting itself. The confusion within the cault and it is known that they had been communication on the common ground of corresponding. the canvas verifies that the mimetic repre- sentation of “the pipe” loses its identity and In his painting, Magritte reintroduces dis- refers to almost nothing. course (This is not a Pipe) beside the clas- sical elements of a painting; a realistic im- Relationship between signs and objects age of a pipe, painted carefully, considering is not a mysterious phenomenon; human the plastic elements and the equivalence in beings have the capacity to implement ac- resemblance. Yet, Magritte used linguistic tions with the help of memory, imagination, signs and affirmation besides them. There is and language. Creativity of mind nourishes the image of a pipe but the text affirms that by the representational images betraying

8 Veysel Kılıç, Zekiye Sarıkartal reality. Metaphors, displacements, disloca- recording of “the original”. The work of art tions, transpositions are some of the ways was lost afterwards and later Duchamp of articulating the creative process. produced a few replicas. Fountain, since then is addressed as the key work of the In 1917, when Marcel Duchamp bought a contemporary art which inspired many standard urinal, under the title Fountain, other artists and art critics as well. Although signed and dated it as “R. Mutt 1917” that object is a piece of mass production, and submitted it to the contemporary Duchamp claims that, since it is signed and art exhibition held by the Society of submitted to art circles, it transforms into a Independent Artists in New York, the work of art. Although it was not sculpted, committee board decided to exclude the it has all the values such as form, volume, Fountain off, announcing that an indecent texture, etc., to be evaluated as a sculpture. sanitary ware could not be considered as Since he also rotated the form 180 degrees a work of art. This must be a test for the and mounted it on a pedestal, the ordinary commitment of freedom of expression object has then gained a new formal of the new American Society who invited concept in that new context. For example, it Duchamp to New York to establish a version looks more like a womb of a woman, rather of Paris Salon with a new conception of art. than a sanitary piece for man. That ready- Duchamp did not reveal his identity since made object should be evaluated with a he was also among the board members. The semiotic approach. Duchamp proved that prominent photographer Alfred Stieglitz the presentation and perception of a work photographed the work and it is the only of art occur in a semiotic chain of exhibition

Image 2. Marcel Duchamp, “Fountain”, 1917

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Image 3. Joseph Kossuth, “One and Three Chairs”, 1966 and reception. He chose a mass produced mirage, exactly like an oasis appears in the item at a particular moment and time; desert. It is very beautiful until, of course, you signed it to conceal that it is the idea of are dying of thirst. But you don’t die in the field the artist; it is not an original, not a unique of art. The mirage is solid.” (Hahn, 1964: 22) piece of art with an aura. He produced replicas; thus the ideas representing it, Another powerful example of the would survive forever. relationship between semiotics and visual art is the “One and Three Chairs” by Joseph Another important aspect is the signature Kossuth, realized in 1966. He presented the “R. Mutt.” Although it is derived from the object (chair) together with its photograph name of the shop owner, the word was a and a text of its dictionary description. pun in German, meaning poverty, besides Presenting an image like Magritte and referring a daily funny cartoon strip. presenting a ready made object as Consequently, all the useful significances Duchamp, besides presenting a text, he disappeared visually and verbally, and proved that the communication among literally a new perspective became possible human beings is dependent on linguistics. to make new associations. In an interview, Relatively pure information of the text Duchamp said “I was drawing people’s is considered most important because attention to the fact that art is a mirage. A language is essentially self-referential. The

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Image 4. Diego Velazquez, “LasMeninas”, 1956 work seems to be literally what it says. Kossuth opens up a possibility to imagine The artist presents three different forms of that recognition in the art world becomes signifiers referring to the same signified; possible only under the hegemony of the yet the levels of abstraction are not the established system of language. Reigning same. Following a Duchampian path, the images and concepts is not enough

Aydın Sanat Yıl 2 Sayı 3 (2016) (1 -13) 11 What Do Images Mean in Visual Semiotics? anymore; discourse is also imposed. complexity of knowledge and its discourse. The discovery of the significant role of The sight appearing in “Las Meninas” discourse in contemporary semiotics leads develops a central hiddenness possessing way to post structuralism through the texts acceptable assumptions. Thus, the painting by Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida, and Lyotard is a representation of the Classical but the who have interpreted the relation with the space defines a Modern representation. hegemonic power of the discourse and being actually in power. The semiotic approach focusing upon intertextuality and iconography in relation “Las Meninas” (1656) by Diego Velazquez is to the location of meaning concludes that a one of the rare early examples in which the sign is not a thing but a socially constructed depicted figures evoke suspicious relations code. In the mentioned works of art, context, with the viewer. The daughter of King Philip senders and receivers reached a new level IV, together with her dog, surrounded by negating the relationship between the her maids, and two dwarfs are portrayed in signifier and the signified. The signifiers and a large room where the upper bodies of the what they signify are uncertain within the king and the queen are reflected in the big semiotic patterns of language. The number mirror. The painter also depicted himself as of representational forms is infinitive and working at a large canvas. This composition none of the representations is more real creates considerable ambiguity on the than another. depicted identities. The title, “Las Meninas” declares that it is the painting portraits of REFERENCES / KAYNAKÇA the maids. However, the princess is also there, besides the king and the queen. Aarre, M., The Aesthetics of The space in the painting is not clear; it Language, http://www.randistrand. can be the studio of the artist as well as a no/the-aesthetics-of-language chamber where the royal family posed. The Camfield W., Marcel Duchamp: viewer gets suspicious that there can be Fountain, Houston 1989. two paintings since s/he sees the one that is depicted and also another one, which has Barthes, R., Göstergeler been studied by the painter in the painting. İmparatorluğu, Çev. TahsinYücel, YKY, The viewer is also somehow included in İstanbul, 2013. the painting, because the mirror reflecting the images of the king and the queen, is Barthes, R., Rhetoric Of The Image, supposed to reflect the viewer as well. eds. Evans, J. & Hall, S., Visual Culture: The Readers, Saga Publication, Lon- This painting is a particular example in don, 1999. which the signifier is the signified at the same time and Foucault addresses it as the Barthes, R., Rhetorique De Image, Par- first signs of epistemology in European art. is, 1964. In his “The Order of Things: An Archeology of the Human Sciences,” he discusses the

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Belge M., Michel Foucault ve Las Schwarz A., The Complete Works Meninas, Tan, 1982. of Marcel Duchamp, Revised and Expanded Edition, New York, 1997. Eco, U., A Theory of Semiotics, Indiana Universty Press, Bloomington, 1979. Naumann F.M., The Recurrent, Haunting Ghost: Essays on the Art, Life Fiske, J., Introduction to Communica- and Legacy of Marcel Duchamp, New tion Studies, Routledge, London, York, 2012. 1990. VISUAL REFERENCES / GÖRSEL Fiske & Hartley, Reading Television, KAYNAKÇA Routledge, London, 1994. Image 1. Rene Magritte, La Trahison Foucault, M., Bu Bir Pipo Değildir, çev. des images (Cecin’est pas une pipe), S. Hilav, YKY, İstanbul, 1993. 1929. http://www.wikiart.org/en/ rene-magritte/the-treachery-of- Hahn, O., Entretien Marcel images-this-is-not-a-pipe-1948 Duchamp, Paris-Express, 1964. Image 2. Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, Haywards, S., Key Concepts in Cinema 1917. http://www.wikiart.org/en/ Studies, Routledge, London, 1996. marcel-duchamp/fountain-1917

Kristeva, J., Desire In Language: A Se- Image 3. JosephKosuth, One and miotic Approach to Literature and Art, Three Chairs, 1965. http://www. Blackwell, Oxford, 1980. wikiart.org/en/joseph-kosuth/one- and-three-chairs Rabinow, P., (Editor) The Foucault Reader: An Introduction to Foucault’s Image 4. Diego Velazquez, Thought, Penguin, London, 1991. LasMeninas, 1656. http://www. wikiart.org/en/diego-velazquez/ Rifat, G., Göstergebilimin ABC’si, Say, las-meninas-detail-of-the-lower-half- İstanbul, 2014. depicting-the-family-of-philip-iv-of- spain-1656

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