Abstract
In December 2019, COVID-19 pandemic exploded in China. The visual communication of the phenomenon was crucial to develop awareness of the world’s public opinion. Photographs were broadly used for this purpose. The analysis of photographs and texts of that moment is the central part of this study that draws on R. Barthes and M. Joly’s methodologies. R. Barthes stresses that press photography is a message that travels from a first point called emission to the point of reception through the channel of transmission. In this context, images have to be read in combination with text which is usually attached to them. There are two levels of analysis: the linguistic one and the part made of lines, shapes, and shades. M. Joly stated that image analysis cannot happen without the interpretation of signs and symbols. The connotational message is symbolic and linked to what S. Hall called ‘background knowledge.’ Without this shared knowledge of social structures, the reader cannot recognize or understand the message. In these days, we are witnessing the rise of new forms of image production through generative AI and computational photography prompted language. Through the case study of images and texts used by Italian online media during the Coronavirus outbreak, this paper aims to demonstrate how still a visual semiotics approach remains pivotal even today for systematically navigating and interpreting visual communication.
Presenters
Francesco Arese ViscontiHead of Program and Deputy Academic Director, Media Studies, Webster University, Geneva Campus, Switzerland
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Semiotics, Iconology, Coronavirus, Social Media, Photography
