abus padlock on blue
Well I've just got into photographing padlocks after looking at someone else's collection on Flickr. That's made me look at padlocks in new ways - their material variety, their trademarks, product details, signs of use and so on - and of course their function and symbolism. At the same time I've been thinking about Kress's idea of motivated sign-making, re-making and transformation. But somehow that doesn't quite tell me enough about this padlock thing. It's more of a visual meme, a contagious image. But all it does at this stage is to remain a dumb image, a copy or perhaps to be more generous it communicates an interest, possibly a shared interest, an empathy or acknowledgement. On the other hand, photographing wall textures for the virtual world is more overtly purposeful. It means in a different way. Are these sorts of images easier to explain as motivated signs? And does this reflect the detail (or the context) of social participation? Or, do I completely misunderstand the concept of a motivated sign?
I see the motivated sign as being shaped by the interest of the sign maker. So people are focused on padlocks.
ReplyDeleteThere is something there about affordances. I think Kress stops short of describing the cultural properties of affordances, and just sees affordances in terms of material possibilities. But I think the padlock is a sign with a lot of cultural affordances.
Prison?
Safety?
Porridge?
There you go.
Thanks Kate, that's helpful. I agree with that about the interest of the sign-maker, too. I suppose I was distinguishing between a rather casual (whimsical?) interest and the more focused purposeful interest in a particular kind image. Maybe it's an unhelpful binary....Anyway, I like your idea of cultural affordances and wrt padlocks there's also security, property and theft....protection, ownership...and so on!!
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