A imagem como ausência

Abstract

Since Ancient Greece, with Plato’s conception of image as, first of all, shadow, reflection and, then, as representation in general, to the present day, with the open-concept of “image” acquiring new virtual forms of light projection focusing on any material surface such as water or air, much has been reflected about the image, but also about its design and role in the contemporary world, which is increasingly global, virtual and, mostly, visual and iconolater. The new means and processes of production and consumption of images show a visual development. The image incites the overuse of devices and means of production/reproduction of image and leads to a modern iconolatry, which records all aspects of human life: the most private (intimate images published on social networks) and the most public (photojournalism of war); the most banal (selfies) and the unique moments and situations (echography); the most credible and the most manipulated by the “arrangement” of the image by Photoshop. I start from the assumption that an image is a sign; it has the power of semantic transitivity of evoking missing or non-existent realities and referents. My purpose is to support the thesis that image is sufficient and necessarily an image-sign and its power is in the representation function that occurs as a hierophany, i.e. a latent absence which manifest itself, because the meanings of the image are hidden or encoded in the image.