Matthew Mills

Culler, J (1982)

“reading a poem is a quest for unity, and unity is achieved or perceived only when the reader abandons the apparent referential or representational meaning of the discourse and grasps the unifying feature of factor that the various signs of the poem express by indirection”

This quote by Culler can be interpreted in several different ways. However, the face value interpretation is that unity inside of the work that is produced can only be made when the reader, in this case, abandons all the views that they hold already so they can form unbiased views inside of the discovery of the work. This allows for the work to be taken as the writer intended in the sense of poetry. However, this translates to photography in the same way. The viewer of the work will have to be in the free-mind space to be able to see the views of the original photographer. 

This is one sense that can be taken from this quote; however, another is the view of the producer of the work. This is looking deeper into how and why they will have to break the barrier of personal representation inside the piece that they have created. This can be hard, especially if the work is about a specific group that will be viewing the images as well as being the subjects. This can cause the personal feelings of the viewer to get in the way of the meaning intended by the creator of the work. This can alter the way that the work seems and can sometimes change the meaning entirely.

The ways around this can include using specific lighting and ambient tones to keep the viewer distracted from the intended meaning. However, this can be hard, as it’s not always possible to get the viewer to abandon all of their personal feelings about work due to their overriding personal experiences that trump the work produced.

References

Culler, J (1982) Culler, The Persuit of Signs, Routledge, London.