First and Last Bell + Roland Barthe’s Punctum

For the preparation for the degree show publication I went to Nathan Jone's seminar in which he talked about Roland Barthe’s book, Camera Lucida, focussing on his ideas on what makes a photograph stand out. For the publication it was proposed that we do not talk about our practice but approach it from a creative point of view, artistic response to the form of text. 

The overall project of Barthe’s Camera Lucida is to determine a new mode of observation and, ultimately, a new consciousness by way of Photography. When we look at a photograph, it is not the actual photo that we see, for the photograph itself is rendered invisible; thus the photograph is unclassifiable, for it resists language, as it is without signs or marks - it simply is.

In his personal, subjective examination of multiple photographs, Barthes proceeded to note a duality that was characteristic of certain photographs: a ‘co-presence of two discontinuous elements’- what he terms, the stadium and the punctum.

The studium speaks of the interest which we show in a photograph, the desire to study and understand what the meanings are in a photograph, to explore the relationship between the meanings and our own subjectivities. The punctum on the other hand inspires an intensely private meaning, one that is suddenly, unexpectedly recognised and consequently remembered (it "shoots out of [the photograph] like an arrow and pierces me”); it ‘escapes’ language. Punctum is an ‘element which rises from the scene’ and unintentionally fills the whole image.

Clearly this element is powerful and compelling to the spectator. Basically it could be anything, something that reminds you of your childhood, a sense of deja vu, an object of sentimental value, punctum is very personal and often different for everyone.

For the session I brought a photograph that was very important to me and also relevant for my degree show piece. I used this image to find its punctum in hopes of producing a piece of writing for my publication from it.

In this writing session I focussed on a photograph of myself on my first day of school (1st September 2002), guided by a high school student in her last year, to stand in line and celebrate the first day of school and start the ceremony. I remember that a bell was rung when everybody was in their place in line, which I can still remember the sound of. It was a symbol of the beginning of school for the first years. Every time I look at this photograph I can hear the sound of the bell.

This led me to question whether a sound could be a punctum. However, the way Barthes describes, punctum is something that is evident in the photograph. In relation to a photograph then, can a punctum be an absence of sound? I would say yes. I would say the punctum here for me is what isn't seen in this image. It's the memory of the moment of the ringing of the bell and the emotions associated with it. The bell gathers a lot of concepts together: history, time, nostalgia, memory, past and present, the moment. It depicts anticipation of the moment of hearing the bell. The weight and authority of it.

It is possible that when I do ring the bell on the day of the degree show to symbolise the end of studies, I will have this image in my mind and the memory of the moment in my head, whilst also creating the moment in the present time. Layering these two important moments together. (Ringing of the bell on 25th May 2017 which is the official day of end of studies which also fall on my degree show. this will be my degree show piece that will exist in Latvia, which I then will bring to degree show the end of the day through the recording of it).

~Ev