Barthes reading, particularly his thoughts in chapter 5, were very compelling and relatable. Barthe shares that when he knows he is being photographed, Barthes has many considerations for how to pose for the lens and reflects on his honest struggle with a sensation of inauthenticity. I think many people including myself can probably understand this kind of thinking/area of concerns when they realize they are the subject of a photograph. Barthe adeptly describes this tension we feel as an intersection of 4 forces: the one I think I am, the one I want others to think I am, the one the photographer thinks I am, and the one he makes use of to exhibit his art. Perhaps one of the reasons for this struggle with inauthenticity is the worry that this a motionless photograph will not capture the shifting altering idea of “myself”. If a subject of photograph experiences these tensions, I wonder if writers and artists also experience similar feelings and struggles with capturing something in a stubborn medium?

Additionally, I found chapter 9 very interesting, as it reminded me of our discussion and reading on conceptual metaphors and blending in “The force of change”. One of the insights from our class discussion is that sometimes an image will rely heavily on familiarity with a specific cultural context or language. This seems to be true in the images of nicaragua by Wessing as well—that a viewer can still enjoy or be drawn to a photograph + composition but their experience is different than if they understood the history and the rebellion.

I really appreciate the wide variety of Gerz’s work—some pieces are only words, some are only photographs, and many have both photographs and words that interact with each other or work together to create meaning. I find it really interesting that many of the words included in Gerz’s work read somewhat like a caption describing the photograph/the photographer’s account of what happened while taking the photograph; however, the caption becomes part of the art piece itself and seems to help explain why the art genre is called story art. Additionally, Taking a look at Gerz’s work, I can’t help but think about our Assignment 3, and wonder if story art artists would find the option of animating their art helpful for more fully conveying their message when not constraint to a motionless medium?