The theory behind ‘Binary opposites’ –
The theory of ‘Binary opposition’ within photography and in a larger context reveals how everything in life revolves around a system which we can use to classify everything around us into a variety of 2 different groups. These groups can be seen as two opposites which are strictly against one another, e.g. ‘simple or complex’, ‘hot or cold’, ‘win or lose’, ‘left or right’, ‘love or hate’, etc. The term ‘Binary opposition’ can also be applied within literature and language where there are ‘Synonyms’, a word which means the same as another, against the opposing term of ‘Antonyms’, which is a word that is of opposite meaning. Furthermore, this shows how we are always surrounded by the theme of ‘Binary opposition’ as it is applied within everyday life in objects, cultures, systems, politics, ethics, language, etc.
Therefore, this ‘theory of binaries’ comes from a larger bracket of ‘Structuralism’ which is apart of psycholinguistics of how we create meanings of language. This was furthered through the early work of a famous Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and then this was further studied by the French anthropologist Levi Strauss and another linguist academic, Roland Barthes, during the 1900s. This theory explored into the insight of how we understand words and not their direct meaning, and how they have opposing terms as well. They concluded that words are a part of symbolism regarding societies ideas, and that their relationships were a fixed idea amongst one another and that one term is always valued more than the other. An example of this can be seen in the understanding of the word ‘coward’, someone who is weak and scared, and its opposing word ‘hero’, used to describe someone who is impressive in their nature and what they may do, which can link towards attitudes which we can refer to as ‘dominant ideologies’, which means the shared ideas/beliefs which justify the interests of different groups. A further exploration into this was in the study of literature as there are many layers from the meanings of words and how they are made and reinforced through the theory of ‘binary opposition’. For example, this can be seen in Simon Armitage’s poetry as he creates this reinforced idea of binary opposition through the ‘sincerity’ opposed to ‘insincerity’ of societies dislikes towards cultures.
How I will use binary opposition within my own work –
Simple –
The theme of the binary opposite of ‘Simple’ in photography, can be interpreted in a variety of different ways. This can be linked to the ideas of still life and how you can easily compose objects together with the use of how they may appear or the colours, and how well they work together which can represent how simple life can be portrayed through the use of different objects. There are many artists and photographers who have explored the theme of still life photography extensively in a variety of different ways, such as through abstraction or contrasts, an initial selection of these artists and photographers are:
- Thomas Demand
- Jan Bruegel
- Willem Kalf
- Paulette Tavormina
- Richard C. Miller
- Henry Fox Talbot
- Josef Sudek
- Andy Warhol
Complex –
The theme of the binary opposite of ‘Complex’ in photography, can also be interpreted in a variety of different ways. This can be seen through the contrasting ideas of the complexity of still life and how they can hold a deeper message within them besides using different objects/colours to create a contrast against one another. In my own work I have chosen to explore how different kitchenware/utensils create unique reflections and shadows and how this can be linked towards the theme of feminism and the links that are still around, although they have mainly died out, of women holding traditional household roles such as being in the kitchen or cleaning. I will represent this theme within my own work through using harsher and bolder shadows through uniformed kitchenware/utensils to represent the past and how women are still linked towards this whereas to show the change of this mindset in my own work, I will use more colourful and bright kitchenware/utensils to represent how women have mostly been able to move past the stereotype. Artists/photographers who I have found that can link towards this theme of shadows/reflections in still life are:
- Irving Penn
- Paul Outerbridge
- Andre Kertesz
- Sophie Calle
- Imogen Cunningham
- Simon Brutnell