Photography as a medium of art and a medium of social influence. About metaphysics in Ireneusz Zjeżdżałka photographs from the album Sedimentation

Abstract

The article treats photography as a medium of art and a medium of social influence. This perspective makes it possible to capture the essence of the photographic work, which form and content complement each other. The analysis of Ireneusz Zjeżdżałka’s photo-images from the album “Sedimentation” was based on the semiotic theory of information, with a particular emphasis on syntactics, in order to study the role of light in the photographic image: its influence on the form and on the content, including by performing a mediumistic function, i.e. mediating, between the spheres of the sacred and the profane. The purpose of the article is to pay attention to the visual language of the image, which is governed by different rules than the verbal language. To do this, an attempt has been made to present the basic principles of “imago linguae”, with particular reference to the role of light in the photographic image as a “sine qua non” condition for the existence of photography. Thus, the article is an attempt to answer the question of whether light is responsible for creating a message with a metaphysical basis, i.e. one that goes beyond the frames of ordinary sensory cognition.