Synergy is a word that could be described as ‘cooperative interaction’ (Google Dictionary, 2018). It is often used in dual relationships that require some level of joint effort. Sipe (1998) made me think about synergy as in the way words and illustrations relate to each other. Not only in the picture books that I have been reading with a more critical eye, but regards to the synergist relationship of words and images in my own work.
Sipe took a semiotic approach of transmediation to describe how the coexistence of words and illustrations on the same environment (like the page of a book, for example) can alter the interpretation of both text and images. To Sipe, ‘transmediation makes it clear that visual texts are on equal footing with verbal text’ (Sipe, 1998, p. 107), in regards to how they alter our understanding of the message. The reader acts as a co-creator of the story and creates the synergy between image and text through the filter of subjectivity.
This whole theoretical approach on the relation between words and pictures was new to me. I found it interesting and helpful to my work to be aware of the readers role in recreating the story as they read words and images. Subjectivity also plays a fundamental role here. Sipe’s paper reinforces and gives a theoretical basis to what I had only understood in practice.
At the beginning of the semester, I created a collage that played with the relation between words words and very basic shapes (Figure 1, below).
Sipe’s semiotic interpretation is a useful tool to help explain the mechanisms that make the game between pictures and a text work in Figure 1.
The very basic shapes — red circles against a rectangular background that changes colors — allow a wide range of subjective interpretations. The presence of the words a slight change in the position of the elements has the potential to completely alter the message. The story is told not through the pictures, neither through the words. But somewhere within their synergic relationship.
As a professional, this theoretical awareness enriches my repertoire and empowers me to make more conscious decisions in future projects.
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References:
Google Dictionary. (2018) [Online] Available from: http://www.google.com [Accessed on Dec. 11, 2018.]
PEÇANHA, S. (2018) Paper challenge. Unpublished.
SIPE, L. R. (1998) ‘How Picture Books Work: A Semiotically Framed Theory of Text-Picture Relationships.’ Children’s Literature in Education. Vol. 29, No. 2 p. 97-108.
Sergio’s research & enquiry 