Assignment Two : Making Images Talk, Abstraction

The first is an iconic sign of a beggar, and it is being distillated, till it evolves into the final image, of two hands being held out. Generic meaning sets in at the fourth image.

The final symbol - Begging.

After the lecturer had given us this assignment, i had deduced from the avid discussions amongst my coursemates, that many people were going to be abstracting cars, planes, cellphones. I wanted to increase the challenging level a notch, and so i picked on the furthest item from everyday objects, i picked the action of begging to be abstracted. It was a really interesting theme to be working with, as it triggered me to wonder about the various signifiers of begging, and finally, i decided that the most universal of all was outstretched palms, facing upwards, with fingers curled.

I did not attend class for presentation of this work that day, as I was running a high fever. SOOO, i'm going to need your comments for this work. comment!!! :)

/Edited
Comments:

Having not attended lessons, I had to show my family and friends the final picture, and ask them what came to their minds. Most of them said begging, or things closely linked with begging. (donations, beggar etc) So this will be my final work, thankfully as the constant fever was definitely making the creative juices flow to an ebb.

Reflections:

It was rather interesting, to learn about the concept of signifier and signified. In this case, the very first image is iconic of begging, while the final image is both indexic and symbolic, as it suggests begging by the link that begging is often carried out with the action of holding out both hands. It could also be symbolic, as the culture of begging could differ in different environments, for example a society could recognise begging when they see a hat turned upside down, instead of the hands. This is because in that society, maybe begging is conducted merely with a hat for people to throw in donations, rather than outstretched hands.