It was Ferdinand De Saussure who introduced the terms 'signified' (denotation) and 'signifier' (connotation), relating the semiotics of stills (Chandler, 2019). The denotation of an image is what the audience sees while the connotation is what the individual ascertains from its symbols. Based off this theory, if I were to show you an image, would you take the text at face value, or understand the deeper meaning?
Indigenous Australian Gordon Bennett’s artwork ‘The Coming of The Light' (1987) explores this concept, that images can be both striking and thought provoking, whilst exploring and challenging social values and incidents.
This emotive work gives insight into life as an Indigenous Australian in the 1980’s, with its denotation exploring a dark and grotesque scene. Created with synthetic polymer paint, ‘The Coming of the Light’ displays a hand holding a torch whose flame illuminates the dark room while the other defiles and strangles a coloured jack-in-the-box man. The background displays white figures watching the scene, with uniform, grid-like buildings behind them. The work shows a stark contrast in colours, juxtaposing light whites and yellows to the dark ominous graffitied wall.
Although the denotation of this work may take someone off guard, it’s “laden with philosophical, art historical and post-colonial signifiers”(Wright, 2018).
Bennett often asked philosophical questions related to identity, focusing on culture, history and power. The besmirched man-in-the box symbolises Bennett’s personal identity struggles and his feeling of suffocation stemming from his exclusion from society, Bennett stated that “over the 15 years (he) spent in the work force, as (he) listened to my peers talk about the ‘abos’… (he) felt more and more alienated.”(Bennett, 1996)
‘The Coming of the Light’ also offers an art historical depiction, utilising appropriation of famous monuments. Bennett reinterprets symbols such as the torch, reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty’s torch, as a catalyst for multiple interpretations. He uses the appropriated torch to reflect on the reproduction of Aboriginal arts and culture in order to echo the past abuses of Aboriginal people (Lawrenson, 2007, p58). He also displays the ‘liberty torch’ as the only illuminated subject in the artwork, representing the possibility to a brighter future. Unfortunately, this torch is faced away from the figure, signifying how Bennett and other Australians are far away from becoming accepted for their true identity and ancestry. This accumulation of signifiers in Gordon Bennett’s ‘The Coming of the Light’ overwhelms the audience viewing the work and allows for them to be put in Bennett’s frame of mind and empathise with his plight.
Finally, this work also connotes a post-colonial and historical interpretation. Post-colonialism is the historical period after the Western invasion of countries such as Australia. It focuses on the consequences of the control and exploitation of Indigenous people and their land. Bennett explores this ideology through his signifiers, the juxtaposition between the ghastly scene in the foreground and the white, god-like watchers in the background. This shows a colossal power disparity, not only in the artwork but 1980 society as well. Furthermore, the racial slurs printed on the background is paired with the gloomy setting alluding to the dark past of Australian history.
This artwork affirms Ferdinand De Saussure’s theory as audiences don’t always take images at face value, alluding towards different ideologies through its semiotics. It’s more than possible to read this work in more than one way as the signifiers allude towards a commentary on post-colonial ideologies, whilst other readings of its semiotics may question the philosophical or art historical topics ascertained by Bennett. It is up to the interpretation of the individual.
