When looking at the assignment for this blog post right away I thought to use something that ties into religion. The picture I have posted is one of two lines crossing over each other. This image is a sign, its signifier is the black ink from which it is made up of. Now when we get into what this object or this sign means, that is going to be different for every single person who looks at it. I am going to start off with what it signifies to me- When I look at this picture I see something that I call a cross. I see a symbol that represents the essence of the religion of Christianity. I think of words and names like Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Crucifixion, Heaven, Hell, Faith, Angels and the Devil. I see people praying. I picture a man with brown hair and a brown beard with white clothing. I think of other objects in my life that correspond to the cross- things like churches, pastors and bibles. I hear stories of Adam and Eve in Genesis, of Matthew, John, Mark and Jacob. I think of the meaning of holidays including Easter and Christmas. I feel pain, but also joy and love. Now all that is what I see, how I interpret this image. I am a Christian, and I believe in a meaning that comes behind this sign and that is a long time ago Jesus died on the cross to save me. The way I feel and what I picture is my personal position on this. I am not going to get into any more details than I need to because I know a number of you do not hold my same position on this matter even if I want you to. Which is my next point, many people around the world just see a letter. English speakers see a lowercase t, and nothing else. Some people do see a cross and know of what it symbolizes but do not hold any belief in it what so ever. There are probably countless numbers of people who look at it and see nothing more than the two lines that make it up as an image. Depending on what culture or cultures you are in will put you in a different position.
This is definitely a great object and something that is really interesting because for me it's a symbol that crosses my mind every day. The culture I am apart of (being a christian) is world wide, but I forget about people who are outside of this religion. To me this is obviously a cross. For someone who has never been introduced to christianity this could be a lower case t if that is if they know the English alphabet. This whole signifier and signified is something that can be expanded on so much and really boggles my mind.
ReplyDeleteI really liked that you used the cross as your object. Being raised Catholic, I of course immediately saw the object as a christian cross. When you mentioned that it could be seen as a lower case t, I looked at it in a way that I never would have thought to have. I also think it's interesting how some public figures wear giant diamond crosses around their neck and some people just wear crosses and they're not even religious. It'd be interesting to hear those people's take on what the cross means to them.
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