Image Acts

Abstract

Over 80 years ago, Bronistaw Malinowski documented the verbal magic of Trobiand gardeners as they tended their crops. More than 40 years later, J. L. Austin argued that words are not simply descriptive but are equally engaged in the productions of actions, indeed are actions themselves. Not long afterward, this idea was given a name: speech acts. This article expands that concept to include what may be termed image acts and argues that a theory of action should include a theory of images.

Image Analysis: An Interactive Approach to Compositional Elements

“…It is no wonder then that social scientists can feel quite lost when it comes to engaging with images, and to a large degree have preferred not to. What is qualified as 'visual neglect' is precisely the scientific drive of prioritising words over images (Hansen, Cottle, Negrine & Newbold, 1998, p. 191;Bakewell, 1998). Under these circumstances image-based research has been seriously lagging behind spoken/written language studies.…”

“…Not only do images betray the mark of an active author, they also incur active engagement on the part of the viewers. Given the performative force of the image we are arguing for, it makes sense to draw on Austin's (1962) well-known notion of the 'speech-act', and to posit the role of an 'image-act' (see also Bakewell, 1998). Just as words do, images act on us by informing, ordering, warning, inspiring, persuading, or deterring.…”

Banning Public Nudity: Images of Bodies as Sites of Contested Moral Values

“…And, while the First Amendment to the US Constitution states a guarantee of freedom of expression, under which public nudity as an image act (Bakewell 1998) …”

Design Rituals and Performative Ethnography

“…The statements about other entities implied by the use of design materials are thus to be considered not as speech acts, but as object acts. In the specific case of video clips, we may usefully employ the term image acts introduced by Blackwell (1998) as a paraphrase of Austin's speech acts.…”