Stormtrooper Che at Folklife

on a usps stamp


compare with a very similar picture from deviantART

"V" update

I did some more research this week pouring through images on deviantART and noticed a few more Che/V associations



Besides established link with Bob Marley (and related), Che seems to show up a lot around the Linux Penguin. Also alongside Gandhi, interestingly. One anti-che image fused his face with Hitler's:

Visual Identities Application 2

While connecting a fairly complex web of interconnected observations and semantic models, I found that the Visual Identities reading on Apple and IBM's logos provides useful insight into how we can weave "hard data" and more qualitative analysis together into a meaningful narrative. I also found the breadth of data analyzed--ranging from the actual form of a logo, to corporate documents, to the broader context within which it interacts fascinating. This has triggered me to think even further beyond the image of Che itself and to examine in greater depth the context where is image does (or doesn't) appear.

In the author's analysis, I specifically appreciated how Floch narrowed down a broader context of observation and invited the reader to see the process by which she deduced similarities and differences in few significant categories like structure, color, and form. Though I'm not sure I tracked all the nuances of her treatment of the symbols, my understanding was that she focused more on how they actually functioned than what they were supposed to mean in an abstract/theoretical sense. I found this mode of analysis refreshingly pragmatic (and quite revealing as well). By seeing inside the author's process, I felt comfortable working loosely with her conclusions about how the two symbols "mean," especially in relation to each other.

This makes me want to understand Che's image outside of a static isolated context and to begin to make observations about how it has a dynamic conversation with its environment. Can changes to the image over time be explained by these observations? Some specific pieces of contextual data that I've intuitively assessed to be useful include:
- The frequency of repeated images on a Google image search
- The "caption" text associated with Flickr posts
- The user IDs of deviantART posters together with their image captions

At the moment, I've physically placed a single copy of each of my image samples into unique folders like "tribute," "art," "editorial," "merchandise," etc. While these are useful for finding trends, they are also counterproductive, when an image best fits in multiple categories. For example many pieces of art with Che's image, are also tributes, but not all tributes are artworks and neither are all artworks tributes.

Ideally I'd be able to automatically leech text associated with the images and store it as meta data, while manually flagging images with as many "tags" as are appropriate. Tags would include generic statistics like where it was from, when it was accessed, when it was posted, and how frequently duplicate images occur, as well as which categories apply to it (art, tribute, merchandise, all of the above, etc). This floating cloud of images linked to data would then facilitate clearer numeric observations that would pave the way inquiries into descriptive narratives. For example, I expect that a statistical analysis of my images would reveal that images bashing Che tend to modify the iconic Korda image less, while images giving tribute to him tend to be more unique and personalized. I'd like to explore this, but first it seems necessary to determine the degree to which the observation is true.

Visual Identities Application

The Visual Identities chapter provided excellent insight into how to approach the semiotic deconstruction of a company logo. The author unpacked a variety of tools that can be used when examining such logos, including the colors chosen. Further, the author succeeds in explaining how each of the logos examined come to define mainstream and progressive spirit.

Applying some of the techniques used in this chapter to the Korda image of Che Guevara could be tricky. In the Visual Identities chapter the author looks into the message behind two images constructed to represent a brand but have come to define broader socio-economic beliefs. On the other hand, the Korda image of Che is very different than IBM or Apple, because it was not created to market a product. But it has morphed into an image that markets an idea that carries a different message depending on what part of the world it is seen.

For my specific research some of the techniques for analysis that can be used involve looking at colors. Che’s image can be found in all parts of the world, from walls, to billboards, to street signs, to buildings, to banners and t-shirts. But the colors used vary little across mediums. Despite that the original image was a black and white photo; many of the reproductions contain variations of red and black. What do these colors represent? And do they have different political meaning in different parts of the world? Finally, many of the images found in Latin countries draw attention to the star on Che’s beret. Often the star is more pronounced than in the original, coming across as a beacon shining from his forehead. This isn’t the case in most countries outside of Latin America and Cuba. Is this a reflection of Christ-like status in these countries? A further examination of the star on the beret and the colors used, along with location should lead to a better understanding of the message the Korda image of Che carries to viewers and how that message varies across the world.