Seeing Through their Eyes : Cultural Significance in the Reading and Interpretation of Offending Images

Sammanfattning: Offending images are representations that hurt people’s feelings deeply. My thesis deals with the way in which people read and interpret these offending images. It becomes important to understand what makes some viewers vulnerable to a certain image thereby provoking strong reactions against it. The aim is to put myself at the receiving end, in the place of those who are offended and look at the images from their perspective. It involves delving into the intricacies of the images, which constitutes initially in providing a coherent definition of offending images and tracing the background which shapes their interpretation. The significance of one’s culture is what influences perception. As a result the cultural construction of the viewer is undeniably intertwined within this subject of offending images. It is a phenomenon that is more often referred to than analysed. I, therefore, intend to construct an in- depth analysis of two images to exemplify their offensiveness which leads to and incite such passionate reactions. The two empirical materials chosen are a fashion photograph of Dutch model Lara Stone in Vogue Paris October 2009 issue and an art installation, Cocktail ou Autoportrait en Société, 2009, exhibited in Brussels, Belgium, by the French artist Mehdi-Georges Lahlou. The methodology that I have chosen to carry out my research is a deductive and an inductive one. This has allowed me to use the images as a starting point and to contextualise historical materials on race and religion combined with an analysis of the reception of the images. The theories will therefore be adapted into creating a new perspective on the issue of offending images.