MY NAME IS NATALIE SMITH AND I AM PRESENTLY LECTURING IN THE WOMEN'S STUDIES DEPARTMENT ON ISSUES OF RACE, CLASS AND GENDER. MY GRADUATE FOCUS HOWEVER WAS IN THE VISUAL ARTS AND IT IS THROUGH THE LENS OF VISUAL CULTURE THAT I WILL RESPOND TO "OTHER WEAPONS".
MY FIRST REACTION UPON READING LUISA VALENZUELA'S WORK WAS TO REMARK ON THE PROLIFERATION OF IMAGES IN THE TEXT. I COULDN'T HELP BUT BE REMINDED OF THE ON-GOING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE IMAGE AND THE TEXT IN VISUAL PRODUCTION. RENE MAGRITTE APPEARED BEFORE ME, TOTING HIS PIPE AND DECLARING THAT A PAINTING WAS NOT A PAINTING BUT A PIPE INSTEAD. THE RELATIONSHIP IN LANGUAGE BETWEEN THAT WHICH CARRIES MEANING "THE SIGNIFIER "AND THAT WHICH IS REPRESENTED BY MEANING" THE SIGNIFIED" HAS A LONG AND ILLUSTRIOUS HISTORY IN THE PRODUCTION OF VISUAL IMAGERY. IT, HOWEVER, FINDS A TENSE AND COMPLEX PLAYING FIELD IN VALENZUELA'S WORK.
FROM THE BEGINNING, IT IS QUESTIONABLE IF LAURA SIGNIFIES THE WOMAN, IF THE LOCKS SIGNIFY THE OBJECT, IF ALL THE EVERYDAY OBJECTS REPRESENT WHAT I HAVE COME TO ASSOCIATE THEM WITH.THIS RESULTED, FOR ME, IN BEING REMINDED OF THE POTENTIAL RANDOMNESS OF DEFINING THE IMAGES THAT SURROUND ME AND THE SUBSEQUENT POWER THAT IMAGES HAVE WHEN THEY ARE DEFINED IN A MANNER THAT SEEMS IRREFUTABLE. ARTIST BARBARA KRUGER INDICATES THIS POWER, WHEN SHE SUPERIMPOSES TEXT ON TOP OF AN IMAGE MAKING THE ASSOCIATION SEEM FACTUAL AND UNNEGOTIABLE. VALENZUELA'S CHARACTER LAURA INDICATES THIS POWER AT THE END, WHEN A WEAPON BECOMES A WEAPON.
I SOON BEGAN TO THINK ABOUT THESE ISSUES IN REGARDS TO MY OWN WORK. MY IMAGES ARE LAYERED WITH MEANINGS. MOST OF THEM ARE MEMORIES OF OBJECTS AND BODIES THAT HAVE BEEN CONTEXTUALIZED AND RE-CONTEXTULAIZED TO IMPART VERY SPECIFIC MEANINGS ABOUT BI-RACIAL AND BI-CULTURAL IDENTITY. YET THE RELATIVE SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE MEMORIES SHIFTS ACCORDING TO THE RESPONSE OF THE VIEWER WHEN THEY RECOGNIZE THESE OBJECTS AND CONTEXTUALIZE THEM AGAIN IN THEIR OWN MINDS.
THIS FORM OF VISUAL TRANSLATION RECURRED SEEMLESSLY IN THE STORY, YET WITH A TWIST. THE READER IS KEPT FROM ASSOCIATING OBJECT WITH MEMORY BECAUSE THE ACTORS IN THIS DRAMA OFFER NO CONCRETE ASSOCIATIONS OF THEIR OWN. WHAT SEEMS TO RESULT IS A SENSATION OF BEING LED THROUGH A PLACE THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE FAMILIAR AND YET REMAINS DISASSOCIATED FROM ANY SPECIFIC MEMORY, THUS MAKING THE PLACE UNRECOGNIZABLE AND YET STILL FAMILIAR.
THE POWER IN AN IMAGE IS OFTEN IN IT'S ABILITY TO EVOKE WHILE ALLOWING FOR AN INTERPRETATION THAT MAY OFFER A DIFFERING OR NEW INSIGHT. THE POWER OF VALENZUELAS DECONSTRUCTION OF WORD AND THERFORE IMAGE, IS THAT IT NECESSITATED A RETHINKING OR RECONSIDERATION OF MY OWN POSITIONALITY AND PERSPECTIVE.