Punctum

Tokyo, 2007.

Punctum

In “Camera Lucida”, Roland Barthes describes what happens when we look at a photo. The attention is borne by he who is looking, he is the active one. The act of looking, of studying goes from the person towards the photo. But sometimes, certain photos respond. A detail suddenly strikes you. That’s the “punctum”. In Diane Arbus’s photo of the child in Central Park, it’s the grenade that he’s holding in his hand. Some photos touch you. The energy is reversed. The strength comes from the photo. You’re hit.