Is not the most erotic part of the body wherever the clothing affords a glimpse?
Roland BarthesRead
Every photograph is a certificate of presence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that photographs serve as proof of existence at a specific moment in time.
Roland Barthes' quote suggests that every photograph captures a moment that confirms the presence of a subject, whether it be a person, place, or object, at a particular point in time. This idea underscores the documentary nature of photography, highlighting its role in preserving memories and evidence of reality, ultimately reminding us of the transient nature of existence and our ability to commemorate it through images.
Themes
PhotographPresenceMemoryEvidenceArt
In practice
Example use cases
Using the quote during a photography exhibition to discuss the significance of each captured moment.
More from Roland Barthes
All quotes βIf I acknowledge my dependency, I do so because for me it is a means of signifying my demand: in the realm of love, futility is not a "weakness" or an "absurdity": it is a strong sign: the more futile, the more it signifies and the more it asserts itself as strength.)
Roland BarthesRead
The gesture of the amorous embrace seems to fulfill, for a time, the subject's dream of total union with the loved being: The longing for consummation with the other.
Roland BarthesRead
The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture.
Roland BarthesRead
I think that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object.
Roland BarthesRead
All those young photographers who are at work in the world, determined upon the capture of actuality, do not know that they are agents of Death.
Roland BarthesRead
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