| Image Explication | Background | First Impressions | Image Analysis | Participants | Relationships | My Interpretation |
| Image Explication | Background | First Impressions | Image Analysis |  You are Here |
Relationships | My Interpretation |
Participants
"Images involve two kinds of participants, represented participants (the people, the places and things depicted in images), and interactive participants (the people who communicate with each other through images, the producers and viewers of images)..." ~Gunther Kress & Theo van Leeuwen
The Warrior
The participant that is recognized immediately is the woman that stands to
the left in the
picture. She is bathed in white light, contrasting her quite effectively with the darker demons. This serves to
separate her slightly from the rest of the scene, drawing the eye to her immediately even though she
isn't in the middle of the painting. She seems to be the most passive participant in the painting,
standing with her eyes closed as the silence swirls around her. However, the title of the painting implies
that the howling demons are not "real" in the sense that they are created by the woman's mind. This would
indicate that she is in actuality the most active participant in the painting, being the "creator" and the
source of the demons.
The Silence
Here are the other participants in the picture: the howling silence, personified by demon-like visages.
There is a multitude of them, of varying sizes, but of relatively uniform appearance. They seem to blend
into the background, not detracting from the other participant (the warrior), and yet you cannot miss
them. They are actively
interacting with the warrior in the painting. The artist has drawn them to look menacing, but the audience
cannot tell why they are howling. Are they accusing the warrior of something? Are they merely trying to
remind her of something? Are they sad? Angry?
The Viewers
We, the audience, are the other participants, in that we are watching the scene unfolding before us. We get the idea that we're peeking into a very private scene; a warrior alone with her thoughts. We are not invited in by any of the participants, yet we find ourselves drawn by the contrasting colors, by the provocative pose of the woman, and by the many interpretations that are possible. Even though the artist limits some of the possibilities of the interpretation of his painting, still so many things are left up to us so that we can come up with our own renditions.
All pictures copyrighted by Luis Royo.