Image Explication

Background

First Impressions

Image Analysis

Participants

You are Here

My Interpretation

Relationships

Relationships Between Represented Participants

According to Kress and Van Leeuwen, represented participants are "the people, the places and things depicted in images" (Kress & Van Leeuwen, Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge, 1996. pg. 377.) As said in the "Participants" section, the two represented participants are the warrior woman to the left and the howling silence that surrounds her. The more active participants seem to be the howlers, affecting the warrior who stands passively listening to them. However, it can be said that the only active participant is the warrior, as she is the one that is "conjuring" up the howlers as normally a person who stands in silence doesn't see or hear the silence howling at him. Everything else in the painting is a figment of her imagination. So while it may seem like the howlers are the ones that are ones acting upon the warrior, it can be said that they are both acting upon each other. The howling silence affects the warrior's mood and the warrior affects the howlers in a way by calling them into being.

Relationships Between Interactive & Represented Participants

There is a whole assortment of reactions people can have to this painting. My reactions are catalogued in the "First Impressions" and "Interpretation" sections. For instance, when I asked my friend what he thought of the picture before he had seen the title, he said he felt protective of the woman, and that he wanted the demons to go away and leave her alone. After explaining the image title to him, he said "Maybe they aren't demons we can see, but her own demons, and then we are actually helpless in trying to help her."

The artist left a lot of room for interpretation in this painting. Although we are told that the painting depicts the howls of silence, we are not explicitly told why the silence is howling. We cannot be completely sure that the depicted woman is a warrior. Does the artist want us to pity the woman? Does he want us to feel enraged for her sake? Protective of her? Part of the charm of this painting is the fact that we are left to guess a lot of aspects, helping us form our own unique and boundless interpretations.

All pictures copyrighted by Luis Royo.

Thank you, Jonathan, for keeping me sane... I never could have done it without you!