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I selected this photo when I was organizing my photos. It doesn't have textual message. SO, it is doubtless necessary to go back to partially illiterate societies, to a sort of pictographic state of the image.
Image Illustration:
➡️ Symbolic message: an old garden. (A lot of plants in pots, wild cats, and concrete ground). An old garden with mice.
➡️ Connoted message:
The garden was highly possibile built in the 1950s, and it is located in an area most likely in southern China. The manager of the garden was most likely elderly.
The largest plant, it is called sago palm whose academic name is Cycas Revoluta. It is wildly planted in southern China, or in southern Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Sago palm's HISTORY BACKGROUND: During China's economic difficulties (1958-1962), when there was a famine in many places, farmers in the area where the sorrel originated dug up the roots of the tree to remove the toxic ingredients and then made starch for consumption. That's why people who experienced famine in that era loved to grow this plant. It is very common in the southern part of China, and almost all the plots built in the 1950s have been planted.
Concrete floors, at the same time support the speculation of that era, 60s 70s era gardens are beginning to tile.
The flower pot, also, the style and the color showed it was made of red clay and old. Although they are now widely sold around the world, it was not wild spread many years ago. It is easy to see by the age of these pots that decades have passed. The red clay pot is very sturdy. After a second firing can remain in use for hundreds of years. However, the flower pot in this picture is very rough and should have been fired only once. After sunlight and water, it has faded to orange. The planter behind it is in the shade and the color remains.
The cat, it is highly possible a wild cat since it doesn't have a collar. The kind is called Dragon Li, (academic name). It is a very common Chinese native cat. It is distributed throughout China and is particularly good at catching mice.
➡️ Denoted message: aged, relaxing and random.
The garden appears to be neglected and in disrepair, evidenced by its overgrown weeds and worn-out appearance. In the daytime, a cat comfortably sleeping in a flower pot, seemingly unperturbed by human presence, displaying a lazy demeanor.
PS: This photo was took in a garden in Chengdu China. The objects appear in this photo are plants in flower pots, a cat, and gray ground. I happened to capture this moment in a photograph.
I really like how you analyzed the plant in the photo, which provides some background information about where you shot these photos and how the day is. Also, I like how you illustrate the meaning of the photo. The concept of "aged, relaxing, and random" is obviously shown in the photo.
ReplyDeleteI would actually say that despite some negligence to cleanliness and wornout-ness of the environment in this image, it is quite orderly. The plants have not overgrown and remain contained in the pots, and the cement, while dirty, is free of cracks. Essentially, all elements but the flower pot in which the cat rests are continuing to fullfill their intended utility. I think it's interesting that even without explicit human presence in this picture, the power/obsession of human control over nature is felt quite strongly.
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