the emblematic image map method
some samples of pictures using this method
Tjebbe van Tijen
23/4/2000
The 'emblematic image map' method is a navigating tool, it summarises series of photographs or other kind of pictorial material and tries to create a total atmosphere in one view by fusing different picture elements into one. There is a strong interpretative element in the way pictures are combined and fused. This can only be done by making subjective choices, but there are some guiding principles: the image map/collage always shows that it is made up of different elements, there is no attempt to create a unified new 'reality', the melting, transparent layering and other digital collage techniques can be deducted by the viewer.
Summarizing pictorial information and emphasising choosen meanings, are the main qualities of this technique. Adding a short title and a subscription, makes these 'image maps' fit in the tradition of the classic European emblem art with its three parts: Inscriptio (title), pictura (picture) and subscriptio (subtitle). Ideally there should also be a tension between these three elements, not just a straight forward descriptive way of giving meaning. This 'image map' method is a linking tool from image to images, or from image to text.
Some of the image maps below
are 'clickable', so clicking a certain area of the picture will lead to the
original single picture used, clicking that picture will bring you back tot
the picture map again.
Two earlier examples from 1995, first attempts
to visualize libraries and archives
January 1999 visit to Japanese anarchist archive:
CIRA Nippon, Fujinomiya-Shi
January 1999 visit to Ohara Institute for Social
Research, Hosei University, Aihara Machida-Shi, Tokyo, Japan