Write a 5 page essay on Cultural Studies for Design.Shattering expectations and questioning boundaries, he has set the stage for a new kind of fashion photography (Cotton & Verthime, 2003). This paper

Write a 5 page essay on Cultural Studies for Design.

Shattering expectations and questioning boundaries, he has set the stage for a new kind of fashion photography (Cotton & Verthime, 2003). This paper will look into one of Bourdin’s works for fashion photography by exploring the connotative and denotative aspects.

Within the domain of fashion and its interpretation, denotation and connotation vary widely. While denotation expresses nothing more than a straight interpretation of the object, connotation attaches cultural or other such meaning to the work. The work presented above has both a denotative and various connotative aspects. In simple denotative terms, the image shown above depicts a female figure dressed up in red clothes and shoes. The figurine is shown as if walking but being obscured by the pole in front of her.

While the denotative explanation for this image is deceptively simple, the connotative aspects are not. Bourdin is known for using certain visual narratives in his work. In the case of this work, these are the pole (often depicted as a pole, a tree, bollard, road sign and column in Bourdin’s work) and the wall (often depicted as a wall, a cliff face, wire barriers or as a wooden fence in Bourdin’s work). These motifs tend to recur in Bourdin’s work and signify his understanding of the world (McCabe, 2005).

In terms of classic artistic convention, the pole is a protagonist and Bourdin presents himself here as the symbol of his act of interpreting nature and the passing of time. Bourdin is the storyteller, like a director in a theatre who is reconstructing narratives of his own imagination and, as ever, remains enigmatic.

The wall serves as a barrier, it rises high, delineating the image plane and articulating the space. It creates a sense of threat – containment and frustration and hints towards untold mysteries. It inspires unease through both its formal and emotional tension. Bourdin recognized the conflation of space when he raised his camera to his eye.

In contrast, the