Visual Analysis :: 7Mai Capitulation Mural

Jul2005

Originally written for In-Country Studies at UTS, exploring the use of Visual Analysis in sociological research; talks about the method and the idea of a visual text, then some observations of the mural itself: created for the 60th anniversary of the Nazi Capitulation in Reims, I observed pointers to French and European identity, and interpreted the mural as a propaganda piece, on display just before the European Constitutional Referendum.

Note: the images referenced are displayed in thumbnail versions at the bottom of the page. Clicking on a ranged link (eg Plates I-VIII) will jump to that section of thumbnails, while clicking on a specific link (eg, Plate I) will jump to the full-size version of that photo. You can also click the thumbnails to view the images at a larger size.

An Introduction

The Visual Analysis methodology is wide-ranging in scope, and can be applied to a range of visual objects. In this module I apply its methods to a specific visual text: a mural created for the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Capitulation (May 7th, 1945) in Reims. The event, involving public displays, exhibitions, talks and concerts, was ripe for sociological study. The event reflects the way the city thinks of itself and its history, and of its place in France and Europe. As a series of public events, it was somewhat more Visual than Textual, lending itself to a visual analysis.

The tagline for the celebrations was 'La paix pour bâtir l'Europe', or The Peace to Build Europe. The mural created focussed on this theme, consisting of a basic timeline outlining World War II and the post-War European construction. In undertaking a Visual Analysis of this mural, which I treat as a coherent visual text, I explore its detail and its context.

The 7 Mai Mural and The Method

The mural consists of two separate boards, temporary 'walls'. Overview pictures are available in Appendix 1, Plates I-XIV. The first side (I-VIII) deals with World War II, from the outbreak of war in 1939 to the signing of the peace in 1945. Given France's unique role in the war, a significant period of the war deals with the French Resistance. The second half (Plates IX-XIV) deals with the post-War period. Part of this period was known for anti-colonial wars and the Cold War, but the overwhelming theme is that of Freedom and European Construction.

We must deal with the question of how to read the Mural as a Visual Text. Some of the methods of Visual Analysis must be adapted to this particular text. The Mural can be treated as a single coherent text, but it is not a simple painting, photograph, nor even an advertisement. It combines photographic, drawn and textual elements; it appropriates earlier visual and textual works; its format as Timeline brings a certain Order. Its context must be taken into account. And its role needs to be dealt with: it cannot be dealt with as a Literal text, nor simply as propaganda (as a form of Advertising), though some of those methods will be useful.

In his discussion of the 'Rhetoric of the Image', Barthes draws his examples from advertising; he explains that "in advertising the signification of the image is undoubtedly intentional" (Barthes, 1977, p33). In a way, it can be argued that commemorative works such as this mural also function as 'advertising', tending to Advertise the Status Quo. This is not to say that the Mural serves only this purpose, but it can be seen that the methods Barthes applies to advertising will be useful when analysing the text.

In regards to advertising, Barthes argues that written text can have two functions: "anchorage and relay." (Barthes, 1977, p38) He suggests that images "imply, underlying their signifiers, a 'floating chain' of signifieds, the reader able to choose some and ignore others." (ibid, p39). The written text accompanying the image can direct the reader toward certain interpretations, helping the reader "to choose the correct level of perception" (ibid, p39, emphasis original). Anchorage serves as selective elucidation, applying to certain signs; Barthes suggests such text "has thus a repressive value" (ibid, p40). Such text is most common in advertising and press captioning. When it serves the function of Relay, written text and image "stand in a complementary relationship; ... setting out ... meanings that are not to be found in the image itself" (ibid, p41). Barthes suggests that Relay is most common in film, though I would argue that it appears similarly in New Media, or Multi-media. The 7 Mai Mural does not contain any new-technology media - no sound or video, interactivity - but its sensibility is that of New Media. It combines a range of original visual and written texts, and modern visual techniques such as graffiti. Its wide-ranging, post-modern appropriation of texts and techniques qualify it as New Media. It thus combines the (written) textual techniques of traditional advertising and film, using both Anchorage and Relay to further visual signification.

To explore a range of meanings, I will analyse the Mural in terms of its Context, its Detail, and by identifying and exploring three different themes, headed as follows: Past. Future. Present?, in relation to the timeline; War + Resistance, dealing with those two themes, and the use of resistance techniques such as graffiti; and Nationalism, dealing with the Mural as a Commemorative work and its relationship to the European Project.

Context: Environment

The 7 Mai Mural was created for the Capitulation anniversary celebrations in Reims, by La Compagnie Numerique, the group hired by the city to run a range of events and exhibitions over the weekend, as well as creating most of the public displays and imagery. As such, the design aesthetic of the Mural was consistent with the visuals around the city. The Mural was the major outdoor installation for the weekend, though there were flags, banners and posters around the city centre. It was on display in Place de l'Hotel de Ville, the square outside the Town Hall, which was also used as a venue for some events over the weekend. The positioning of the Mural in a key public space, with its connections to Officialdom, imbues it with officiality, and is important to keep in mind when examining its signs.

La Compagnie Numerique write about the work and about Urban Art on their website. They suggest that Urban Art "gives a new perception of the street, of buildings, and of a place's collective memory. Passers-by become spectators, actors in the urban landscape. Thus, they are directly or indirectly implicated in the process of creation. The discourse created is freely accessible to all." (LCN, online, trans.) In regards to their work for the weekend: the installations "plunge the people of Reims into the years 40-45 with a modern aesthetic regard. These installations participate in the construction of the identity of the individual in their relationship with the event." (ibid)

The Event for which the Mural was created also factors in our interpretation. The event itself is Commemorative, and inherent to it are the ideas of War and Peace. Such events can be said to be Nationalist, reinforcing the Status Quo. That is not to say that the event being commemorated couldn't be used to support some other ideal, but an Official celebration of War always supports the Incumbent System. The event comes into play when dealing with all of the three themes that I will identify.

Context: Climate

Beyond the immediate physical and temporal environment of the Mural, there is further historical context which must be mentioned. The Mural explicitly references History, from 1939 onwards. But we must keep in mind Barthes' work on myth and History. He suggests that "Myth deprives the object of which it speaks of all History. In it, history evaporates." (Barthes, 1973, p151). And further, myth naturalises and depoliticises speech. He argues: "What the world supplies to myth is an historical reality, ... and what myth gives in return is a natural image of this reality" (ibid, p142). The History referenced in the mural is Mythologised, and as such, a-Historical. The timeline becomes a sign, the events and images referenced become mythologised and disconnected from their own historical context. The (ab-)use of History is particularly relevant when I explore Past. Future. Present?

The immediate historical context also affects the analysis of the Mural. The event took place two weeks shy of the Referendum on the European Constitution. Just as the Oui campaign was inextricably linked (by its supporters) to the Status Quo, to the ruling powers, and to the European Project, this Mural cannot be separated from that campaign. It does not refer to the Referendum, but by its support for the Status Quo, the ruling powers, and the European Project, it supports their campaign for the Oui.

The Mural: Detail

Before analysing the Mural by exploring the themes I have identified, I will briefly explore its images, text, and visual motifs. The Mural consists of two separate sections, one on World War II and one post-War. Both can be seen to display the tricolour - main sections of Blue-White-Red. Note that the WWII side has a grittier visual aesthetic, and in it the tricolour is suitably muted (the white being almost grey in sections). It is also much darker, with a more sombre tone, and the images of soldiers and bombed buildings adds to the mood. Further, there is a common theme of graffiti, sketching and hand-writing throughout this side, which is notably missing from the Post-War section.

The image of Hitler (Plate I, detail Plate XV), has been scribbled upon, much in the way a bored student might doodle on an image, adding a moustache and glasses. The same section (Plate I) carries large 'graffitied' text reading War and Death. An unattributed piece of hand-written text (Plate III, detail Plate XVII) begins: "Yes I am scared to my gut of being beaten | And I am going to fight". Next comes the section on the Resistance, with graffiti reading "Resistants | Patriots". It carries photographs of some of the men killed (Plate IV, detail Plate XVIII), next to which are empty boxes, symbolising the many more lives that were lost, uncredited. There is text by Max Jacob (detail Plate XVIII), a French Jew, a poet, writer and painter, who hid from the Germans until 1944, and died soon after capture. Extracts from the text:

"TRAVEL. For two days, the train seems to be going in circles ...
'Men 40' it reads, and we are one hundred and twenty. Without water, without air, madness is born. Panic. The noise of the train is no more to me than these three untiring words repeated Train of death - Train of death - Train of death - ...
A horrible bloodlust. At your lips the taste of blood Train of death - Train of death - Train of death - ...
The horrible smell suffocates you. The darkness comes to you"

The words "Train of death" are in red, stark and bloody against the black and white. Further photos; graffitied text "The Unspeakable"; an empty black box (Plate IV). Text by Primo Levi (Plate V), an Italian Jew who spent 10 months in Auschwitz, an author; from his work "If This Is A Man":

"You who live peacefully
Warm in your houses
You who, returning in the evening, find
The table set and friendly faces
Consider if this is a man
He who struggles in the mud,
Who knows no rest,
Who fights for a morcel of bread,
Who dies for a Yes, for a No.
Consider if this is a woman
She who lost her name and her hair
And even the strength to remember,
The empty eyes and cold breast
Like a frog in winter.
Don't forget that it was,
No, never forget it;
Engrave these words in your heart.
Think of them in your home, on the street,
When you sleep, when you rise;
Repeat them to your children.
Or may your house collapse;
May disease overwhelm you,
May your children turn away from you."

The section of war is followed by the surrender (Plates V-VIII): the graffitied text "Freedom"; the headline "Germany Surrenders"; the American flag; soldiers, people celebrating in the streets.

The second part of the Mural is Post-War: the hands working together to break the swastika; the text of a poem, L'écart, by Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet and a communist (Plate IX):

"If your foot goes astray, it will be cut
If your hand drives you to another path, it will become gangrenous
If your life strays from me, you will die, even as you go on living
Dead or ghost you will be, walking without me on the earth"

The next years are characterised by the anti-colonial wars; the text "A-Bomb"; but most of all the huge (now printed) word "Freedom" (Plates X-XI). Then "Franco-German Reconciliation", and the text "Reconciliation" (Plates XI-XII); a period of peace, displayed as the word peace repeated hundreds of times (Plate XII). Then Europe: the image of Europe overlayed with the word "Future" (Plate XIII); a period of construction; the word "Construction"; a piece of text by Ignazio Silone, an Italian communist (Plate XIV, detail Plate XIX); including the words:

"Freedom isn't something they give you as a gift ... Freedom, one must take it."

This final piece of text is overlayed with the tagline "The Peace to Build Europe", then repeated smaller. Finally, the current year, followed by an image of children joining hands playing, book-ending the image of the hands together to break the swastika.

Past. Future. Present?

Because of the timeline motif, the Mural largely deals with the Past, with a mythologised History. The references to the horrors of war imply one's duties to the past. And as a Commemorative event, the weekend's celebrations also dealt with the past. But the weekends tagline carries two parts: The peace talks about the past, but the addition of To Build Europe introduces the future. And the Mural itself refers to the future: both explicitly (the word "Future" on Plate XIII) and implicitly. The present is not the end of the timeline, the present is merely a date, but it is shown as being on the edge of a Utopian future, the previous years blurring into the image of the children playing. The Present is thus removed of its importance: as readers, we are invited to remember the past, and to look forward to a glorious future, but not to think of ourselves in the here-and-now.

Relating the Mural to the Referendum, the implicit command is that all that is demanded of the Present is to do one's duty, just as was done by the Resistance fighters, and as is implied in the final piece of text, and vote Oui, in order to take freedom and usher in the new Age.

War + Resistance

The presence of War in the Mural is no surprise, it is integral to celebrating the peace; but what is interesting is the romanticisation of Resistance. This is done in the references to fighters, and the words "Resistants | Patriots". But further, the Mural appropriates graffiti, with all its connotations of 'resistance'. Graffiti carries with it the myth of anarchy and anti-establishment resistance, and of youth. By using it in a government-sponsored work, it 'legitimates' 'anti-social practice', while simultaneously deflating it of meaning. The Establishment using Anti-Establishment methods weakens those methods for other uses, but it becomes somewhat meaningless. After all, graffiti is nothing without Protest. It is worth noting that the romanticised Resistance is constrained to the first half of the mural; the post-War section is Ordered. The System seeks to link itself to that Resistance, while negating possible resistance against itself in the present.

Nationalism

Any Official commemorative work, particularly when militarily-related, is going to be Nationalist. But it is interesting to see what would traditionally be French nationalism being directed toward European nationalism. The Mural develops from France-focussed in war-time and briefly in the post-War period to focussing on Franco-German relationships, to the construction of Europe. With each stage the viewer's loyalties are pulled along. The French tricolour disappears at the end, replaced with the Utopian image, but we know that this Utopia is European, as everything previously has led to the European Construction. Though the Americans make a brief appearance as the saviours from WWII, they don't appear again in the post-War imagery; this is not Internationalism. The Mural carries all the Nationalist power of a commemorative work, and does not do away with Nationalism, it just directs that loyalty to a slightly different Nation.

Concluding Comments

Visual Analysis is a wide-ranging methodology. Its methods can be adapted and refined for particular visual texts. In this module, I explored the context, detail and themes of a specific text, the 7 Mai Mural. Though I was particularly exploring the Mural itself, in terms of its own meanings and readings, the methodology could be similarly applied to a larger research project. In such a case the methods could be used when observing how a public space is used, or combined with surveys, interviews or further reading to explore alternative interpretations.

Bibliography

Barthes, R., Mythologies, Paladin, London, 1973
Barthes, R., Image Music Text, Fontana Press, London, 1977
Jenks, C., Visual Culture, Routledge, London, 1995
La Compagnie Numerique, viewed July 2005, Online
Rosaldo, R., Culture and Truth, The Remaking of Social Analysis, Routledge, London, 1993