Sixty people gathered at the Union’s Atchafalaya Room for an hour Tuesday afternoon to listen to Robert Hariman speak about the power of iconic photographs. Hariman was this year’s speaker for the Giles Wilkeson Gray Lecture, which is sponsored by the Department of Communication Studies and funded by the family of the late Giles Wilkeson Gray, professor emeritus of the Department of Speech. Hariman, professor of communication studies at Northern University, spoke on the topic, “Liberal Representation and Global Order: The Iconic Photograph from Tiananmen Square.” The Tiananmen Square protests were a series of demonstrations held by activists in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square between April and June 1989. Hariman said while the Tank Man – the famous picture of the man facing a column of tanks head on – may be seen as a model of democratic dissent, it actually underwrites liberalism more than democracy. Hariman said the photograph’s emphasis on one man represents the ideal of individual liberty – the individual against the state. Hariman also said it is impossible to make strong claims about why certain images become iconic since most are not aesthetically superior to other photos. Hariman said criteria does exist, however, to identify if a photograph is iconic. He said some of the criteria are that the photograph must be widely recognizable, should be understood to represent a historical event, must be an emotionally searing image and be widely appropriated and reenacted. Hariman’s examples included the flag on Iwo Jima, the Migrant Mother, the Kent State killing and the Times Square Kiss. Hariman said such photographs can influence public opinion on specific issues, activate social knowledge and shape collective memory. Renee Edwards, communication studies chair, said the lecture showed that the photograph emphasized the power of the individual over millions who could not be seen, but whom were just as instrumental in the demonstrations. “I thought it was fascinating that it reflects the notion that this image reconstructs what happened there,” Edwards said. Zac Gershberg, communication studies graduate student, said he learned perspectives were needed to understand the photographs around us.
“It makes you question the way you look at iconic images,” Gershberg said.
—–Contact Freke Ette at [email protected]