Punctum

Punctum, a Latin word with multiple meanings, including point, dot, hole or prick. In the famous book, Camera Lucida  (La Chambre Claire,1980), the author, Roland Barthes, uses punctum in the latter sense; to describe the sensation that he experiences as a viewer when looking at certain photographs. These are precisely the photographs that move him, that make an impression to him, that prick him. Not the entire photograph, but a particular detail within it, a puntum, that he notices. It is ultimately a completely sebjective and original way of appreciating photographs. Anne Geene has created an interpretation of the punctum in which she employs a different meaning of the word: punctum as a point. From the original French edition of Barthes’ book, she has isolated all the point and offers a different perspective on this classical photographic tekst. Just as Barthes sets aside the photographer’s intention, Geene sets aside the author’s intention.