Roland Barthes: “An Instantaneous Reserve of History, A Tamed Richness”

 

Photographer Unknown, (Lit by Sunlight), Selfie

“The signifier of myth presents itself in an ambiguous way: it is at the same time meaning and form, full on one side and empty on the other. […] The meaning will be for the form like an instantaneous reserve of history, a tamed richness, which it is possible to call and dismiss in a sort of rapid alternation: the form must constantly be able to be rooted again in the meaning and to get there what nature it needs for its nutriment; above all, it must be able to hide there. It is this constant game of hide-and-seek between the meaning and the form which defines myth.”

Roland Barthes, Mythologies

Despite the relationship between meaning and form, for some reason, my immediate reaction to the image is dessert- sweet; sugary; delicious; making you think, after you enjoyed it, that you really want another.

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