HERMENEUTICAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIO-SEMIOTIC MODEL FOR A PHOTOGRAPHIC CRITIQUE. CASE ANALYSIS: MAX SIEDENTOPF, HOW TO SURVIVE A DEADLY GLOBAL VIRUS, 2020

Abstract

The objective of this essay is to propose a hermeneutic socio-semiotic model that helps build an interdisciplinary photographic critique based on theoretical foundations. How to carry out a photographic review? How to use and map theoretical-methodological perspectives about photography? The contemporary socio-technical context of images has placed photography in a complex sociocultural, technological and discursive scenario, which requires an epistemological map to help guide the construction of a critical-theoretical discourse for it to be understood. In this way, a model with two purposes is suggested, to serve as a chart for navigating the ocean of perspectives and theoretical references of the critical discourses of photography; and to serve as a starting point to build a hermeneutic and interdisciplinary socio-semiotic critique. The application of the model is exemplified by the analysis of Max Siedentopf’s production, How to Survive a Deadly Global Virus, 2020. The proposed experimental model has a hermeneutic, flexible, open, non-exclusive or limiting character, which contributes to the construction of a theoretically grounded critique of photographic images.