Multimodal Constructions of Work: A Social Semiotic Analysis of the Communist Press Images
Multimodal Constructions of Work: A Social Semiotic Analysis of the Communist Press Images

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses images depicting the theme of work, published on the front pages of Trybuna Ludu, a Polish newspaper and the official mouthpiece of the Polish communist authorities. The set of 34 images (drawn from selected years of the 1944–1989 period) was examined using a social semiotic toolkit, as discussed by Kress and van Leeuwen, who argued for the importance of visual images, which, just like the verbal, possess their own form of visual grammar. Following the principles of this ‘grammar’, the images were analysed in terms of semiotic resources employed and their potential meaning. The representations of work under analysis were then situated in the context of the political circumstances of the time. The study contributes to the field of research on visual communication.

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