photograph-based-memes-as-art

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Memes are a form of image-based online art used by internet users in the twenty-first century to share comedic interpretations about social, political, or economic events. Usually constructed with an image and text, memes can take on many forms depending on the source material being used. Despite their immense popularity online and in popular culture, the traditional art world is reluctant to include memes in their space, as they feel that memes simply are a form of cheap digital entertainment. Through the work of three individual “meme makers,” @gothshakira, Alim Smith or @yesterdaynite, and Jesus “Bubu” Negron, this essay will argue that these artist’s photograph-based memes are an example of how the appropriation of images to convey a specific meaning is the growing trend in digital and online art. The appropriation and reappropriation of photographs that are used in memes showcase the place of remediated media in the expanding world of digital technology, which thusly make memes a prime example of online art.

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To understand memes, one has to understand the structure and definitions behind them. The first time in which the term “meme” was coined, as well as explained, was in Richard Dawkins 1967 book The Selfish Gene. He explained that memes carry cultural information and help us to understand the zeitgeist and cultural signifiers of any given age.[1] It was also in Selfish Gene where Dawkins explained the three defining components to any meme: fecundity, fidelity, and longevity. Fecundity is explained as a meme’s ability to replicate itself into other formats, fidelity is understood to mean the ability to produce a “true copy” of the information given off by the meme, and longevity is the meme’s ability to preserve information of an age over time.[2]

It is easy to see how these terms can be translated and applied to the popular photograph-based internet memes of the twenty-first century. Scholar Limor Shifman expands upon Dawkins’ base ideas about memes and focuses on the contemporary components that make up photograph-based memes. Like Dawkins, Shifman makes sharp delineations in regards to what is considered to be a photograph-based meme, reaction Photoshops, stock character macros, and photo fads, and the qualities shared amongst them.[3]

He lists hypersignifaction (the code of the image becomes central), prospective orientation (the image itself is a material to be reproduced in other memes), and operative signs (creative categories that invite others to build upon the original image) as the main components that create the memes the world is familiar with.[4] His components are more focused on the reproducibility element of memes than Dawkins, but that is just the nature of the format Shifman has chosen to study. In more concentrated terms, Shifman creates an understanding of a phenomenon that is slowly creeping into every facet of our current culture.

[1] Vladimir P. Polach, "Memes, Trojan Horses and the Discursive Power of Audience," Human Affairs: Postdisciplinary Humanities & Social Sciences Quarterly 25, no. 2 (April 2015): 189.

[2] Ibid, 190.

[3] Limor Shifman, “The Cultural Logic of Photo-Based Meme Genres,” Journal of Visual Culture 13, no. 3 (2014): 344.

[4] Ibid.

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Once the components of what makes a meme are understood, one needs to comprehend how memes themselves are understood. The images that are used in memes are repurposed from other forms of media, such as movies, television, and documented current events, that came before it and this is where the term remediation is applied. In essence, remediation refers to the reusing of old media to create new media that can coexist in their separate spheres of influence.[5]

The original scholars of this term, Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin, expand upon the idea of old and new media to illustrate their connected nature. They explain that the attachment between old and new media is a “structural condition,” and thusly the new media cannot be understood without the old media and its context.[6] This idea is not applicable for photograph-based memes. The way in which remediation works for memes is that there only exists a link to the original context through the image itself.

In particular, the understanding of the original context is not relevant to the understanding of a dislocated reaction image meme but is needed in the case of targeted demographics. If one has not seen and does not understand the context of the appropriated image, then a meme specific to that context does not make sense to the viewer. The new media of that meme is then dependent upon the understanding of old media source material in order to thrive and subsequently be appreciated.[7] However in the case of the majority of photograph-based memes consumed by the public, the understanding of the image is subordinated to the relatable message embedded in the text or caption. This ultimately removes the need to have an understanding of the source material and opens avenues for people to exploit images for numerous meanings.

[5] Sarah Kember and Joanna Zylinska, “Mediation and the Vitality of Media,” in Life After New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2012,): 6.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

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The second meme maker that helps in the transition of memes from being strictly about the overt appropriation of images is Instagram artist Alim Smith or @yesterdaynite. His art is not memes at all, but rather surrealist paintings of popular memes, such as the Arthur Fist, Crying Michael Jordan, and Knowledge Man. The fact that these are actual paintings and not images make the connection to photograph-based memes unapparent, but the source material behind these paintings are all images appropriated for mimetic purposes. In fact, Smith’s paintings can be considered to be reappropriating the famous memes he is basing this work off of, because he is taking a famous image and using it for his own desire.  

Smith’s surrealist paintings are a way in which Bolter and Grusin’s theory of remediation is applicable because the images are not being dislocated from their context in order to thrive. The source material for Arthur Fist (above) is that exact image from the known and recognizable meme, meaning one has to know the Arthur Fist meme not the very original image to understand Smith’s painting.[11] The painting and the appropriated image must coexist in their respective spaces in order for either of them to have legitimacy, as well as for people to understand the meaning. Smith’s choice to transfer these famous online images into a physical medium may in part be due to the overwhelming influence the digital world has over art. The images that he uses as his source material are widely known by various different demographics, making it easier for his work to be understood by a large audience across cultural barriers.[12]

Even more so, Smith appropriates memes from their place on a digital platform to turn them into a stationary medium, but then places them back onto a digital platform to be viewed. By placing these images back online, the only thing Smith changes about the images is the way in which they are presented and thusly mediated. It also means that it conforms to Shifman’s concepts as well, albeit in a different way than @gothshakira’s. Smith’s paintings have the quality of operative signs, which means his images have the potential to be appropriated themselves.[13]

Smith’s paintings now have the ability to be appropriated and used in the context that he took his original source material from. Smith benefited from being able to dislocate his images from their original digital space and into a more physical format because not only did it allow for his works to be mediated differently from other memes, but it allowed for his original artworks to be repurposed and appropriated as well. Smith’s surrealist paintings of famous memes works as an illustration of the intricate framework for the repurposing of images to suit other designs and interpretations.

[11] Sarah Kember and Joanna Zylinska, “Mediation and the Vitality of Media,” in Life After New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2012,): 6.

[12] Marisa Enhuber, “Art, Space and Technology: How the Digitisation and Digitalisation of Art Space Affect the Consumption of Art—a Critical Approach,” Digital Creativity 26, no. 2 (May 1, 2015,): 127.

[13] Limor Shifman, “The Cultural Logic of Photo-Based Meme Genres,” Journal of Visual Culture 13, no. 3 (2014): 340.

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The third and final meme maker that aids in the transition of memes being strictly a form of online entertainment to a medium through which to express discontentment with one’s political situation is Jesus Negron. He is vastly different from the previously discussed meme makers as he creates that are wholly political. The main connection that Negron has to memes is that he is the curator of the meme exhibition Nothing Conceptual: La Meme Era @ La Barra de Paquito. Within this exhibition, Negron chose artists to make various different photograph-based memes that shed light on and critiqued the political conditions of Puerto Rico in a humorous and informative way. Being Puerto Rican himself, Negron is able to adapt several different images to impart a political message that addresses different facets of Puerto Rican culture.

Negron chooses the socially recognizable format of memes to frame his political inquiries and critiques, as this is a way to engage younger audiences in a unconventional way. If the message is in a recognizable and non-threatening format, there is a greater chance it would inspire debate amongst younger generations to participate in the discourse the memes are involved in.[14] The use of recognizable world leaders, like former President of the United States Barack Obama, lends a hand in helping to further Negron’s message to a wider audience. Significant political figures that have ties or connections to the issues that Negron is talking about allows people to understand the context of the critiques and the connotations Negron has communicated.[15] The appropriated images of these world leaders benefit Negron in his own mission, as they allow him to pass on his own directive to be consumed and appreciated. His memes also differ from the previous two meme makers as his work does conform to Shifman’s principles. Negron’s appropriation of image is not for the purpose of further appropriation and is not to going be used in other contexts, he is merely appropriating for his own practices.[16]

Moreover, Negron differs from the two artists previously discussed in that his exhibited works and the exhibition itself is not wholly placed online. While there are some that are placed onto Negron’s own website, the majority of the works shown are not accessible through the internet. This is done in part to legitimize the exhibition as a part of the place reserved for serious art, but also to make these memes exclusive to the exhibition. It stops the remediation and appropriation process inherent to memes to make them stationary and original in their own sense, it does not have the same democratizing factor that the majority of memes do.[17] Therefore, Negron exploits the appropriation of photographs to use for his own means but does not contribute to the endless cycle of remediation and repurposing that goes along with said appropriation. Even though the majority of the memes shown in Nothing Conceptual: La Meme Era @ La Barra de Paquito are not placed on a digital platform, they are still able to demonstrate the place of remediated and repurposed images in original online art. Negron may have taken memes off of their original platforms but he cannot take away the essential and deep-seated format of appropriation placed in memes.

[14] Vladimir P. Polach, “Memes, Trojan Horses and the Discursive Power of Audience,” Human Affairs: Postdisciplinary Humanities & Social Sciences Quarterly25, no. 2 (April 2015): 190.

[15] ibid.

[16] Limor Shifman, “The Cultural Logic of Photo-Based Meme Genres,” Journal of Visual Culture 13, no. 3 (2014): 344.

[17] Marisa Enhuber, “Art, Space and Technology: How the Digitisation and Digitalisation of Art Space Affect the Consumption of Art—a Critical Approach,” Digital Creativity 26, no. 2 (May 1, 2015,): 128.

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The memes that currently pervade the internet are made of complex reference jokes and in an abundance of formats that extent beyond simple image and text construction. The images that one uses to create these image and text memes have to be appropriated from an original context and remediated in order for each to coexist. Meme creators such as @gothshakira, Alim Smith, and Jesus Negron all work in their own ways to understand the complex relationship between appropriated images and conveyed meaning, and to use those to further their own messages. The appropriation and reappropriation inherent to photograph-based memes allow for them to be present and work among other forms of online art and also to work separately on their own platforms. The remediated nature of photograph-based memes ensures that there will continue to be a plethora of images to be mined off one another for decades to come, ultimately securing the legendary status of memes in our social atmosphere.  

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                                                    Bibliography 

Enhuber, Marisa. "Art, Space and Technology: How the Digitisation and                              Digitalisation of Art Space Affect the Consumption of Art—a Critical                      Approach." Digital Creativity 26, no. 2 (May 1, 2015): 127-31.                                Accessed October 31, 2018. doi:10.1080/14626268.2015.1035448.

Kember, Sarah and Joanna Zylinska. “Mediation and the Vitality of Media” in                      Life After New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process. (Cambridge: MIT                  Press, 2012): 1-28.

Polach, Vladimir P. "Memes, Trojan Horses and the Discursive Power of                           Audience." Human Affairs: Postdisciplinary Humanities & Social                           Sciences Quarterly 25, no. 2 (April 2015): 189-203. Accessed October                 31, 2018. doi:10.1515/humaff-2015-0017.

Shifman, Limor. "The Cultural Logic of Photo-Based Meme Genres." Journal of                   Visual Culture 13, no. 3 (2014): 340-58. Accessed October 27, 2018.                    doi:10.1177/1470412914546577.