ABSTRACT This study forms part of an ongoing research project based on identity and authenticity in building the image of Sardinia in international tourist discourse. It will focus on the active roles played by the ‘language’ (both visual and verbal) in narrating the story behind Sardinian identi - ties and myths: rebellion against authority, ethnic uniqueness and the tenacious protection of local values. Specifically, the study investigates the rationale that lies behind the rhetorical and pragmatic content of the social and political wall murals created over the past few decades in Sardinia, as well as the representational function they have played not only as an instrument to describe class conflicts, but also the active role they have served in efforts to catalyze cultural support for the organization of political goals. Initially introduced in the late 1960s to reproduce scenes of everyday life, wall murals quickly became the striking medium used by political activists to express ideological themes such as criticism of capitalist society, accompanied by a feeling of disillusionment with the Italian government’s centralization policy. The methodology here refers to epistemic modality as one of the key dimensions of “social semiotics” (van Leeuwen 2005: 91) and aims to analyze the ways in which the symbolic messages in Sardinian murals create a communal self-identification, legitimizing this form of narrative to further ideological and political goals. In particular, attention is directed at the concept of epistemic modality in mural images, with the scope of providing a systematic and comprehensive account of the grammar of their visual design. By analyzing the formal elements of the design and structures of the murals, i.e. color, perspective, framing, composition, and the texturing of their texts, this paper endeavors to examine the ways in which mural images communicate meaning and create truth or reality values in their representations.
The art of struggle: a social semiotic approach to ideological imagery in Sardinia’s political murals
Antonio Piga
2021-01-01
Abstract
ABSTRACT This study forms part of an ongoing research project based on identity and authenticity in building the image of Sardinia in international tourist discourse. It will focus on the active roles played by the ‘language’ (both visual and verbal) in narrating the story behind Sardinian identi - ties and myths: rebellion against authority, ethnic uniqueness and the tenacious protection of local values. Specifically, the study investigates the rationale that lies behind the rhetorical and pragmatic content of the social and political wall murals created over the past few decades in Sardinia, as well as the representational function they have played not only as an instrument to describe class conflicts, but also the active role they have served in efforts to catalyze cultural support for the organization of political goals. Initially introduced in the late 1960s to reproduce scenes of everyday life, wall murals quickly became the striking medium used by political activists to express ideological themes such as criticism of capitalist society, accompanied by a feeling of disillusionment with the Italian government’s centralization policy. The methodology here refers to epistemic modality as one of the key dimensions of “social semiotics” (van Leeuwen 2005: 91) and aims to analyze the ways in which the symbolic messages in Sardinian murals create a communal self-identification, legitimizing this form of narrative to further ideological and political goals. In particular, attention is directed at the concept of epistemic modality in mural images, with the scope of providing a systematic and comprehensive account of the grammar of their visual design. By analyzing the formal elements of the design and structures of the murals, i.e. color, perspective, framing, composition, and the texturing of their texts, this paper endeavors to examine the ways in which mural images communicate meaning and create truth or reality values in their representations.
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