Abstract

Visual Culture Studies, which attaches importance to the sociality or historicality of vision, has revealed the problem of power which underlies "seeing", but on the other hand runs the danger of reducing "seeing" to a mere repetition of social structure or discourse. This paper aims to discover within "seeing" itself a way to break through the constructed nature of it by considering the notion of the Image and its double function in the theory of W. J. T. Mitchell. Mitchell defines the Image as a "natural sign", a sign which represents a resemblance in a given representation system. One of its social functions is to provide in a natural form the basis for "seeing" to those who share the same representation system. This basis is formed and functions not by the power of the Image itself, but through our narrations concerning the Image. However, the Image, as a natural sign, has a further function of making visible the basis itself for "seeing". Such a recognition of the Image is not "seeing" on a particular basis but is itself the basis for "seeing", and thus differs from seeing within "a prescribed set of possibilities". In narrating concerning the Image, we forget what lies outside of the possibilities even though we experience it continually