The global image : the making of an icon?

Milton, Deborah Anne (1999) The global image : the making of an icon? University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

It was thirty years ago that a photograph capturing Earth as a whole planet became available, as a result of the Apollo space programme. The Earthrise image and a full, shadow-free hemispherical view of Earth taken on the last Apollo mission in 1972 have become very familiar through their use in many contexts. It has been stated that the latter is probably the most important scientific photograph ever taken, and Fred Hoyle predicted in the 1940s that once we had an image of Earth from outside, it would release an idea as powerful as any in history. In 1968, the achievement of lunar orbit provided a perspective of Earth that yielded a wholly new concept of place and redefined, or repositioned, the frontier.

The thesis hinges around the idea of metaphor. A semiotic approach to the subject has been adopted and the global image is used as a vehicle to explore notions of truth. The image has become an icon, but in turn, the icon has fed back into the image; for example, a new perspective resulted in new science. Technology and data represent the objectivity within the image, but the context in which the image is found is perhaps more important than the content itself. Issues of perception, media and conceptualisation of place are considered, to demonstrate that the image content is not just of an interconnected system, as we have come to view and study the Earth, but is also a visual metaphor for the process of understanding the Earth in this way. It embodies and promotes multiple messages which are not necessarily intentional, depending on the context and the individual viewer. Whether the global images trigger a latent viewpoint or whether they create a new one will be discussed.

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