THE SPEAKING IMAGE
When we speak, we communicate not only with words but through intonation, timbre, resonance, pitch, and so on. In still images, these vocalized affective qualities are absent. While the speaking image may not relocate these origins, it voices new meanings, making audible otherwise silenced narratives. When images begin to speak, their compositional elements vibrate on new frequencies to disturb what was once still and quiet. Flat surfaces that used to be seen all at once suddenly require time to be heard. The speaking image can whisper or scream so that viewers become listeners. It asserts itself, so it does not need to compete to be heard, and it composes relationships like no other image can. The speaking image is power and emotion in tangible form. It speaks to you, it resonates with you, and it will stay with you for however long you need its words.
