Poster Presentation: A Semiotic Analysis of Visual Representations And Perceptions of Kandyan Buddhist Narrative Art
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Date
2018-08-25
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NSBM Green University
Abstract
This research specially focuses on visual semiotics of Buddhist narrative art in Sri Lankan context. To be precise the visual syntax and iconology used, their representations and perceptions will be analyzed in depth. Connecting semiotics and cognitive perspective
is beneficial and the interdisciplinary approach would lessen the potential ambiguity of visual anthropology. Developing a new meta language for art interpretation of non-western art traditions is crucial. Panofsky’s theory of iconography and iconology has been adopted as the starting point and other different approaches are also been considered in analyzing and interpreting the Sinhalese Buddhist art tradition of Kandyan era. It was argued by some researchers that Panofsky’s conceptual model is more biased towards Western art tradition but ignores or rather misrepresents artistic traditions of non- Western cultures. Artistic traditions emerge and evolve based on many factors such as context, artist and purpose etc. Therefore, art strives for transparency and stable interpretation. Yet, art interpretation is not an easy task as it needs familiarization of many other disciplines such as poetry, literature etc. parallel to the particular art tradition. Furthermore, believes and socio-cultural background of the era should also be taken into consideration. The intermingling nature of different fields has made the identification, description or interpretation of art complicated. Semiotic theory (Saussure, 1959; Culler, 1986) and visual rhetoric (McQuarrie and Mick, 1996; Scott, 1994) hold that visual language predominantly varies from one culture to another; much in the same way that textual language varies. As the recipients of the visual messages may not be a homogenous group, their interpretations of visual messages will always vary. Yet, the author intends to analyze culturally defined symbols with special reference to Kandyan Buddhist narrative art thoroughly through the study in order to come to inferences.
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Edirisinghe, E. A. J. S. (2018) A Semiotic Analysis of Visual Representations And Perceptions of Kandyan Buddhist Narrative Art, International Conference On Business Innovation (ICOBI), NSBM Green University Town, Sri Lanka. P. 193