Journal of Iranian Cultural Research

Journal of Iranian Cultural Research

Socio-cultural analysis of urban photography based on auditory perception

Document Type : Scientific Research Manuscript

Author
M. Hasanpur
Assistant Professor of Art Research, Department of Handicrafts, Faculty of Art, University of Sistān and Baluchistān, Zāhedān, Iran
10.22035/jicr.2021.2513.2945
Abstract
Auditory perception is one of the most important human senses, which is intertwined with the feeling of one’s presence in lived life. The analytical properties of sound not only are present in sound physics but also extend to its virtual metaphors. Photographs as a historical document as well as a place of consensus on visual perception and other human senses can provide auditory indexes and virtual symbolic representations of sound in their context.  Therefore, in the present paper, the socio-cultural history of senses is used as a method of researching auditory perception in the context of photographs in order to interpret and analyze the implicit layers of sound.  The importance of the work is reflected in the fact that urban photographs are considered as documents that can "sensory record" human subjects in urban communities, hence; the beholder-interpreter can use the power of hearing as one of the five senses in understanding the photo within the process of perception and interpretation. Here the question is, how can the auditory perception in a photograph analysis, which has a necessary relationship with visual perception, provide historical information about its text?  We hypothesize those urban photographs since they record people's daily lives and information except their visual form and structure, as implicit data that can be analyzed and understood through an auditory-historical understanding of the photographic document. The result shows that the auditory perception when interferes with visual power in photographic documents, creates a wealth of conscious cultural information such as nostalgia, memories, and recollections in its particular beholder. In addition, by tracking auditory indexes as recorded on photographs, the historical, social, and human contexts as well as quality of life and daily life interactions of a demographic category can be studied.
Keywords
auditory perception in photography
socio-cultural history of sound
photographic sensory recording
urban photographs
social photographs

Subjects

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  • Receive Date 29 December 2020
  • Revise Date 25 April 2021
  • Accept Date 20 June 2021