the last picture is the scenary one. this picture is taken from famous magazine that claim to be in the southen part of thailand. the picture is very natural and green. it connots the sense of freshness from the composition of the natural color tone of green, blue and brown. the sky is very clear and sunny, this leads the viewers to feel optimistic and happy as if they are on holiday. however, this kind of picture is often use to ease the viewers' eyes.

this is the Best of album cover of the British rock band called Suade. the picture is interesting in a way that it is obviously get its inspiration from Edward Mund's famous piece, The Scream. you can see from the painting stroke that it is very similar, but this version it changes the color tone to be of a cooler tone.( the original one use red -warm color tone). this change give the new meaning to this picture, it cut out the theme of anxiety that the warm color brings, instead it brings out the feeling of serenity and sadness. the sadness is also illustrates in the facial expression of the man in the black suit. the color black also connote blue, or disconsolateness.

this picture is also an album cover. this one is from the American band, Red hot chillie peppers. the album named "By the Way". the color used here is very interesting. it is very similar to the color in a negative picture. i think they use the ngative picture has two meansing, first to signify the fact that people have two sides in thems ( positive and negative ) and secondly i think it also serve the purpose of portraying the surface condition vs. the underlying codition-- portray the underneath into the surface. the first interpretation coresponds to the famous song in the album, Californiacation in which talks about the bad influence of hollywood and how young women sacrify their innocence for the superficial stardom. ( take this girl for example, she might does something that is perverse and inappropriate so that her identity has to be covered.

this is the picture of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' album cover. the name of the album is Fever to Tell. as the name suggests it is all about fun, youth and madness. as you can see from the composition, there is the use of bright color and the repetition of red lines, as if to stress some massage. the background is some rundown building. these building you ususally see as a place to hank out for the adolescence. there are also a lot of snakes. snake often connots 'sin', as in the story Adam and Eve that snake represents Satan who lures Eve to intake the forbidden fruit. Thus, it can be infered from the images of snakes here that this album is somehow lustful.

This is the picture of The fornidden palace in Bejing, China. the color connotes the sense of oriental beauty. the decoration scuptures here are mostly dragon. Dragon is the symbol of Chinese Emperor. it denotes power and authority. the little animals on the roof signify how important the building is.

this picture is a cd cover from the American band called Nirvana. i think this picture connotes the disadvantages or criticism of Capitalism. The Us banknote ( one dollar bill represents Captitalism or Capitalistic worldviews ( you can call it the American dream) such as building yourself up from nothing. this system is beneficial in many ways such as provide the world with 'process', yet it drawbacks is making people 'greedy'. This gluttonousness show in a way that the creator juxtaposes the innocent child with the act of restless pursuing the dollar bill which in now fall under water. this also connotes the idea of Money is God , it can entice anyone even the innocent child. as you can see that the dollar bill has a "hook" attached to it. this is shown is a very sacastic tone. the water connots purity of the child which is strongly contrast with his action at the moment.

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this is the picture of a cd cover from my favorite band "Sonic Youth". this experimental, avante-garde album call Simon Werner a Disparu ( means Simon Warner is disappeared). the name of the album is in French. i think the purpose this american band

try to acheive in putting the name of the album and the rest of the songs in other language (Fr.) is too add a sense of confusion and ambivalent to the listeners. so they don't have to attach to the fixed theme, the theme here is fluid depends on each person understanding.

Here the cd cover unravel a lot of meaning according my understanding. the western girl here is relatively young, it is visible in the way she dress and her skin complection and codition.Her youth reflects on the lushness of the grass field. Se might be Alice ( since one song in the album named Alice And Simon), Simon's love interest. they might be a newlywed with small kid, looking from the background of soccer field with small children, as if the photographer let us infer that one of them is hers. the composition of this picture connote a sense of individualism, this woman stand alone away from the collectives. it connotes that perhaps simon disappeared on her , left her to be "single" mom and this particular place could be her son/daughter school and she comes to pick them up. in short, this picture ilustrates abandoned woman in her domestic sphere.

This is the picture of songkran festival in thailand. in this festival thai people often gently splash water to their friends or their loved ones. Also, the pay respect to the elderly by pouring water onto their hand. the water symboizes purity and innocence. so thai people use water to re-establsih a good relation to the elderly and people surrounding them. in practice, it is clarly a way to reduce the heat during the hottest months/summer in thailand. as you can see, this picture use very colorful color. for example, the women wear both green and red, some wear pink. this connotes that although thai people may come from different background and lives different lives, in this festival they are all joyful under one sun. this picture also connote the cocept of senoirity by having the elderly to sit higher than the young and the young have to crouch on the floor.

Bangkok in crisis

this is the picture of the current flood situation in Thailand ( particularly for this picture- around Bangkok area). As you can see the water level is very high and the water is dirty. the criticalness of the crisis connotes the ill management of the involving anministrations. However, there is another alternative interpretation which is the relationship between the mother/ child and their surrounding. that is, there is a sense of maternal love and protection in the woman gesture of holdong the child closely to her brest and showing anxious/panic facial expression. the child is white and white connotes innocence and pure. Perhaps, she is too young to be exposed in the harsh Bankok sunlight, while the older woman's skin is more tan which insinuate the attribute of experienced. Thus it is her duty to save the child from drowning. Their affectionate posture also hints that they are mother and daughter. Interestingly, the water that surrounding them can be juxtaposed with the 'monsterous ficture' which threatening the innocent mother/child. Look in this light, mother/chlid often been associated with gentleness, submissiveness and goodness. whereas, the waves that created by their movement could be perceived as the dangerous serpants, since in reality when there is a critical flood siuation, these animals are quite prevalent.

this picture was drawn by Natnarie C.E. she is my classmate who sat next to me when the teacher told us to draw our friends' face. she depicted all of my distinct facial features such as my thich eyebrown, my long nose, ponytail hairdo and my oval face. i think this portrait is very similar to me. however, some details are omited due to the material used ( pencil can only provide black colortone )such as skin complexion. this picture shows the perspective of which my friend look at me in terms of mine exterior( appearance) and shows, slightly, my disposition.

this is the Elephant building. this building is very fascinating in terms of its architecture. the shape/form of elephant can show many aspect regarding the notion of Thainess or Kahrm Pen Thai. Elephant has always been the symbol of our countries since Rama the forth established the White Elephant flag to be our nation's flag. However, later on in Rama the Sixth's reign, he changed our nation's flag to be Three-colored flag in order to prevent the problem of hanging the flag topsy-turvily. White elephant is also the emblem of the king. in premodern days, Thai people's ways of live are maginicently influenced by the Elephant. we use them to be our "only" means of transportation for all classes of people, raging from the king to peasant. Nowadays, elephant is our nation's symbol in terms of tourism. We use the elephant farm to be the tourist attraction.

This is the graffiti in San Francisco. In modern days, graffiti is no longer seens as disturbance of beauty or eyesore. It remarkabley gain acceptance and new conceptualization as the form of "art". This kind of art is the expression of everyday people who want to have a say in the public space. the name of the artist is unknown. However, the picture can connote many interesting aspect regarding the city of San Francisco. First, the city is very lively, colorful and full of creativity. San Francisco is widely acknowledged as artistic city. For instance, there is huge gallery in the Golden Gate Park that hosts worldclass exhibition each year. ( when i was there, it was "Impressionism" exhitbion) Secondly, the color tone in this picture is very similar to "rainbow" color. its muticolor can express varibly things such as homosexual culture. this culture is very conspicucous in this city. for it is the world largest gay community. As you all know, the raidbow "flag" in front of the residence is the symbol of "gay" household. Moreover, the eye (in the picture) is color in very not natural tone( purple). Purple is also the color that denotes homosexual tendency. Thirdly, the muticolor can also portrays "free spirit" of the people in this particular city, that they choose to live their live independently and not being tided down by conservative social principles such as the rule that marriage can only occur to heterosexual couple. Lastly, the colors around the eyelid area show the multiperspective of its citizen, that San Francisco is the "malting pot" of people from different ethnicities. although they might view the world differently, they all can live together harmoniously.

This is the Radiohead's album cover, The King of Limbs. The strong contrast color tone used here can convey the sense of insecurity , because it gives the viewers rather unplasent and incoherent sight, especially the red line that is strongly contrast to the green areas behind it.

The deep black backgroud also raise frightful feeling, because it appears as if the two scary creatures emerges from the darkness. In addition, the theme of this picture is the "tree". As you can see there are elements of the trees all over the picture, for example the drawing of the trees' limbs in the background of the whole picture( it is most apparent among the white letters of the band's album and name as if the tree grows and shattered the unity of the word apart). The tree here, i assumed , can be the tree of philosophy that in the same way break the dark ignorance of humanities , also because this assumption correspond to the lyrics' ideologies in the album. Moreover, the tree can connotes Radiohead's great leap forward in their musical improvent and hybridity. That means, with this new album they break away from their old style and tries to produce new sound or tries to emplot new meaning to their music.

This is Sonic Youth's album cover. The album named " EVOL". There are three interesting points in the picture, First, the background is somwhere similar to the rough surface of the moon, in which connotes the pecularity of this girl. the background is portrayed in black-white color tone in order to accentuate its uneven texture, that help illustrates the stubborness out of the girl's attributes. Second, the girl dresses in light color linin dress can denote her innocent and fragile state-of-mind as being an inexperienced youth. Also, the girl's facial expression conveys anger. Thus the viewers may wonder what is bothering her? It could be anything. For example, her coming of age ( insecurity to her transition period from girlhood to womenhood). her dress also shows a hint of sexuality.( it emphasizes her skinny/curve-less figure ) Third, the words EVOL, i assumed, is the opposite spelling of " LOVE". I think my own answer to this riddle contributes to answer the previous question of her resenment. That is, she maybe angry at her inexperienced unrequited love, because poppy love is somehow variable and inconstant or it could be interpreted that the notion of LOVE is turned topsy-turvy.

This is the black-white picture of converse shoes with Kurt Cobain as a presenter. It is widely acknowledge that Kurt Cobain, lead singer and guitarist of the super famous grunge band names " Nirvana", always wears converse whether in his concert or in his daily life, to the extent that, converse shoes and Kurt Cobain's identity becomes intertwined. Thus, this converse's advertisment signifies many aspects. Firstly, the color and style of the shoes connote simplicity and casual. There is not much decoration and the only focal point of the shoes' design is its white star and stripe, which not only can imply the brand's authenticity, but also insinuate the American flag along with the connotation of the American lifestyle. Secondly, the white board ( in which seem to be the shoe's plate) with the pharse" Punk rock means freedom", directly infers the "theme" of this brand that is freedom or in other words, free to act and follow ones' needs. In this case, the picture tries to suggest that Kurt Cobain has the courage to follow his dream in being muscian and live freely from any social principle( or convention) that restrain its' member's conportment. For example, it is clear ( in the right picture)that he refuses to dress properly. Instead, he wear the worn-out clothes from thrifty store( used clothes). this connotes his anti-aesthetic notion that he wants to challange the clothing convention of today image-consuming society. in addition, the shape of the shoes' plate looks like skateboard, in which can imply the notion of mobility and , again, freedom.

picture for visual culture 2

Jim Morrison
He was born in Florida in 1947.He was best know for his lead singer role in the incindiary band "The Doors". The name of the band came from William Blake poem," if the doors of perception are clanse a man will see everything as it is "infinite". Some say he just a rockstar, but personally i think he was a genius. He read Niche's philosophy since the age of six. He went to UCLA for a film study and after graduated in 1965, he had a fight with his family and lived off canned beans and LSD while he wrote the Doors' first song. With his father in the US Navy, Morrison was broght up in a strict military household, which finally led to his embrace of rebellious lifestyle and consequentially led to his death in 1971. He was only 27 years old.

visual culture picture 1

This is the picture of Sonic Youth's music video collection from year 1990-2002 album cover. Sonic youth is an American alternative/experimental rock band. The band consists of Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley and Mark Ibold. I found this album cover interesting, because it not only illustrates and accentuates the band's music style ( experimental rock) which embedded throughout their works over the past decades, but also have Many interesting elements that remarkably symbolize the band's characteristics. First of all, the guitar shows here is Fender Jaguar. This guitar is Thurston moore's signature guitar. In addition, the body of the guitar is transparent and it let the viewer see through its complex interior. This symbolizes the genre of the band, " experimental rock". That is, Thurston moore (and the rest of the band ) modifies his Fender Jaguar in order to make it produces innovative sound, or in other words, they try to experiment new sound and try to push the boundary of music further. Moreover, the brand "Fender" signify American, their naionality. Lastly, the color used in this album cover is very simple, minimal and modern. The color represents the band post-modernist lyric . That is, they often compose their song in an abstract and symbolic manners.