Photo-text art

Photo-text has been classified as a "bimedial iconotext," or book. The juxtapositional nature of photo-texts requires that they be simultaneously read and viewed together — an intentional coexistence. This dual engagement fosters the creation of new meanings while maintaining separate importance for both the photographic images and the written text. In the realm of photo-texts, photographs and words work together, forming a "dialogue" where neither medium can escape the interplay. This dialogue, described as the "interpenetration of images and words," serves to enhance the narrative potential of each medium. The continuous shift between observing the images and reading the text results in the development of a conceptual entity known as a "third something," which exists solely in the mind of the reader/viewer. Ultimately, it is the viewer who "makes sense" of photo-texts. Before this "third something" takes shape in the observer's mind, the images and text must be assimilated by the mediating organ of the eye. This process involves the viewer incorporating or devouring the content, temporarily blurring the line between the written and visual components. == Notable artists who work with photo-text ==

• Roberta Allen (American, b. 1945) • Eleanor Antin (American, b. 1935) • David Askevold (Canadian, 1940–2008) • Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (Korean American, 1951–1982) • Willie Doherty (Irish, b. 1959) • Jochen Gerz (German, b. 1940) • Paulina Lavista (Mexican, b. 1945) • Laura J. Padgett (American, b. 1958) • Martha Rosler (American, b. 1943) • Allan Sekula (American, 1951–2013) • Lorna Simpson (American, b. 1960) • Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953) • Martha Wilson (American, b. 1947) Danish Kuwait == Further reading ==