Text, Graphic, and the Presence of Absence

"Silencio," by Eugen Gomringer, from 33 Konstellationen, Berne, Switzerland: Spiral Press, 1953

Selection from "A Week of Death in Iraq," New York Times, April 15, 2004, A13, full-page display of 64 photographs, two labeled as "No photograph available"

 

When spoken, the word "silence" contradicts its meaning. Gomringer's concrete poem creates a new and better word for "silence": the void in the middle. That space, that absence, is now filled with an eloquent presence. So then what is the better representation of a dead person, a photograph displayed or no photograph available?

RH, April 2004