Rock art, narrative and imagination

An investigation on image and environment in pre-colonial times in Brazil

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34024/prometeica.2024.29.15206

Keywords:

Walter Benjamin, image theory, narrative in rock art, aura in rock paintings

Abstract

In this work we investigate the nature of image having as empirical object the rock paintings from pre-colonial times located in the state of Minas Gerais, more specifically at Serra do Cipó region. Traditionally studied by the archaeological science that reads such images according to the methodological rigor and the theories that support it, in this work we propose to analyze them as a result of a triangulation between body, media and environment, having the Hans Belting´s Anthropology of the Image and Ivan Bystrina's Theory of Culture as a theoretical horizon. This triangulation revealed that such images, in their relationship of proximity and distance with the observer, have a cult value. In other words, more than pictorial representations, these paintings articulated dreams and imaginations shaped on the rock wall in the form of narratives.

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Author Biographies

  • Ana Elisa Antunes Viviani, Pontificia Universidade Catolica de São Paulo

    I graduated in History at the University of São Paulo (1994), where I also obtained my master's degree in Communication Sciences (2007). I completed my PhD at the Graduate Program in Communication and Semiotics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de São Paulo (2020). My research on parietal paintings was based on the Semiotics of Culture and the Theory of the Image. I participated in the Interdisciplinary Center for Cultural Semiotics as director from 2018 to 2022. I am currently doing a postdoc at the University of Sorocaba.

     

  • Norval Baitello, Pontificia Universidade Catolica de São Paulo

    NORVAL BAITELLO JUNIOR IS A DOCTOR IN COMMUNICATION AT FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN. PROFESSOR IN THE GRADUATE COURSE IN COMMUNICATION AND SEMIOTICS AT THE PONTIFICAL UNIVERSITY CATÓLICA DE SAO PAULO. DIRECTOR OF THE VILÉM FLUSSER SÃO PAULO ARCHIVE. HE WAS DIRECTOR OF THE FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND PHILOSOPHY AT PUC-SP, HAVING CREATED COURSES IN COMMUNICATION AND BODY ARTS AND MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION. HE WAS GUEST PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITIES OF VIENNA, SEVILLE, S. PETERSBURG, AUTONOMA OF BARCELONA AND ÉVORA. MORE RECENT BOOKS: THE SERPENT, THE APPLE AND THE HOLOGRAM (2010), LA ERA DE LA ICONOFAGIA (SEVILLE, 2008), FLUSSERS VÖLLEREI (FLUSSER'S GULLET) (KÖLN, 2007), O PENSAMENTO SENTADO. ABOUT CLUTEOS, CHAIRS AND IMAGES (S. LEOPOLDO, 2012) and Emotion and imagination (org) (S. Paulo, 2014), THE ERA OF ICONOFAGIA (S. PAULO, 2014), The letter, the abyss, the kiss (SP ,2018) and SAPIENTIA -.An archeology of forgotten knowledge(org) (SP 2018), HANGING EXISTENCES. SELFIES, PORTRAITS AND OTHER HANGINGS (S. LEOPOLDO 2019); PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE WORM (S. PAULO, 2021). FROM 2007 to 2016 HE WAS COORDINATOR OF THE COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AREA (CHS II) AT FAPESP. RECEIVED THE INTERCOM "ACADEMIC MATURITY" AWARD IN 2015.

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Published

2024-03-05

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Vol. 29 (2024): Prometeica - v 29 (03/2024 - 06/2024)

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Copyright (c) 2024 Viviani Antunes Ana Elisa, Norval Baitello

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How to Cite

Antunes Viviani, A. E., & Baitello Junior, N. . (2024). Rock art, narrative and imagination: An investigation on image and environment in pre-colonial times in Brazil. Prometeica - Journal of Philosophy and Science, 29, 123-137. https://doi.org/10.34024/prometeica.2024.29.15206
Received 2023-06-16
Accepted 2023-12-18
Published 2024-03-05