تحلیل نشانه‌شناختی نقش‌مایه پنجره در نقاشی‌های پری یوش گنجی از منظر رولان بارت

Introduction: Pariyoush Ganji’s paintings prominently feature the motif of the “window,” which structures both visual composition and semantic depth. Despite its recurrence and significance, systematic studies on its evolution, implications, and symbolic meanings are scarce. Semiotic analysis offers a powerful and nuanced framework for exploring the multiple layers of meaning embedded in contemporary artworks. In Ganji’s work, the window serves as a liminal and transformative space bridging interior and exterior, tangible and metaphysical realms, while reflecting Iranian cultural narratives, collective memory, and socio-historical experiences. Beyond its architectural origin, the motif transforms into a visual myth, conveying personal, social, and cultural dimensions simultaneously. This study examines the structural and symbolic evolution of the window across Ganji’s four chromatic periods—red, purple, white, and blue—analyzing both explicit visual forms and implicit semiotic meanings to provide a comprehensive understanding of the motif’s function, significance, and aesthetic impact across time.
Purposes & Questions: The study has four primary objectives: to clarify the window’s role in the structural and semantic organization of Ganji’s paintings; to identify its denotative (explicit) and connotative (implicit) meanings; to analyze its interaction with other visual elements such as roses, geometric grids, and background textures; and to contextualize the motif within Iranian socio-cultural, historical, and aesthetic frameworks. Accordingly, the research addresses the following questions: (1) What are the structural and semantic functions of the window across different periods of Ganji’s work? (2) How do its denotative and connotative meanings manifest in visual, emotional, and symbolic terms? (3) How does it interact with other visual elements, including floral and geometric motifs, to generate complex, multi-layered significations and emotional resonance? (4) How does the motif relate to Iranian culture and society, and how have these relations developed, transformed, and evolved over time? This research fills a notable gap in contemporary Iranian art scholarship and demonstrates the semiotic potential of recurring visual motifs in Ganji’s oeuvre, highlighting the intricate interplay between form, meaning, and cultural context.
Methods: This qualitative, descriptive-analytical study applies Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory to examine the window motif in depth. Data were collected through systematic and detailed document analysis of selected paintings from Ganji’s red, purple, white, and blue periods (2001–2021), supplemented by exhibition catalogs, critical art reviews, and related documentation. Purposive sampling was applied to ensure the selection of works that best demonstrate the stylistic, compositional, and semantic transformations of the motif over time. Visual and semiotic features—including color, line, form, composition, scale, perspective, and both explicit and implicit meanings—were carefully coded and analyzed. By distinguishing between denotation and connotation according to Barthes, the study identified recurring patterns, thematic structures, subtle stylistic shifts, and evolving symbolic meanings. Comparative analysis across the four periods enabled detailed tracking of stylistic evolution and semantic dynamics, providing a comprehensive understanding of the motif’s role in both personal expression and socio-cultural commentary, and illustrating its enduring relevance in contemporary visual culture.
Findings & Results: Results indicate distinct semiotic functions for the window in each chromatic period. In the red period, windows are framed with bold lines and high-contrast colors, creating strong spatial tension and emphasizing boundaries between inner and outer worlds. Connotatively, these works evoke social and psychological conflicts, with black representing limitation, obscurity, or absence, and red suggesting vitality, struggle, passion, courage, or sacrifice. The purple period presents softer, more ambiguous window forms, often accompanied by roses, reflective surfaces, and subtle textural variations, producing layered meanings of fragility, resilience, longing, and hope amid darkness. In the white period, windows adopt a cubist-inspired structure, interacting with multiple color layers to create contemplative, reflective, and nostalgic spaces; explicit visual frameworks coexist with implicit references to cultural memory, introspection, spiritual awareness, and collective heritage, inviting viewers to engage emotionally and intellectually with the work. In the blue period, windows dissolve into fluid brushstrokes, symbolizing motion, liberation, transformation, and dynamic expression, transcending geometric and architectural constraints while reflecting social emancipation, energy, and the dissolution of rigid boundaries. Across all periods, the window evolves from a structural element into a visual myth mediating personal and collective narratives while reflecting societal tensions, aspirations, and Iranian nostalgia. Its interaction with roses, geometric grids, and compositional spaces generates multi-layered meanings: floral motifs symbolize life, resilience, temporality, and ephemeral beauty, whereas geometric grids reference cultural heritage, continuity, order, and historical memory. Barthesian semiotic analysis confirms the dual nature of the window in Ganji’s paintings: it functions simultaneously as a culturally specific emblem of Iranian experiences and a universally resonant archetype of perception, passage, reflection, and transcendence. The findings highlight the motif’s centrality in Ganji’s artistic language, showing how windows articulate introspective reflection, emotional depth, cultural identity, continuity, and broader socio-political commentary, making the motif a dynamic, enduring, and profoundly expressive element of contemporary Iranian visual semiotics.