Stackhouse 1 Sara Stackhouse Dr.

Erin Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric, Section 11 11 October 2013 The Rhetoric of Contrast in Photography A photograph of an oil pipeline near White Earth, North Dakota is one of many images that comprise photographer Terry Evans series Heartland. In this photograph, the majority of the frame is filled by rolling green hills that appear formerly untouched by man, but their fluidity is disrupted by the newly constructed pipeline. The statement that Evans ultimately makes is a critical remark about mans imposition on nature and the resulting toll that this takes upon its beauty and tranquility. She makes this statement by utilizing the rhetorical nature of contrast to draw attention to increasing human infringement upon the landscape and to inspire viewers to consider the changing nature of the relationship between humans and the environment. In visual mediums, rhetoric takes a different form than it does in textual works. In The Rhetoric of The Frame: Revisioning Archival Photographs in The Civil War, author Judith Lancioni claims that despite the diversity of visual forms, the similarity between them is that they all share the concept of audience as actively engaged with the visual text and the linkage of aesthetic and rhetorical functions (106). In this photograph, the rhetoric of contrast succeeds in making Evans point because viewers are actively engaged in the act of discerning the evident contrasts. The contrasts force viewers to consider what the land looked like before the pipeline as opposed to what it looks like now. Now, the pipeline severely contrasts the organic nature of the landscape around it because it appears as a sort of gash that literally cuts and rips through the

Stackhouse 2 previously uninjured land. The gray color and geometric rigidity of the pipeline is set against the organic shape and fluid nature of the green land. The machinery and man-made objects on the area cleared for the pipeline stand out against the unblemished surface of the surrounding land. Thus, the photograph exemplifies Lancionis idea that viewers engagement with the photograph results in their interpretation of the rhetorical features that convey the photographers intended message. Evans employs the rhetorical impact of scale and relative size to emphasize the contrast between the natural landscape and the pipeline land. The use of scale helps characterize the human-environmental relationship as severely unbalanced. For instance, there is an immense difference in size between the pipeline itself, the land cleared around the pipeline, and the rest of the landscape. The pipeline itself is a thin, electric green line that is difficult to locate unless it is intentionally sought. The land cleared for the pipeline however, is easily noticeable as it creates a sort of gash in the otherwise pristine landscape. The cleared land takes the form of a vertical strip through the image that is about one-eighth of the width of the entire image. The other seveneighths are filled by the natural landscape. This is a striking proportion in the sense that something as thin as the pipeline necessitates such a large proportion of the land. As the artist, Evans had the ability to choose how she wanted to frame the image. She could have chosen to feature the cleared land by only showing a close-up image of the pipeline with little of the green hills surrounding it, but instead she chose to fill most of the frame with the hills and fill a smaller proportion with the pipeline land. This gives viewers a more honest perspective because they can compare the size of the pipeline to the land around it to see the effect that the new construction has upon the landscape. Had she chosen to only look closely at the pipeline land, viewers would not have been provided with the information necessary to make a decision about the size of the

Stackhouse 3 pipeline and how much of a disturbance it is to the landscape. Evans also included trees and power lines within the shot, which further aids viewers in understanding just how large of an area is depicted within the frame. Evans framing choices make it possible for viewers to see the size of the pipeline within the context of the surrounding land, to see just how much land was destroyed, and also to consider the contrasts in size and the implications this has for the environment. Another rhetorical aspect of contrast that the photographer emphasizes to point out the changing relationship between humans and the land that results from the construction of the pipeline is the blatant difference in color between the gray land carved out for the pipeline and the green, rolling hills that serve almost as a backdrop. Percentage-wise, the vast majority of the image is a shade of green. However, at first glance, our eyes are directed to the gray and brown of the pipeline land because its different color makes it stand out as something foreign and different from the hills that make up the rest of the image. The green of the hills is an organic color, with a great deal of life and vibrancy because it is a color that generally indicates the presence of a thriving environment. On the other hand, the land cleared for the pipeline is brown and gray, and though brown and gray are still earthy tones, they are generally accepted as symbols of lifelessness. In this sense, Evans relies on the viewers predisposed perceptions of these colors as she sets up to consider the contrast between the green of the hills and the brown and gray of the pipeline land. This contrast is made even more pressing by the emotional appeal of the fact that the land that is now brown and gray was once as green as the rest of the image. This notion contributes to the pathos of the image and its statement. In the blog Visualizing Rhetoric, pathos is defined as Aristotles term for describing the effect of the speech on the audience (Jones, Web). Although in this case, the text is not a speech, but rather an image, the

Stackhouse 4 effect of pathos still directly relates to the contrast in color. By highlighting the color contrast, Evans successfully relays the message that humans have taken something that was once vibrant and fully alive and destroyed it by turning it into something gray and lifeless. Contrast in the shapes and forms of the main features in the image also aid in highlighting the disruption caused by the pipeline. Evans frames the forms in such a way that attention is drawn to the disparity between the strikingly harsh, geometric form of the pipeline and the organic fluidity of the landscape into which the pipeline is cut. For example, the only straight lines anywhere within the frame are the lines of the pipeline land. The rest of the landscape is defined by sweeping curves and fluid bends. Again pathos plays a part and viewers are forced to engage themselves with the image by considering the significance of such contrasts. We generally see fluid forms as soft and pleasing, while we interpret sharp, rigid lines as industrial and unnatural. Furthermore, one of the main features of the landscape is a valley between two hills. Rather than conform to the natural contours of the land, the pipeline land cuts imperiously through the valley and disregards any changes in elevation. As a result, the pipeline land establishes itself as a rigid, geometric form intruding upon a very natural, organic location. By framing such contrasts, Evans sets up viewers to interpret the disparity between the organic shape of the landscape and the geometric shape of the pipeline land as a negative result of the changing relationship between humans and the environment. As a result of the many contrasts in the photograph, it is easy for viewers to construe the pipeline land as being a gash cut into the previously unblemished surface of the landscape. The size, color, and shape of the land carved for the pipeline make it stand out as a clear irregularity on the surface of the landscape. Establishing such an image and equating the situation to an injury in the minds of her viewers is just one of the contrast-based techniques that Evans uses to

Stackhouse 5 inform viewers about the pressing issue of human infringement upon the environment. Framing the image in such a way that viewers will recognize that an injury has occurred is an appeal to pathos and leads us to automatically and unconsciously acknowledge that something is wrong and unjust. Evans success in drawing attention to various contrasts in the image leads viewers to share her critical opinions regarding the changing relationship between humans and the environment and the effects that resultantly ensue.

Stackhouse 6 Works Cited Evans, Terry. Oil Pipeline near White Earth, ND. Photograph. Heartland, Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame. Jones, John. "Visualizing Rhetoric." Viz. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. <http://viz.cwrl.utexas.edu/node/70>. Lancioni, Judith. "The Rhetoric of the Frame: Revisioning Archival Photographs in The Civil War." Pag. 106 Print.