Abstract
Social solidarity and group identity are not givens; at particular times they must be intentionally cultivated and concretely enacted. What I have termed visual onomatopoeia assembles large numbers of individuals into group insignias, emblems, or other significant symbols. The subsequent artistic or photographic record of such displays is tangible evidence of a group's existence—who comprises it and how it sees itself. It thereby operates as both act and artifact. Like its verbal counterpart, visual onomatopoeia communicates through a close equivalence between a subject and its representation. It frames experience in a distinctive manner by objectifying the group, which ordinarily is only vaguely conceptualized. “Living photographs” of religious and patriotic subjects (e.g., 18,000 men configured as the Statue of Liberty) were executed by the team of Mole and Thomas and E. O. Goldbeck between 1913 and 1971. From a Durkheimian perspective, such images could be an important device for mobilizing allegiance. But by adopting a Goffmanian perspective, we additionally learn that there is affective deviance from affirmative social rituals: participants were not as fully engaged as their organizers might have desired. Additional examples from the mass media (e.g., advertising, news reports) demonstrate the metaphoric use of this device and attest to the subtle pervasiveness of this way of representing social life.
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