Google Image Search: The First Amendment
Google Image Search: The First Amendment was created by performing a Google image search for each word in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Using the search results, the artist created a visual narrative of this historical text.
"Google Image Search: The First Amendment" is an exploration into the visualization of language. Specifically, the piece explores the way tools such as Google Image Search have altered our visual understanding of words and text. The Google Image Search technology allows the user to search for images using natural language keywords and phrases. Does the use of this technology create a closer relationship between words and imagery, or does it further alienate the visual from the linguistic?
"Google Image Search: The First Amendment" was created by performing a Google Image Search for each word in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Using the search results, I created a visual narrative of this historical text. The imagery that resulted from this process ranges from the mundane to the bizarre. I selected the First Amendment because I am interested in revealing new meanings and representations of historically and culturally important texts. In particular, I think that First Amendment rights are facing a multitude of threats at this moment in time, and I hope that this piece will encourage viewers to examine the language and meaning of the document more closely. I intend to further explore these ideas in a series of pieces that will apply the same techniques to a variety of other seminal works.