Research project

 

Annie Leibovitz’s photography invites viewers to go beyond the surface. Through her portraits of figures like Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyoncé, and Malala Yousafzai, she creates images that operate like what Roland Barthes calls the “plural text” rich, layered, and open to interpretation. Her work blends pop culture with symbolism, creating a visual language that tells stories about identity, power, and presence. What stood out to me most in researching Leibovitz was how she captures more than a moment she captures meaning. Her photographs aren’t just about what’s seen, but what’s felt and understood. She uses signs, posture, and environment to shape how we read her subjects, and that connects directly to Barthes’ idea that images can’t be pinned to one single meaning. In today’s media-saturated world, where visuals are everywhere, Leibovitz’s work reminds us that every image is a text and every viewer, a reader.