The PHOTO OP series — to which SEMIOVOX has invited our semiotician colleagues from around the world to contribute — analyzes photos that we’ve snapped while “off the job.”

THE UNUSUAL PEEPS (New York City, 2017)

I climbed back into the archives for this one. I wish I knew the name of the store that featured this brilliant window. I do know it was in NYC, NOHO. I still laugh when I see it…. When Easter isn’t about sweetness or the kids, it’s about adult peeps, the (un)usual suspects engaged in depraved behavior, an absolute inversion and resistance to holiday pressures and highfaluting ideals of faith. Completely unrepentant.

WE CAN’T STOP MOVING (San Francisco, 2025)

The concatenation of symbols knows no bounds, school-bus yellow cuing youthful exuberance, the infinity sign (never, never stop), the pleasure/pain of the ADHD reference, a bittersweet in-joke punctuated by each letter of “MOVERS” being a different color, the rainbow taking on an intensive dynamism. ADHD is often referenced with a bit of a head shake… a pity, must be a challenge… but here the manic energy of ADHD is transformed to an advantage. Yeah, I’d hire them.

DEATH TO TECH (San Francisco, 2022)

Black and white photography reminiscent of work featuring “unfortunates” around the turn of the century, a social message of pathos highlighting the humanity of the unhoused, part of a series that ran on boarded-up buildings in 2022. Often posters such as this carry multiple, interrelated messages, the “N” scrawled inside a circle implicitly cuing a sign for anarchy, perhaps a sign for more generalized resistance to power. The words “Death to Tech” an indictment of what some see as a source of increased bifurcation of wealthy and poor in the city and the world. A summation of woes.

PHOTO OP: Mariane Cara (Brazil) on LA LUCHA CONTINUA | Aiyana Gunjan (India) on YAMRAJ | Greg Rowland (England) on I ❤️ FOOD | Gabriela Pedranti (Spain) on NOT SO TRIVIAL | Biba Allarakia (Saudi Arabia) on ALL THAT GLITTERS | Brian Khumalo (South Africa) on A LOST MEMORY | Becks Collins (England) on A MILLENNIAL ON THE BRINK | Samuel Grange (France) on SLOW DOWN | Rachel Lawes (England) on DESKTOP COLLECTIONS | Marie Lena Tupot (USA) on BOX OFFICE | Sónia Marques (Portugal) on SWISS-NESS | Serdar Paktin (Turkey / England) on BOTTLE SERVICE | Stefania Gogna (Italy) on OPEN-AIR MUSEUM | Charles Leech (Canada) on IS IT IRONIC? | Kishore Budha (England) on DOWN THE TUBE | Josh Glenn (USA) on JOINED AT THE DIP | Mark Lemon (England) on SHOP LOCAL | William Liu (China) on SWAN SONG | Malcolm Evans (Wales) on CHOCOCRACK | Paulina Goch-Kenawy (Poland) on POLAND’S NEW (HI)STORY | Adelina Vaca (Mexico) on WHAT’S YOUR POISON? | Natasha Delliston (England) on NATURE BATHING | Ramona Lyons (USA) on DEATH TO TECH | Ximena Tobi (Argentina) on TODO PASA | Victoria Gerstman (Scotland) on UGLY-CUTE ENTROPY.

Also see these global semio series: MAKING SENSE (Q&As) | SEMIOFEST SESSIONS (monthly mini-conferences) | COVID CODES | SEMIO OBJECTS | COLOR CODEX | DECODER (fictional semioticians) | CASE FILE | PHOTO OP | MEDIA DIET.