I suppose there are different forms of visual jokes, but the one that strikes me most often is a kind of ironic juxtaposition. Take, for example, this photo I took of a streetcar passing beneath fireworks. The ad on the side is for a film called The Arsonists. It was a chance thing and my camera just happened to be pointed in the right direction when the two elements (fireworks & ad) passed through the frame.
But ironic juxtaposition doesn’t always produce humour; sometimes it produces social commentary. I’m not sure where the line is. For example, here’s a photo I took with graves in the foreground and an apartment building in the background. Is it funny? A jab at affordable housing? A comment on the grind of life? I suppose the answer depends on the context in which the photograph appears.
Ratcheting things up another notch, what about ironic juxtaposition as social criticism? Like this limousine sitting on Bloor Street in front of a big downtown church. Maybe it’s a comment on what the theologian, Douglas John Hall, calls “establishment religion.” I’ll let you be the judge.
