In "The Death of the Author," structuralist thinker Roland Barthes suggested the notion of the author as a distinct identity in the creation and interpretation of a text was a thing of the past. Instead, he preferred the use of the word "scriptor" to refer to the person writing or typing a work for the first time. The ideas in the scriptor's mind would have to travel through his or her semiotic filters to make it to the paper -- those filters take the ideas and shape them -- for example, the inspiration to write about fathers and their role in a child's life would be shaped by the scriptor's experiences with his or her own father before making it to the paper. Similarly, a text's reader must take the words on the page and run them through their own semiotic filters before interpretation can begin. The focus of this thesis is my attempt to show that the mass media and the mass culture can and does shape a person's thoughts and ideas. Using several of my own works, I intend to show you the cultural context from which they emerged, and to show you that the cultural context in which I grew up was and is a crucial element, not just in those works of art, but in my entire creative process. Using seven plates, each of which shows one of my works of art, I intend to connect each work to its roots in my set of experiences with the mass culture, to show you the particular path each work took through my own semiotic filter to make it to exhibition.
