Page - 47 - in >mcs_lab> - Mobile Culture Studies, Volume 2/2020

Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 6 2o20 (Travel) Rhian Waller | Postcolonial Pictures 47 Analysis: Empty Lands and Terra Nullius It is clear the Penguin covers of Theroux’s books display a cohesive visual language. They signify, in their use of photographs, a form of verisimilitude, in contrast with the stylised and cartoonish artwork of books like Notes from a Small Island (Bryson, 2015) and Neither Here, Nor There: Travels in Europe (Bryson, 2015), also published by Penguin through an imprint. This aesthetic decision is tied to textual content; the latter titles trade on openly humorous tones. Caricature, therefore, is appropriate. It is less apt for Theroux’s work, which is more incli- ned toward sustained seriousness. Shapiro hints at the discursive power of photography when he writes: “it is thought to be an unmediated simulacrum” (1988, my emphasis), arguing it is viewed as a more authoritative and ‘real’ mode of visual communication than alternative forms. Spreading awareness of digital photo-manipulation may have weakened this perception over the last thirty years (see Gunning, 2004), but the crucial aspect here is evident in Shapiro’s use of modifiers. The ‘truth’ of any Fig 2: Table showing broad-strokes analysis of Dark Star Safari (Theroux, 2002).