Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition in a nutshell.

Juxtaposition is when you place highly-contrasting elements—usually tangible physical things—next to each other.

For example, the image above puts a child and an elephant next to each other.

Why is this a juxtaposition, not just 'two things next to each other'? Because each represents qualities that create a heightened contrast with the other:

Girl: small, young, human, smooth, soft, light, nimble.
Elephant: big, old, animal, rough, hard, heavy, cumbersome.

Even as we're talking about contrast and difference, look at what these two figures have in common:

Both: sitting, together, watching, touching, quiet, affectionate.

This is an important point when we talk about contrast: juxtaposition is partly about contrast, but it is also about unity.

For two things to be juxtaposed, they must be put next to each other, which means they necessarily have some kind of relationship.

And often this relationship is more than spatial.

Juxtaposition heightens our perception

In the same way that contrast helps us see things more clearly, juxtaposition heightens our perception of the qualities of each thing as we compare them.

For example, try this experiment.

Imagine a water drop. How clearly can you see it? How does it make you feel? What do you notice?

(Close your eyes and do that for a few seconds, then come back.)

Now, imagine a leaf. Focus on the same questions—how clearly can you see it, how does it make you feel, what do you notice?

(Close your eyes and do that for a few seconds, then come back.)

Now, consider this image:

Macro photo of glossy smooth raindrops on a rough wrinkled leaf leaf

Juxtaposition heightens our perceptions. By Keith Dotson (Source)

You probably notice that compared to imagining the water drop and the leaf in isolation, the juxtaposition in this image makes you notice more about each of them.

Somehow, by putting them next to each other, the water drops seem 'droppier'—more round, glossy, smooth, liquid, reflective—than usual, and the leaf seems 'leafier'—more textured, complex, intricate, skin-like, resistant, coordinated, articulated.

Here's another example:

What points of contrast you can see between this flower bulb and its thorns?

You can see the contrast between the thorns and the flower bulb, right?

One is soft, round, and smooth, the other is long, spindly, pointed. One is singular, the other is plural. One is red, the other green (colour contrast).

Cool, but let's also consider this image of the same species of flower:

We can emphasise different contrasts for different effects. By Karl Blossfeldt (Source)

It's like the first image is about the smoothness of the bulb, whereas the second one is about the sharpness of the thorns.

In fact the whole flower looks somehow harder, like wrought iron, probably in part because the photographer was a sculptor!

Both images juxtapose thorns vs bulb, highlighting the contrasting qualities of each element.
But the black and white image amplifies the light-dark contrast between flower and background to exaggerate certain structural thorny and bulby qualities, while eliminating colour and context to downplay other qualities.

Finally, juxtaposition doesn't only highlight the physical characteristics of each element—it can highlight all sorts of emotional or conceptual qualities and features.

Bull in street in Spain while people climb balconies to avoid it

Juxtaposition can also highlight emotional or conceptual qualities. By Pedro Luis Raota (Source)

This image highlights all sorts of contrasts:

Climb vs no climb
Hands vs no hands
Horns vs no horns
Fragile vs stocky
Scared vs confident (is the bull confident, or is it also scared?)
Able to build buildings vs able to terrify people.

This leads us nicely to our next point, which is the way in which juxtaposition can create what we might call resonance.

Contrast & juxtaposition