Generating Emotion through text

Text is a great way to change the meaning of an image. You can change the focus point of an image and you can also generate great emotion.
Gillian Wearing is a perfect example for this. She did a project called "Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say". She took photographs of normal people, got them to write down their feelings or an issue they had with the world and took a photo of it. It was very successful and this idea rubbed off on a lot of people. The idea spread because it works. It completely changes the photograph by putting a bit of text on a piece of paper. Its real documentary photography.

This photo changes the emotion of the photograph. The sign reads, "I have been certified as mildly insane!"
Without the text on this photo it would just be an image of a random guy in the street however, by adding type you are generating emotion. You are adding a story to the image, taking the viewer on a journey. You feel sorry for the man. It just goes to show that you shouldn't judge anyone in life. That is what the visual arts are about, teaching people, understanding people, sending out a message and taking people on a journey. I love being able to make people feel how I want them to feel. 
If you can make someone feel an emotion while they are looking at your art, they will remember it, it will stick into their memories and they may relate to it.