Responses to Articles/Week One Selfie

The Communion Table 

Susan Sontag: On Photography

"To collect photographs is to collect the world"

 I found this statement true somewhat eye opening. When you put into perspective of how many "worlds" we collect in of lifetime with photographs. We are collecting history without knowing. 

"Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality anyone can make or acquire"

 One things I love about photography is that anyone can do it. We don't have to be professionals. The reasons are as simple as making memories. Collecting miniature reality to keep save in our memory. We collect pieces of the world that we live in.

Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems Landmark: The Kitchen Table 

"Weems’s black-and-white photographs are like mirrors, each reflecting a collective experience: how selfhood shifts through passage of time; the sudden distance between people, both passable and impassable; the roles that women accumulate and oscillate between; how life emanates from the small space we occupy in the world"

“Everyone can relate to this work,” Sann said. “It’s not just Black women; it’s white women, Asian women. Men can see the women in their lives—memories from their childhood or scenes from their marriage or their family life. It’s so universal and yet representation like this is so rare.”

Response: I love how Carrie's series has inspired generations. Work that is relatable. Her series represents so many of us. No matter the race. We as a society tend to generalize and stereotype each other. The kitchen table series brings us back to our reality. We all of a kitchen table or a table that brings family and friends together. When we are at the table its not about race its about connection. The table holds so much more than we think. It holds memories, hardship, laughs and much more. The fact that Carrie Mae chose black and white helps us to picture ourselves there. It evokes emotions and thoughts we fail to realize. 

NY Times How Carrie Mae Weems Rewrote the Rules of Image Making

Georgia O’Keeffe once said, “Men put me down as the best woman painter. I think I’m one of the best painters.”

Her response to this statement makes me think of the song If there's anything you can do I can do better. Carrie Mae's upbringing made her who she is. Her father saw to that her mother nurture her through it. It's funny how some men only think that whatever they put their minds to a woman can never. Which is false. But I do think that women in general can create more and even better things than most men. 

"Carrie Mae, always remember that you have a right. Right? That no matter who messes with you, you pick up the biggest stick that you can, and you fight back with it.’ This was a great gift.

This quote spoke volumes of how I think Carrie Mae approach everything in her life. You can tell in her work and how she carries herself. She had a right fight and take what's her's.