Weekly Wonder 1

 

Mirror’s Glance

Susan Sontag excerpt from On Photography

   The Susan Sontag excerpt from On Photography discusses the nature of our relationship with the image and how photography has become a constant within our lives. Our relationship with photographs is one that has changed and evolved, thus our value of these images change. Sontag describes how “Photographs, which fiddle with the scale of the world, themselves get reduced, blown up, cropped, retouched, doctored, tricked out. They age, plagued by the usual ills of paper objects; they disappear; they become valuable, and get bought and sold; they are reproduced”. We see images every day; advertising on billboards and print, animation, pixels on a screen portraying an image. I am now able to take a picture of an artwork I created and get it reproduced as prints and sell them. The concept is quite strange to me, someone purchasing a reproduction of something I made and they can just do anything they want with it. But it's like sharing an experience. In a way, it feels distant, yet the artwork itself brings them closer to a state of mind or image I was representing when I created and photographed whatever print they got. 

   The reproduction of images from digital, to print, has led us to hold still moments at our fingertips. Being able to capture the essence of a moment, a sliver of a living second, is fascinating. Of course, now we can take photos on our phones and anyone can take pictures of anything. I take photos of things I like or find interesting. I've taken pictures of flowers, my partner, even the morbid; I once took a photo of a bird’s wing that it had.. lost. The anatomy of the poor creature interested me, and I knew I'd likely never see anything like that again. So I captured it in a still image. As morbid as it may be, the accessibility to that second in time allows me to go back and study what I saw, in case I ever want to draw something like that. Photos are indeed “experience captured”. Additionally, “Photographs, which package the world, seem to invite packaging”. It's interesting to describe a photograph of a package of the world, yet the wording does make sense. We can print, mass produce, sell, and do so much with photographs. The encapsulation of a printed or photographed image provides a semi-permanent sense of stillness. A photo I print will remain until it rips or gets ruined. A photo I take and save to the cloud will remain there until it gets deleted. The sense of permanence given to a photo, from a photographer or casual interactor, is definitely a fascinating experience. 

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

   The article published by New York Times discusses Carrie Mae Weems and her impact on the world of image making and photography as a whole. Weems’ photographs are described as “gimlet-eyed and gutsy as they are visually compelling, and have gone a long way toward resetting our expectations of pictures and challenging our assumptions about her largely African-American subjects. A gifted storyteller who works accessible in text and image, she’s created new narratives around women, people of color and working-class communities, conjuring lush art from the arid polemics of identity”. Weems has the power to portray what SHE wants, how she wants to represent. She uses her community not only as a representation of herself and her internal narratives, but the representation of her subjects heightens visual storytelling and shows various rich identities. 

   It’s interesting to read about Weems’ influences and interests, bringing a sense of connection without even meeting her. Her influence and impact touched many people socially as well as artistically. Weems is also noted to be aware of the categorization of herself in the art community; “This marginalization, being categorized as “black artist” or “woman artist” rather than simply artist, is something Weems has dealt with her entire career”. Labels are still quite prevalent, even today. While some people take pride in being labeled as something, that’s usually because they themselves are labeling as a conscious decision. It’s different from someone marketing themselves as (for example) a queer, black, disabled, or woman artist to represent their community, and someone just saying they’re the best artist of their labeled category. I feel as though it matters if the label is self given, and if it’s relevant to the discussion being made. If someone creates a piece focused on that specific part of the experience and it’s deliberately seeking discussion on that perspective, maybe that can be it’s own thing. But if a black woman simply makes art about other black women and she’s labeled simply as the best black woman artist, that is limiting. Of course, it’s great to be the best at something, but to deliberately label it that way seems off.  

It’s a complex subject, and I’m sure many people feel differently depending on their sex, gender identity, ethnicity and sexuality. The issue is primarily tied to the association of these labels, as marginalized groups are given labels constantly. These labels can feel definitive of our identities but it can become a negative association if we think about the origin of these labels. They are deemed as difference, as separation, as people are sadly not seen as equal. Black women are less represented than white men, so when someone discusses an artist, people usually think of the white man. To get into the artistic world, she’s doing what she can and challenging the constructs that restrain her. Her work represents this accessibility. Working in a patriarchal, predominantly white space is quite difficult and opposing the status through challenge is a form of agency. At the same time, these structures are still held and labels are still given even if not wanted. Everyone views their identity and art, in relation, a different way. Unfortunately it seems like those aspects of ourselves will always have a way to bleed into our careers and art, even if unintentional. No one should be ashamed to be who they are of course, but no one should just be labeled when they do not wish to be. It can feel like “other”ing, which is terrible. 

Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems’s Landmark “Kitchen Table Series”

by Jacqui Palumbo for Artsy

    The article written by Jacqui Palumbo highlights the creations of Carrie Mae Weems’ series while depicting the photo series narrative and visual displays. The representation of the domestic images are described to be impactful for not only people of color, but everyone. It's noted how “It’s so universal and yet representation like this is so rare”, the artwork made by this artist showing  the black experience while making it accessible and understandable to all. While she represents people of color, the works themselves aren't dedicated fully to race. Rather, the photos feel like snapshots into a person's life, vulnerable yet investing. The “muse” of the photo, described by Weems, “can stand in for me and for you; she can stand in for the audience, she leads you into history. She’s a witness and a guide”. This woman being portrayed is a part of history, a history which we can see portrayed through Weems’ lense. She is important, and she has her own story. Through this, she's also made history, quite literally with her impact and also through an actual physical photograph. 

   Weems highlights a burden, a trauma of history, thus posing deeper context to the relationship of her artwork, the character of her muse and the images she depicts. It's obvious this is quite important to her and she understands her work is “unlike anything” she's seen before. Luckily, she created powerful work and deserves a ton of respect. Her voice should not be unheard, and she's truly powerful and influential. Everyone deserves to be heard, represented, and respected to the fullest degree.