“A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.” –https://www.dictionary.com/browse/racism#:~:text=noun,is%20inferior%20to%20the%20others.
Racism has existed through history, having an effect on different races, skin colours, ethnicities , languages and cultures. Although it isn’t always shown through words and slurs, but also actions too, leaving people feeling helpless. this attitude many people harvest within them has had an effect on many workplaces and industries, such as the fashion, music and beauty industry, as well as many others.
THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT
“I can’t breathe” – George Floyd
This man, George Floyd, sparked a long awaited movement on the 25th of May 2020, when he was killed in Minneapolis by white police men when one knelt on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while he was handcuffed and lying face down. He lay there begging for his life and repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe”.
Since that day, The black lives matter movement has spread worldwide to make people aware of the injustice of police violence in America, focusing on black Americans brutalised or killed by law enforcement officers, who rarely face consequences for their actions. The death of George Floyd has had a huge impact on the people living in the US, with many people of all races and ethnicities rising up against the police to get justice for the many victims of unnecessary police violence. Many of the riots held in America were peaceful, however, some progressed into more violent ones, leading officers to use tear gas, and rubber bullets to contain the crowds.
People worldwide have been sharing stories of other people like George Floyd, who have been brutally attacked by police forces for no strong reason. Information and awareness for other people affected have been shared on Social media; instagram, twitter, facebook etc. One hashtag in particular is the #SayTheirNames campaign . It encourages social media users to share the names of victims of police brutality. The campaign includes taking and sharing the incidents that killed them and to focus on their individual humanity and use their names.
“Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.”
There are many different ways of describing what racism is and many different people that are discriminated due to the colour of their skin or where they come from may have stronger opinions about the topic and different ideas about what it means to them as they have all been affected by racism one way or another. Being singled out this way can negatively affect the way someone speaks and acts in front of others, the way people think about themselves and the kind of people they are discriminated by and the they live as a whole.
Modern Racism: BLACK LIVES MATTER
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. A white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on George Floyd’s neck whilst two other white police officers restrained him. After this tragic event people protested globally for the rights of black lives as well as creating memorials for George Floyd. America especially, has had an overwhelming amount of people protesting and many black men and women have died due to police brutality, most of them were killed or harmed whilst peacefully protesting.
George Floyd’s death massively affected people lives around including his 6 year old daughter and his girlfriend who were both left devastated. Impacting the world to create change for people lives who are affected daily just because of the colour of their skin. People won’t accept silence anymore and no one can ignore the suffering of black people any longer. Humanity wants and needs change for the better. In particular people want police brutality to stop, it is completely corrupted into thinking that black people are the cause of most crimes and most of the police force won’t hesitate to suspect a black man or woman of doing something illegal. Evidently, it has been proven that police brutality, especially in America, will go to the extent of murdering human beings even when they are completely innocent.
People using their Platforms to Fight Against Racism:
On the 3rd June, the Star Wars actor, John Boyega, even protested and made a memorable speech to encourage the fight against racism: “This is an intense time for our community, and the most important thing is for us to maintain momentum and not lose sight of how critical it is to pursue long-term solutions and commitments, for the sake of our generation, and the next”.
There are countless celebrities who have used their platform to educate people on what’s happening in the world today to do with racism. Millions of people around the world are trying to gain justice for the deaths of innocent black lives.
“Black is being guilty until being proven that you’re innocent”
The title above is one of the many lines in the song “Black” by Dave. This performance was the month before George Floyd’s death but still has large emotional impact on the problems to do with racism at the moment. Many of Dave’s songs have large impact surrounding black lives and educating other on the modern racism still occurring in the world today. An important line in this song is “he’s white you give him a chance, he’s ill and confused, If he’s black he’s probably armed, you see him and shoot” it is an example of black people living fear of the police; the people who are meant to protect society. These lyrics also show how quickly black people are judged by police just because of their skin colour.
“How can the black community dismantle a problem that they didn’t create?”
James Corden briefly touches on the treatment of black lives during global pandemic, particularly in America. More black prople have died from the corona virus due to racism. Hospitals with a large majority of white doctors and nurses in the USA have deliberately not treated black patients with cover, leaving them to suffer even though a large majority of the doctors and nurses that are risking their lives to fight against corona virus are black.
James is also one of many millions who were moved by Dave’s live performance and chose to spread awareness of how important the lyrics were for educating people in todays society.
The recent Black Lives Matter movement has been one of the main topics for headlines and social media platforms over the last few months. This is following the unjust murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin- an American police officer- over an alleged counterfeit bill. The 8 minutes and 46-second incident was captured on film by a bystander and quickly sparked a global outrage within a few days. Floyd’s death triggered a substantial amount of protests against police brutality, police racism and lack of police accountability. Demonstrations were carried out in all 50 states, with over 2,000 cities taking part. Demonstrations were also carried out globally, including Hong Kong, London and even Jersey.
Further outrage ensued when the results of the autopsy were released to the public, revealing that the Hennepin County medical examiner that carried out Floyd’s autopsy found:
“no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation”.
This resulted in Derek Chauvin being charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. People online were furious, demanding that Chauvin’s charge should be upgraded. Floyd’s family put in an order for a second autopsy, which found that “evidence is consistent with mechanical asphyxia as the cause of Floyd’s death“, and that the death was a homicide. All four officers involved in the murder were arrested and charged, with the charges including ‘second-degree murder’ for Chauvin and ‘aiding and abetting second-degree murder’ for the other three officers.
Many people took the social media platforms to call out the systemic racism that’s present within their own countries, as well as bringing many cases to light that were similar to Floyd’s, such as Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Eric Garner- all which could have been prevented if their race had been different.
“Say their names”- Black individuals who have previously been a victim of police brutality in the past decade.
Defining the basics
Racism is the prejudice against a person or a group of people based on their ethnic background, especially towards minority groups. It’s the belief that these individuals possess qualities or fit into stereotypes that make them inferior or superior to other races.
Systemic racism/ Institutional racism is defined as “the systematic distribution of resources, power and opportunity in our society to the benefit of people who are white and the exclusion of people of colour.”
This type of racism, in particular, continues to debilitate minority individuals in today’s society. These inequalities in housing, education, employment, wealth, and representation in leadership positions are apparent in the US in particular. According to the USCCB, ‘In the United States, median wealth for white households is ten times greater than for black households, and eight times greater than for Hispanic households.’ and ‘African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans are disproportionately affected through every stage of the criminal justice system, despite the evidence that different racial and ethnic groups commit crimes at roughly the same rates.’.
example of misrepresentation in the United States.
Joaquin Phoenix spoke out at the BAFTA awards, criticising systemic racism, more specifically how the way white is considered the default in the film industry. The 1967 book Black Power: The Politics of Liberation first addresses this concept, where they wrote:
“When a black family moves into a home in a white neighborhood and is stoned, burned or routed out, they are victims of an overt act of individual racism which most people will condemn. But it is institutional racism that keeps black people locked in dilapidated slum tenements, subject to the daily prey of exploitative slumlords, merchants, loan sharks and discriminatory real estate agents. The society either pretends it does not know of this latter situation, or is in fact incapable of doing anything meaningful about it.”
Outside the US
Racism in Britain attracts less attention than that of the United States. Britain hardly addresses its colonial history and continues to run a society that’s silent in its continuous racial discrimination.
Members of far-right Football Lads Alliance hold a British flag in front of the covered statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London, June 13, 2020
In recent weeks, following the death of George Floyd, many people have called out the glorification of individuals who were key participants within the slave trade and had previously displayed their clear racist views towards black and other minority groups. A statue of Winston Churchill had been defaced and vandalised after his racist statements were shown to light. Many other statues and monuments that reflect these similar views have also been targeted by protestors, such as the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
Racism within the United Kingdom increased significantly after the Brexit referendum, with racial discrimination being directed toward individuals from black and Asian backgrounds, as well as other minority groups. Locals in the UK were reported as becoming hostile towards foreigners or people they perceived as being foreign after the voting took place. This highlights the issue that racist attitudes have been prevalent within the population of the UK, but have begun to be more overtly expressed as they felt the discrimination could be justified by Brexit.
Police Brutality in the UK
In Britain, black people account for 3% of the population, but 8% of deaths in custody in the UK. Furthermore, since 1990, only one police officer has been convicted for the death of someone in their care, despite almost 2,000 people dying in police custody. The UK has the same issues surrounding police brutality as the US does, but it is not addressed.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, research has shown that black and brown Britons have been targeted more than the white population by police. BAME people have been fined more under the coronavirus laws. There are a number of videos being spread of police officers around the country mistreating POC during the lockdown.
Furthermore, black people are nearly nine times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than white people and, additionally, three times more likely to be arrested. An investigation from the Guardian showed that the Met police tasered black people over four times as often as white people and they found that black people are four times more likely to be restrained and arrested by the police. Moreover, an unbalanced number of people die in police care as a result of the use of force by the police, with the majority of individuals being black or brown.
Racism : Prejudice / discrimination against a person or people of a certain ethnic background.
Black Lives Matter is an organized movement advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality against African-American people. The official movement started in 2013, however major black rights protests have been dated back to 1955 with the Rosa Parks incident where she refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white person. Also the “I Have a Dream” public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States.
Colonialism
Colonialism: A country looking to extend its reign over other people and territories with Economic, political and cultural dominance.
Portuguese mariners began to ferry African slaves from 1500s onwards until the abolition of slavery by the British in 1833 somewhere close to 12 – 15 million black people had been trafficked. However, before Britain abolished slavery, by the early 18th century, they became the world’s leading slave trading nation. It’s estimated that British ships were responsible for the forced transportation of at least 2-3 million Africans in that century.
Racism in Jersey, is still around, although it is not connected to America and the recent death of George Floyd and the black lives matter movement, racism still happens so it is relevant.
Jersey was connected to the slave trade by having slave owners from here and wanting products from places where slaves work, cod from Canada and wood from the Caribbean. Sir George Carteret, served in the navy and gained a colony in America, as a reward for helping King Charles II during his exile,and named it ‘New Jersey’ after Jersey. He was involved in the slave trade, by being connected to boating, however his connection is not know to many and is not taught to the younger generation. Sir George Carteret has a statue in St Peter, which had been covered in paint, due to recent arise in the black lives matter movement. A square, Trenton Square, in St Helier also is connected to the slave trade by being named after the capital of New Jersey, Trent, and a plantation owner, William Trent.
colonialism is practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.
The slave trade has evolved and has meant that native Africans were taken and sold to plantation owners for them to have to work on the plantation. Plantation owners had power over the slaves and oppressed their human rights, by taking them from where they live onto a plantation to work for nothing. Plantation owners also had to pay for the slaves, objectifying them and treating them as if they were an object.
racism is prejudicing and discriminating a person or a group because of the fact that they belong to a particular ethnic or racial group.
Continued racial discrimination has led to the movement ‘black lives matter’, because people have seen how wrong it is to prejudice a particular group. People have a right to express their opinion, and this movement gives them the freedom to do this. When people come together change will be made.
black lives matter movement is an organised movement peacefully protesting against incidents of police brutality against afro-american people.
This induction task is designed for students who wish to study A Level Photography. The aim of this task is to ensure that the students who have chosen this option both understand the requirements of the course and start as early as possible in their journey towards completing it to a high level. The work you produce in this Induction Task will be used to stimulate a group discussion during the first session as well as form the beginning of Component 1 (coursework) in your 2 year A Level Photography course.
You can explore all / any of the genres below to express your unique ideas…
Abstract — try close ups and alternative viewpoints and extreme cropping
Landscape / Architectural — try inside or outside
Portrait photography — try people / people in places
Still Life and Objects — try interesting lighting and sharp focus
Show how you can observe, interpret, define and most importantly photograph signs of …
“LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN“
…influenced by the COVID-19 / Global Pandemic
Bruno Taveira took this photo in Cascais, Portugal. Of the photo he wrote, “Many people turn to supermarkets to buy essential goods, after the Portuguese government decreed a state of emergency.” Credit: Bruno Taveira/Public Source
You may want to explore visual aspects, or subtle and nuanced ways of photography various forms of
freedom, liberation, captivity, isolation, loneliness, care, health, separation, mental health, well-being, environmental impact, recovery, family, community, communication, social distancing, before and after etc
…that have an emotional or personal edge. There are many possibilities…some more obvious than others. You may want to compare and contrast these aspects of how our lives have been forced to change in the last few months…
You should / could start by photographing some of the following suggestions… and of course, you may already have some of theseimages so add them to your project
Research your own chosen photographer, who is he/she, what type of photography, what does it say to you?
Analyse his/her work, style, technique, meaning – aim to show knowledge and understanding
Respond – at least 3 different shoots that show development of your ideas and style as well as your understanding of abstract / portrait / landscape photography
Edit – make a first selection and cut down the three shoots to the best ten images, and justify your selection in annotation and explanations / captions.
Experiment – work on cropping / adjustments of brightness/ contrast/ colour correction and show further Photoshop / editing techniques if you can
Evaluate – describe process of experimentation and reflect on learning etc.
Present – put all work together in a digital format such as Powerpoint / Word
Select your favourite outcome, print out as an A4 image if you can and explain why you have chosen it in your final evaluation (at least 200-300 words.)
Vivian MaierTimothy ArchibaldRichard Koening John Stezaker…before and afterKensuke KoikeMartha RosslerStudent ExampleStudent ExampleStudent Example
What do his / her photographs say to you?
Look at composition and its visual elements e.g. line, form, shape, colour, tone, contrast, texture, depth, balance, space, perspective, viewpoint, foreground/ mid-ground/ background, rule of thirds. Look at the use of lighting e.g. natural lighting; sunlight, overcast, soft, harsh, directional, contrast and artificial lighting: studio, flash, spotlight, side-light, backlight, reflected light, shadows, chiaroscuro (light / darkness).
Use photographic language as above in your annotation and consider the artistic merits :
Technical
, Visual , Conceptual and Contextual elements
Write a short introduction about the work of your chosen photographer and the nature of their work
Issues to consider:
His / her attitude to photography and the advantages / disadvantages of the camera as a way of “seeing”
Are we looking at fact or fiction (or a hybrid of both?)
The ways in which your chosen photographer explored the formal elements in his / her work e.g. form, light, rhythm, line, texture, repetition etc.
Planning: Once you have spent
time evaluating the work of your chosen photographer, plan a shoot using the
same techniques and mindset.
You must: Produce a mind map showing your thought process and with breadth of thinking, and a mood board (collage of images) to illustrate the look and feel of your project.
Recording: After planning your
idea, gather together what you need. When you take pictures try and think about
everything that you see in the frame – what’s in the foreground, mid-ground, background. To achieve this you must think about composing your picture (use your
zoom lens and/or distancing yourself from subject/object), focussing (sharp,
soft focus), use creative exposure tools on camera like fast/slow shutter speed
to either freeze or blur a sense of movement, different aperture settings to
control the area of focus and sharpness in your picture. E.g. a high aperture setting like f5.6 will make the background soft and
out of focus whereas an aperture of f16
will make everything in the picture sharp from foreground to background. Also
by zooming in or using a telephoto lens you can throw the background out of
focus, or conversely if using a wide-angle everything in the frame will be in
focus. Crop
your images carefully.
Editing: Editing is one of the most important aspects of photographic practice so be critical and selective when you choose your final selection of 5 images and then your best photograph. Think about sequence and relation between images – does your series of images convey a sense of narrative (story) or are they repetitious? Sometimes less is more!
You Must: Gather your images and select your final selection approx 5-10 images, describe each of the images, artistically and share your thoughts on what why you took and then selected the image.
You should: Show your ability to correct or adjust the images using image manipulation software, such as Photoshop, consider the cropping, adjust levels, contrast, colour correction, B/W and balance of the image.
You could: Use Photoshop to enhance your creativity and expand on the possibilities that photography gives you, include screen grabs to illustrate the techniques you have used.
Presentation: Think about how you present your work in terms of layout, scale, colour and perspective. A Powerpoint presentation is ideal for this and allows you to change and adjust your work easily.
The presentation of your photographs is just as important as your photographic images themselves. Consistency of layout throughout is paramount and try to make your work personal.
You must: Gather all of your work and present it in a logical and aesthetic manner…
A grid format could work well for this exercise
You should: Produce an individual and comprehensive response to both your chosen artist and the inspirations that the artist has given you.
Create DIPTYCHS
Evaluation: Reflect, contrast and compare the images and ideas that you have taken and make an account of how you made the photos, development of idea and what you were trying to achieve and communicate. This can be done throughout your layout as annotation or at the end as part of your final evaluation. Finally, choose your favourite image and present this separately from your series of images. Accompany this with a brief written analysis (250-500 words) explaining in some detail what it is that you think works well about this image.
Make sure you bring with you: all of your work including your best A4 printed image for your first photography lesson in September 2020.
An over-crowded British beach — summer of 2020 — social distancingMartin Parr
COLONIALISM IS THE POLICY OR PRACTICE OF ACQUIRING FULL OR PARTIAL POLITICAL CONTROL OVER ANOTHER COUNTRY, OCCUPYING IT WITH SETTLERS, AND EXPLOITING IT ECONOMICALLY.
IDEAS OF AFRICANS AS INFERIOR CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE SLAVE TRADE IN THE 18TH CENTURY, WHICH INVOLVED COLONIALISM. AFRICA IN FACT HAS A HISTORY AND A LEGACY OF COLONIALISM.
BETWEEN THE 1870’S AND THE 1900’S, AFRICA FACES EUROPEAN AND IMPEPRIALIST AGGRESSION, DIPLOMATIC PRESSURES, MILITARY INVASIONS AND EVENTUAL CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION. YET, AT THE SAME TIME THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA TRIED THEIR ABSOLUTE HARDEST AND TRIED TO RESIST AGAINST THE ATTEMPT TO COLONIZE THEIR COUNTRIES AND IMPOSE FOREIGN DOMINATION. BY THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY HOWEVER, MUCH OF AFRICA HAD BEEN COLONIZED BY EUROPEAN POWERS.
THIS CONOLIZATION WAS MOTIVATED BY THREE MAIN FACTORS: ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL. IT DEVELOPED IN THE 19TH CENTURY DUE TO THE COLLAPSE OF THE PROFABILITY OF THE SLAVE TRADE, ITS ABOLITION AND SUPPRESSION, AS WELL AS THE EXPANSION OF THE ERUOPEAN AND CAPALST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. THE DEMAND FOR ASSURED SOURCES OF RAW MATERIALS, THE SEARCH FOR GUARANTEED MARKETS AND PROFITABLE INVESTMENT OUTLETS SPURRED THE EUROPEAN SCRAMBLE AND THE EVENTUAL CONQUEST OF AFRICA. THEREFORE, THE PRIMARY MOTIVATION FOR THE COLONIZATION OF AFRICA WAS ECONOMIC.
HOWEVER, AT THE TIME, OTHER REASONS PLAYED A ROLE IN THE COLONIZATION OF AFRICA. BRITAIN, FRANCE, ITALY, SPAIN, GERMANY, PORTUGAL ETC WERE ALL COMPETING FOR POWER WITHIN EUROPEAN POLITICS. ONE WAY TO DEMONSTRATE NATIONAL POWER WAS THROUGH THE ACQUISITION OF TERRETORIES AROUND THE WORLD, INCLUDING AFRICA.
THE SOCIAL FACTOR WAS THE THIRD MAJOR ELEMENT THAT HAD A PART TO PLAY IN THE COLONIZATION OF AFRICA. AS A RESULT OF INDUSTIRALIZATION, MAJOT SOCIAL PROBLEMS GREW WITHIN EUROPE SUCH AS UNEMPLOYMENT, POVERTY, HOMELESSNESS ETC. ONE WAY TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE WITHIN EUROPE WAS TO ACQUIRE COLONIES AND EXPLORE THIS “SURPLUS POPULATION”. THIS LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SETTLER COLONIES IN ALGERIA, TUNISIA, SOUTH AFRICA, NAMIBIA, ANGOLA, MOZAMBIQUE ETC.
![Members of far-right Football Lads Alliance hold a British flag in front of the covered statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London, June 13, 2020 [AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2020/6/23/a874af87b9614c0788f87dfc13648164_18.jpg)
