Marvin Joseph set himself the task of visualizing racism through a lens and chose one of his photo shoots to surround itself with the topic of law enforcement and police brutality, which currently a very big topic. He picks upon how black people are treated differently by the police although the police and law enforcement is meant to be what protects society and is meant to make everyone feel safe. Especially at the moment, black people, particularly in America, do not feel safe; outside or in their own homes. For instance, last year a woman by the name of Atatiana K. Jefferson, was shot through her own home through her bedroom window, whilst playing a game with her nephew in Texas by a police officicer.
“For inspiration, Malon Ali and I visited the Spirit Halloween store. While we were looking for the ugliest masks we could find, we spotted the faux crime-scene tape. The epiphany took hold instantly for both of us. The tape would illustrate the message: that being black in America can be a crime. Malon’s dark-skinned body would be wrapped mummy-like and consumed by this tape — which is proving impossible to shake off. His attempts as he leaps, poses, runs or even dances are in vain. He cannot escape the ever-looming presence of racism.”
Relation to Modern Racism
In today’s society, many crimes have occurred on the polices enforcement’s part. Although many black people get blamed for crimes they haven’t committed and police officers get away with; racism, abuse and sometimes even murder, just because they’re white/have government power backing them up.
“Loud in our laughter, silent in our suffering”
The Black Lives Matter movement has protested against black people being silent in their suffering and making sure that black people are heard in want they want and need. This photo shoot in particular illustrates how black people are not free; they are controlled by white people still, more importantly they are controlled by the government. They are unable to speak their truth and unable to say what needs to be said. There is still subtle racism everywhere. In America it is the least subtle but just because place’s like the UK are said to be the “least racist” doesn’t mean they’re not still racist and it doesn’t make it acceptable.
George Carteret Statue – Sir George was a prominent investor in the Company of Royal Adventurers in Africa, which dealt in slaves as well as gold and ivory; owning over 12,000 slaves.
The former Constable of St Peter, John Refault, stated that ‘protesters were wrongly trying to impose today’s values on historical events.’ However, the links that George Carteret had with slavery and racism, although they may have been ‘the norm’ for that time period, only serves as a reminder for the terrible history, actions and consequences that racism still creates today. As a form of protest against this statue, and the many others like it, many have ‘vandalised’ them due to what they stand for or represent.
A Russian artist who primarily focused in photography, topography, design and architecture.
He helped develop suprematism, an art movement focused on basic geometric forms painted in a limited range of colours, for the soviet union.
He greatly influenced the constructivist movement which was abstract and austere art, aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space.
El Lissitzky began his career illustrating Yiddish children’s books in an attempt to promote Jewish culture in Russia
In 1921 when he took up a job as the Russian cultural ambassador to Weimar Germany.
On his deathbed in 1941 he produced one of his last works – a Soviet Propaganda poster rallying the people to construct more tanks for the fight against Nazi Germany.
“Black women’s heads of hair are galaxies unto themselves, solar systems, moonscapes, volcanic interiors.”- Elizabeth Alexander.
Using advertising photographs of black women (and men) drawn from vintage issues of Ebony and Jet magazines, the exquisite and thought-provoking collages of world-renowned artist Lorna Simpson explore the richly nuanced language of hair. Surreal coiffures made from colorful ink washes, striking geological formations from old textbooks, and other unexpected forms and objects adorn the models to mesmerizingly beautiful effect.
born August 13, 1960, is an African-American photographer and multimedia artist. She made her name in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as Guarded Conditions and Square Deal.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Simpson was showing work through solo exhibitions all over the country, and her name was synonymous with photo-text artworks. In her early work around the 80s and 90s, she tries to portray African American women in a way that is not derogatory or actual representations of the women portrayed.
Her works have been included in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally. She is best known for her photo-text installations, photo collages, and films.
Prior to receiving her BFA, Simpson traveled to Europe, Africa, and the United States where she further developed her skills through documentary photography.
Simpson sets two women side-by-side; a household servant from 1860 and a wealthy homeowner from 1960. allowing parallel and haunting relationships to be drawn.
She commented, “I do not appear in any of my work. I think maybe there are elements to it and moments to it that I use from my own personal experience, but that, in and of itself, is not so important as what the work is trying to say about either the way we interpret experience or the way we interpret things about identity.”
Khadija Mohammad Saye (30 July 1992 – 14 June 2017), also known as Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, was a Gambian–British photographer. Her photography explored her Gambian–British identity and was exhibited in the Diaspora Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2017. Saye died in the Grenfell Tower fire.
An iconic image can be defined as a photo that represents a specific event or location, that has a strong emotional impact for people in a certain era, place or within a particular culture. The features that make an image iconic are widely debated, from ‘right place, right time’ to colour, context or props involved when taking the photo. I plan to explore the two key iconic images: ‘Guerrillero Heroico‘ by Alberto Korda and ‘The Falling Man’ taken by Richard Drew.
Alberto Korda’s image of Che Guevara (titled as ‘Guerrillero Heroico‘) is a prime example of a photo that would be considered ‘iconic’. It’s had an impressive impact across the world, initially representing the Cuban revolution and Marxism but he later became an icon for capitalism. There are many factors that drove Korda’s image to the global impression it had.
The photo was originally taken at the funeral for the victims of the La Coubre explosion in Cuba, where 75-100 individuals died as a result of a freight ship exploding (containing grenades and ammunition), which Fidel Castro charged as an ‘act of sabotage’ by the United States.
Che Guevara is reported to have driven to the scene of the explosion that day to attend to the injured, giving medical attention to crew members, armed forces personnel, and dock workers who had been hurt.
The context of the image itself shows Che’s courage and patriotic nature. However, over time, the photo has become detached from its original context, in turn diluting the photo’s substance and meaning; yet the image still works as a graphic icon. Why? Firstly, Korda’s image is a candid portrait, meaning the image portrays Che Guevara completely naturally, fully capturing the impressive force and anger in his expression. In addition to this, Korda used a low camera angle to make his subject look like a great and powerful leader.
He then cropped the image, so his subject was the only focus in the frame. It is argued that the strength of Korda’s image would have been radically reduced if he used the full-frame, as the presence of Jorge Masetti (pictured on the left) and a palm tree on the right diverts the eye away from his subject.
Had Korda kept Masetti in the frame, Guevara may not have become the global icon he is today. Besides shifting the focus of the image, the presence of Masetti holds political meaning. His code name was “Segundo Sombra“, in reference to the Argentine Gauchos (solitary, hard-riding, hard-living, freedom-loving men) who were reputed to be brave and unruly. Members of the guerrilla army stated that:
“Masetti was known simply as Segundo, or #2, though for us he was really our first and only commander.”
Federico Méndez, survivor of the Guerilla army
Therefore, if Masetti was present in the image, he may have held more political power than Guevara, in turn abolishing the intensity and force held by him in the cropped photo.
The process as to how Korda’s image become a timeless image of hope began after the murder of Che Guevara himself. After he died in Bolivia, the irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick created a stylished poster of Korda’s image (‘Viva Che’), with strong red tones that helped to seal Guevara’s iconic status as a powerful anti-establishment symbol.
Richard Drew’s photograph of ‘The falling man’ from the September 11th attacks at the World Trade center is another example of an iconic image.
It depicts a man falling from the world trade center after a terrorist attack left hundreds of civilians trapped in the burning building with two options: to stay in the building and burn to death, or to jump from the building to end their life.
The image shows one of these two decisions, magnifying and amplifying the severity of this decision that many had made that same day.
The image itself encapsulates and represents all the 9/11 jumpers who chose to leap. It has become incentive for introspection for those who had watched the tragedy from afar posing the question: “Given the choice, or perhaps lack thereof, what would you have done that day?”. It had a huge impact on everyone that saw it. Drew’s image had made it to the front pages of newspapers and countless online articles. Although, it received heavy criticism, with many arguing that the image is too gruesome to have been published so publicly and to so great of an extent.
However, seeing as it is almost two decades since the event, Drew hopes that “The Falling Man” can be more widely accepted, as it is no longer a horrifying and distressing images of one man’s decision that day. but rather it has become a quiet reminder of the fate of hundreds.
Describe racism and how racial discrimination over time has led to Black Lives Matter movement.
Racial discrimination has been around since white people came into contact with black or other people of colour. Racial discrimination or racialism is the belief that the human race can be divided into different races based on skin colour, country of origin and other feature that make people different. Racism is the belief that people from different groups are believed to be more important or of higher or lower status than people from other groups. For example: the most common form of racism seen in the world today is the relationship between white and black people. There is still a lot of people that believe and act on the belief that black people are not as important as white people. They believe that whites are smarter, more civilised and superior. Overtime, laws have changed and many people are trying get equality for everyone.
Below is a list of photographers that I am interested in looking into more:
Arlen Parsa
John Baldesseari
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Khadija Saye
Lorna Simpson
Lee Friedlander
Luke Willis Thompson
Arlen Parsa
The reason I have chosen this photographer is because the images they have produced contain deeper meaning and to understand the image the viewer needs to think.
John Baldesseari
I have chosen this photographer because, similar to the photographer above, the images rely on the viewer having understanding and they contain deeper connotations than those on face value.
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
I have chosen this artist because I liked the style of their images, as they are more abstract and can be viewed in many different ways. I am interested in taking some abstract images relating to love and rebellion and protest and activism, which is why I would like to look further into the context, and conceptual ideas behind these images.
Khadija Saye
I have chosen this photographer because I am interested in the ideas behind these images. For this project I would also like to take portrait images and these images would influence my images.
Lorna Simpson
The reason I have chosen this photographer because the conceptual notions behind these photographs I find are interesting and would like to know more and hopefully be influenced by them.
Lee Friedlander
I have chosen to look more into this photographer because I like the look the images and would like to take photographs of related monuments for this project
Luke Willis Thompson
I have also chosen this photographer because of how poignant and emotive the images they take are. For this project I would to take images similar to this and use them for photo montages and experimenting.
