I was really taken by Bradley’s final anecdote about learning to take photos in your own backyard, and how humbling that can be. Often our everyday blurs into the mundane. Holding a camera, I think there’s always an initial desire to capture something fresh and new; something you’ve never seen before. But I believe the most empowering kind of photography requires using your lens to kindle the magic of your mundane. Read More
Shange, DeCarava, and the mundane
I was very excited by our class visit to the ICP. I have practically no experience with either the technical or historical practices of photography, and it was incredibly special to be taught by someone who was clearly a passionate expert, and who integrated so much of his personal relationship to the medium into his instruction. I’ve never looked at an image with such love and intensity as I did this past Monday, and I am looking forward to getting to do so more often, and with more developed tools. Read More
The Things An Image Can Say
I was really blown away by Bradly Dever Treadaway’s presentation at the International Center for Photography. Last semester in the Shange course, I learned how text creates images and last Monday I learned images can create text! The images by Robert Frank Bradly showed us was a prime example of this. I found the image of the trolley in New Orleans particularly striking because of the way in which a simple, candid shot was able to say so much about the social hierarchies of the time and the linear space in which people lived.
Robert Frank | Trolley — New Orleans (1955)
Black Presentation and Authenticity through Photography
who’s hair isn’t done / let me get in that head honey / the day is lace and crinolines / curls, satins, and layers of beauty / who’s mama wouldn’t be proud / who’s eye won’t be turned when / i saunter outta this room where / the magic is and become it – The Sweet Breath of Life
And they has a party every Saturday night / usually not no big party / Just neighbors and home folks…But it’s nice to young folks all dressed up going somewhere–maybe to a party. But it’s sad if you ain’t invited.
The Sweet Flypaper of Life
A number of continuities exist between Shange and Kamoinge’s The Sweet Breath of Life and Langston Hughes and Roy DeCarava’s The Sweet Flypaper of Life, including authentic representations of black families and neighborhoods, and the power of pairing image and text.
much ado abt black photography
This week’s introduction to Shange’s work and black photography at the International Center of Photography was exciting and enlightening for so many reasons. As a student of photography and a visual arts major, I have visited the facilities on a number of occasions for classes and shows. It was particularly interesting and relevant to experience the Center in this specific way. My work for my thesis and as a practicing art is so intertwined with my identity and my experiences as a queer person of color from the South in New York at Barnard/Columbia and abroad.