Cross-Cultural Explorations in Photography
DEFINING IDENTITY
One's identity can be defined in relationship to oneself and also in relationship to others.
Identity Mapping Activity:
Use this visual as a guide to display all aspects of your identity starting from the inside and working your way out. For instance,
I am a girl (internal/ personal/primary identity)
I am a daughter (external/social/secondary identity)
I am a fox (organizational/collective identity)
- Your personal identity includes your name, unique characteristics, personality traits, and history. These represent those unique qualities that make you different from everybody else, which can also be described as your internal identity.
- Compare this to your social identity or external identity. These make up those interests, values, and norms that you share with others.
Identity Mapping Activity:
Use this visual as a guide to display all aspects of your identity starting from the inside and working your way out. For instance,
I am a girl (internal/ personal/primary identity)
I am a daughter (external/social/secondary identity)
I am a fox (organizational/collective identity)
Photography Scavenger Hunt:
Explore your surroundings with your camera to find symbols or clues that can help make these invisible aspects of your identity visible to others.
Explore your surroundings with your camera to find symbols or clues that can help make these invisible aspects of your identity visible to others.
- After several photo shoots, try and identify your strongest image connecting to subject matter (WHAT you photographed) along with composition and technique (HOW you photographed it - elements and principles of design + camera settings).
- Then think about your concept (WHY you photographed it). Determine they ways in which this photograph represents an aspect of your identity. Think about what was invisible that you were trying to make visible to others. Determine if there are ways you could push that idea further. Continue your scavenger hunt!
- Your final photograph should be posted on your Foxcroft Digital Portfolio under the appropriate genre page. Include an artist statement that outlines the WHAT, HOW, and WHY surrounding your visual and conceptual approach.
- Be sure to highlight your vocabulary including the elements and principles of design when explaining your composition.
Self Reflection:
- Consider your identity. How does it shape your point-of-view? How is your perspective different from someone with a different cultural background? Family structure? Life experience? Goals or ambitions?
DEFINING DIVERSITY
Harvard Business Review outlines three types of diversity that shape our identities:
Look around you, would you describe the people in your community as diverse? Are your community members the most diverse in relation to demographics, experiences, or cognition? What about the least diverse?
Every person is a unique combination of experiences and identities, most of which are invisible to those around us. We are all diverse in more ways than we will probably ever know. However, we often organize people into certain groups based on what we actually see. It is all too easy to slip into the habit of making assumptions based on outward appearances. We are not at fault though. Humans are engrained with the ability to absorb information quickly and place things into categories to make quick decisions. It goes back to our earliest instincts for survival in rapidly identifying threats or non-threats. Categories give order to life, and we group people based on what we already know. That's why it becomes vital to expand our knowledge of others and learn to recognize the depths of our humanity.
- Demographic Diversity: Examples include gender, race, or sexual orientation.
- Experiential Diversity: Examples include affinities, hobbies, and abilities.
- Cognitive Diversity: Examples include how we approach problems and think about things.
Look around you, would you describe the people in your community as diverse? Are your community members the most diverse in relation to demographics, experiences, or cognition? What about the least diverse?
Every person is a unique combination of experiences and identities, most of which are invisible to those around us. We are all diverse in more ways than we will probably ever know. However, we often organize people into certain groups based on what we actually see. It is all too easy to slip into the habit of making assumptions based on outward appearances. We are not at fault though. Humans are engrained with the ability to absorb information quickly and place things into categories to make quick decisions. It goes back to our earliest instincts for survival in rapidly identifying threats or non-threats. Categories give order to life, and we group people based on what we already know. That's why it becomes vital to expand our knowledge of others and learn to recognize the depths of our humanity.
Self Reflection:
- Realize that we all have biases, both positive and negative. What are yours? What messages will you be more sympathetic or positive towards? What messages might you be more closed-minded or negative towards? How do your biases shape the messages you create and send out into the world? How do your biases shape your reception of other messages? How can you be a more objective audience?
Hidden Bias Activity:
Scientific research has demonstrated that biases thought to be absent or extinguished remain as "mental residue" in most of us. Harvard has developed a "Hidden Bias Test" to measure our unconscious, or automatic, biases. Your willingness to examine your own possible biases is an important step in understanding the roots of stereotypes and prejudice in our society.
Harvard's Project Implicit - Test Your Hidden Bias
Scientific research has demonstrated that biases thought to be absent or extinguished remain as "mental residue" in most of us. Harvard has developed a "Hidden Bias Test" to measure our unconscious, or automatic, biases. Your willingness to examine your own possible biases is an important step in understanding the roots of stereotypes and prejudice in our society.
Harvard's Project Implicit - Test Your Hidden Bias
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Additional Resources:
National Education Association - The Assumptions We Make About Diversity
Teaching Tolerance - Test Yourself for Hidden Bias
MSW@USC Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege
PHOTOGRAPHERS EXPLORING IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY
Photographers, across a range of cultures and historical periods, have used portraiture to affirm or challenge social stereotypes constructed around notions of race, gender, class, and nationality.
Angelica Dass - "Humanae"
Brazil, 1979 -
Brazil, 1979 -
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Humanae intends to deploy a chromatic range of the different human skin colors. There is no classification relating to nationality, gender, age, race, social class or religion. Nor is there an explicit intention to finish it on a specific date. It includes all those who want to be part of this colossal global mosaic. The only limit would be reached by completing all of the world’s population. This taxonomy adopts the format of the PANTONE® Guide. The presentation of the range of color shades induce the viewer to reflect on one of the dual meanings containing the word identity: that associated with equality. Humanae is a color catalog in which the “primary” colors have exactly the same importance as “mixed”.
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Griselda San Martin and Haruka Sakaguchi - "Type Casts"
Spain Japan
Spain Japan
Lack of diversity is one of the most deep-rooted–and oldest–problems in the film industry. While ethnic minorities constitute nearly half of the U.S. population, only 13.9% of leading roles have been played by POC actors.
While the lack of representation has received several nods in recent years through movements like #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite, ethnic minority actors to this day are frequently asked to play stereotypes–from maids and immigrants, to thugs and prostitutes–and struggle to get cast in complex, authentic, and layered roles.
Typecast is a satirical portrait series focused on stereotypical typecasting practices in the entertainment industry. We made one set of portraits of our POC actors embodying roles they are often typecast in, and we made alternative portraits of the actors embodying their ideal roles.
Through this project, we hope to:
1) challenge negative stereotypes of ethnic minorities reinforced by mainstream film and media
2) present an alternative image of POC actors in nuanced protagonist roles
3) advance conversations about how racial stereotypes can shape public opinion and inform policy.
While the lack of representation has received several nods in recent years through movements like #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite, ethnic minority actors to this day are frequently asked to play stereotypes–from maids and immigrants, to thugs and prostitutes–and struggle to get cast in complex, authentic, and layered roles.
Typecast is a satirical portrait series focused on stereotypical typecasting practices in the entertainment industry. We made one set of portraits of our POC actors embodying roles they are often typecast in, and we made alternative portraits of the actors embodying their ideal roles.
Through this project, we hope to:
1) challenge negative stereotypes of ethnic minorities reinforced by mainstream film and media
2) present an alternative image of POC actors in nuanced protagonist roles
3) advance conversations about how racial stereotypes can shape public opinion and inform policy.
Griselda San Martin - "The Wall"
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Throughout the past six years, San Martin has documented the U.S.-Mexico border, focusing on the issues of immigration, deportation, inequality and human rights abuses through an optic of identity and belonging.
Her current focus is on the growing Hispanic community in the United States and the sociopolitical implications of reactionary narratives depicting immigrants and ethnic minorities. Her work explores the transnational life and practices that link individuals, families and social networks across political boundaries.
San Martin’s work challenges popular assumptions about immigrants and offers an alternative perspective―a marginalized community demonstrating resilience and resourcefulness amidst trying situations.
Her current focus is on the growing Hispanic community in the United States and the sociopolitical implications of reactionary narratives depicting immigrants and ethnic minorities. Her work explores the transnational life and practices that link individuals, families and social networks across political boundaries.
San Martin’s work challenges popular assumptions about immigrants and offers an alternative perspective―a marginalized community demonstrating resilience and resourcefulness amidst trying situations.
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Time, reality, existence, identity and empathy are very interesting subjects, but the most fascinating thing is the relation between them. These relations are difficult to explain by means of words and that‘s why we rely on images. We are particularly interested in memories. We want to play with the memories of the viewer to construct a representation inside their minds. Of course we will never know what the final result will be, because any person has different memories and has grown up in different cultures and environments. Our images will only be the bare bones of this mental construction.
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The way a photograph is interpreted is subjective and it is related to the culture, experiences and memories of the viewer. That means that we, photographers, can explain very complex subjects or the relations between them without using a specific verbal language that follows a linguistic code made of symbols and meanings. But in turn, we use images and prints. We feel that photography can help the viewers to understand concepts difficult to understand in other way. A set of images makes the viewer to be in the same wavelength as we are.
The other reason is not a new one. Whenever we think of a photograph we think of a real event, we think we are looking at something that really took place, although we also know the images are constantly manipulated. “If it is in a photograph, it is real”. This fact gives you a lot of power to explain concepts that are difficult to explain using a different language.
There is a gap between reality and what we understand as real. And photography (as Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu once said about art ) lies in the frontier between the real and unreal, the true and the false. So it helps us to “see” what is hidden from us.
The other reason is not a new one. Whenever we think of a photograph we think of a real event, we think we are looking at something that really took place, although we also know the images are constantly manipulated. “If it is in a photograph, it is real”. This fact gives you a lot of power to explain concepts that are difficult to explain using a different language.
There is a gap between reality and what we understand as real. And photography (as Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu once said about art ) lies in the frontier between the real and unreal, the true and the false. So it helps us to “see” what is hidden from us.
J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere - "Hairstyles"
Nigeria, 1930-2014
Nigeria, 1930-2014
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Shortly after Nigeria gained its independence from Britain in 1960, J. D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere embarked on a remarkable self-assigned project: to systematically record key elements of Nigerian culture during the country’s postcolonial cultural transition. In 1968, without any specific anthropological or scholarly agenda, he began documenting a wide variety of Nigerian women’s hairstyles. Throughout the following forty years, Ojeikere compiled over 1,000 photographs of braided, twisted, and wrapped hair, recalling delicate sculptures while referencing components of Nigerian life—from its various ethnic groups to the expanding shapes of the country’s urban spaces.
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Hannah Reyes Morales
Philippines
Philippines
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Hannah Reyes Morales is a Filipina photographer and National Geographic Explorer whose work documents tenderness amidst adversity. Her photography, both visceral and intimate, takes a look at how resilience is embodied in daily life. Based in Manila, Reyes Morales’ work explores the universal themes of diaspora, survival, and the bonds that tie us together.
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Chris Buck - "Let's Talk About Race"
United States, 1964 -
United States, 1964 -
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"We wanted to do deal with the elephant in the room — that race is a thorny issue in our culture, and tensions are on the rise. So let’s do our part to get an honest, compassionate conversation going, in which people feel heard and we all learn something — especially how we can all do better and move forward. Boldly, with open hearts and minds.”
- Kailyn, Editor in Chief of "O" Oprah's magazine The pictures are indeed eye-opening, and force us to reexamine damaging stereotypes and explore how race, class and power can intersect. (The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” refer to ethnicity, and those of Latin American heritage can belong to any race.) The opposing realities captured in the images also call into question the ways in which women of color are often portrayed. |
Kate Parker - "Strong is the New Pretty"
United States, 1989 -
United States, 1989 -
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"Strong, to me, is facing something that scares you and doing it anyway. Courage isn't the absence of fear. It is being afraid and doing it anyway" - Kate Parker
STRONG IS THE NEW PRETTY photo series led to collaborations with brands such as Disney, Athleta, Kellogg’s, and NBC. It has also inspired Kate to launch a philanthropic arm of SITNP, partnering with organizations such as Girls on the Run, Girl Up, The Arthur Blank Family Foundation, Disney, Glam4Good, and The Bully Project by investing in childrens’ health and education. Kate Parker will be visiting Foxcroft School on Monday, February 24th 2020 as our Helen Cudahy Niblack '42 Arts Lecture. |
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Research Assignment:
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Portrait Planning:
Self Portraits
Studio and Environmental Portraits
Resources for Collaborators:
Creative Commons Licensing
Self Portraits
- What kind of photograph would you take to reveal a specific aspect of your own identity?
- How could you make those internal or invisible aspects of your identity visible through your photography?
- What ways could you approach a self-portrait with you inside or outside of the frame?
Studio and Environmental Portraits
- What will you do to understand the different aspects of your portrait subject’s identity?
- How could you make those internal or invisible aspects of their identity visible in a photograph?
Resources for Collaborators:
Creative Commons Licensing
