Week 13- Race

 This week we read an Introduction: How to See a Work of Art in Total Darkness by Darby English. I found this week’s reading to be both interesting and difficult. How does one see art in darkness? What does darkness mean and how does its meaning vary? These questions at the core of my analysis helped me understand what Darby English was writing about. The critics' internal biases, black art, and black representational space were all discussed throughout this reading and I hope to break them down into digestible information. 

Concerto in Black and Blue by David Hammons

The artwork that Darby English was analyzing in his writing was Concerto in Black and Blue by David Hammons. Hammons is an American artist that works in a variety of media. His artwork, Concerto in Black and Blue, was a performance type piece where the viewers became a part of the artwork. The viewers were given blue pen lights and released into a series of dark rooms. Their interactions with the environment and with other guests shaped their experience with the artwork. Personally, when I learned about Concerto in Black and Blue, I was very intrigued about how ingenious this method is of incorporating the viewer. 

However, many critics interpreted this work in a biased fashion. Since the artist Hammons is African American, many critics started relating the Concerto in Black and Blue to a societal message about inequalities in the U.S. However, Hammons never specified this message for this artwork which offers the question, “How does a dark room with blue lights relate to racial injustice? The author of this week's reading stated, “How to See a Work of Art  in  Total Darkness aims  to  diminish somewhat  an  encumbrance that  dominates too  many  of our  ideas about  the  kinds  of knowledge  black artists'  work is permitted to  reflect and  generate.” This resonated with me because it calls out the internal biases of those critics. Many people in the art world seem to have this opinion that all black artists must create work within the consideration of their skin color, that every work of a black person is somehow connected within an encompassing veil of purpose within their art. However, every artist is an individual and expresses their creativity in a variety of ways that can never be related to other artist simply because of skin color. 

Black art has somehow become its own genre of art. Internal biases of the art world have grouped artists together based solely on skin color. Rather than incorporating black artists into galleries relating to their art style, they are grouped into token-type black artist gallery shows every so often. However, black artists do not operate or create under one style, black art is diverse and begs to be showcased alongside art of its own stylistic category. This leads me into my next discussion of English's term black representational space.

This term refers to how black art is treated with more tokenism than integration. As we spoke about in class, artist Henry Ossawa Tanner, made a comment that relates to the tokenism present in the art world. O tanner was an American artist who created many images of religious art. However, during his span of his art career, the two most famous paintings of his are his two only paintings that relate to black culture. Were his religious paintings not considered black art because it didn't fit the narrative? O Tanner also speaks about the differences between the U.S and France, where he studied. In the U.S, O Tanner was considered a black artist, whereas in France, he was known as an American artist. Microaggressions like these lend to the issues within the art world. Overall, this week's reading was eye opening and influential.

Sources:

Darby English, “Introduction,” in How to See a Work of Art in Total Darkness (2007)

https://www.moma.org/artists/2486

https://contemporaryand.com/exhibition/raw-academie-session-9-infrastructure-directed-by-linda-goode-bryant/

Week 12- Positive Images

 This week we read, “Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs,” by Jan Zita Grover. This writing outlined the importance of accurate representation for subcultures and how influential photographs are in art and society. The author wrote on the artwork “Drawing the Line” created in 1990. I wanted to analyze this art piece further since it is influential and important to queer culture. The artwork “Drawing the Line” is a large show created by three lesbian artists. The two women photographed are Persimmon Blackbridge and Lizard Jones. The photographer is Susan Stewart. Finding more information on this piece is difficult. Many of the photographs are not online and the only picture of the exhibition I found was the women kneeling and writing on this one section. 

This artwork encompasses many intimate acts between lesbians. It was the women viewer’s job to draw the line physically between what they personally consider as art, or what is pornography. Upon further reading, There was also a category of what is considered pornography and was is considered violence against women, since many images consisted of sadomasochism. One thing that especially resonated with me in this artwork is how it displayed viewers' feedback in real-time. Not only is this a display of images, but it is also a social experiment of public perception. This topic of a viewer-led interpretation reminded me of our previous discussion about the death of the author. Is there a right answer to where the line should be drawn? Did the original three artists have a line drawn in their own minds of how far is too far? I feel as though there are no answers to these questions.

Another part of the writing “Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs” that resonated with me was the importance of accurate representation for subcultures. What this means is that once a minority group is represented in the public eye, their representation should be intentional since it carries with it major influence. Since sub-cultures have little representation, what is shown of them has a major impact. This reminded me of our previous discussion about black women when they were first represented in film. Since their characters were so limited, and only given the role of a nagging wife, that created more of a stereotype that affected them immensely. The writer  Jan Zita Grover discussed this representation concept and how it affected lesbian women, “Subcultures that are  consistently un-represented, under-represented  or  misrepresented deal  out  of  a  scarcity  of  images  that  does  not  accurately reflect  either  their  sense  of  current realities  or  their  aspirations  for  future  ones.”

This quote leads me to my next topic, the influence that photographs carry. As this writing describes, photographs are not accurate representations of life. They are only a snippet in time and therefore lack the many points of view that makeup one idea or perspective. This is especially evident with social media and the internet. Many influencers post about beautiful successful lives, whereas that is not the case. Both the importance of accurate representation for subcultures and how influential photographs are in society are two huge topics that the author Jan Zita Grover explained well in their relationship to lesbian culture and the meanings in art.

Sources:

Jan Zita Grover, “Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs,” 1991



"Performing Lesbian Care and Enthusiastic Consent: An Interview with Lisa Sloan." Walker Art Center. Accessed November 11, 2021. https://walkerart.org/magazine/performing-queer-care-and-enthusiastic-consent-an-interview-with-lisa-sloan.

Week 11- Indigenous Epistemologies

         The physical v.s the metaphysical in science, what is acceptable and what is not? Indigenous people of North America have been immersing themselves in the world to understand it and gain knowledge from it. Yet, standard European science discounts and ignores indigenous research. In the chapter, we read from "Epistemology and Research: Centring Tribal Knowledge," Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts.” we as readers were exposed to insights and  Indigenous epistemologies that complement our already accepted form of research. However, due to the spiritual and metaphysical nature of these indigenous research methods, standard western science rejects the information gathered by these scientists. 

Since this reading was so packed with ideas and new perspectives, I'll limit my analysis of the reading to only three subjects. The three subjects that stood out to me most are epistemological frameworks, language, and differing perspectives due to religion. Epistemology is the study of what defines an opinion from a fact. When it comes to cultures, many different cultures have varying definitions of fact. These type of differences were discussed in the essay this week and how it relates to western science and its biases. Since I was raised in the U.S and went to public school, I was taught that science was quantifiable and measurable. I also learned that all sources of information had to come from published and accredited sources. However, the Cree culture, one of the many native cultures in the U.S, conducts research differently. Since they use their dreams as a viable resource, they are able to use them as sources in their research. I find this evidence completely valid since much underlying information is revealed in a spiritual way. However, much Christian-based science refuses this evidence due to their own biases they refuse to acknowledge. 

Another aspect of how our beliefs differ is based upon our language and slight nuances that affect our outlook on life. As the suther describes in the essay, the Cree language is mostly comprised of words that are current action words. I am not familiar with the Cree language but the author related it to “ing” words in English. This to me spoke volumes about how Cree culture focuses on present actions and how it impacts all around them. I think this also relates to how the Cree considers all aspects of an action and how it affects others around them, including the earth. Another thing that stuck with me is the several words in Cree that mean many types of spiritual places. In the final part of the essay, the email she received from Michael Hart, he describes a place he cannot translate to English. As someone who was raised non-Christian in the U.S, I've always found it hard to describe my unnamed beliefs. I think it's beautiful that other cultures embrace more places beyond just heaven and hell. 

Lastly, I wanted to discuss the impact on Christianity and how it affects the opinions of many. Something I've noticed about traditional Christians is that they seem very uncomfortable at any sign of a varying belief. This topic in the essay was brought to me when the author described how Cree research coincidences with Euro-western research yet they still don't accept it. This reminded me of the story of Nikola Tesla, an amazing scientist, and inventor. Towards the end of his life, he credited many of his accomplishments to a spiritual and otherworldly being. As soon as Tesla revealed his science was aided in research provided from the metaphysical, support for him declined immensely and he lived the rest of his life as a hermit. Cree cultures, however, embrace this unique resource and how it aids in new discoveries.

One artwork that embodies many of the topics we discussed is “State Names” by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. This artwork shows how the state borders seem to melt together into one unified place. Also, all the names shown are originally native American words that were used as state names. For a country built upon native people, the masses seem to want to forget and discount their beliefs and especially their research in science.

“State Names” by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

Sources:

 

Margaret Kovach, "Epistemology and Research: Centring Tribal Knowledge," Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009).

Smith, Jaune Quick-To-See. "State Names." Smithsonian American Art Museum. Accessed November 05, 2021. https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/state-names-73858.

Week 10- Phenomenology

 This week's reading was “Meaning, Identity, Embodiment: The Uses of Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology in Art History” by  Amelia Jones. This essay describes how the critique and analyzing processes of art are intertwined with psychology. Phenomenology is the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness. This study when related to art can be used in many critique methods. What we say about art, reveals to the viewer what we think of ourselves. 

In the essay, “Meaning, Identity, Embodiment: The Uses of Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology in Art History” there are several key ideas that stood out to me. These key points were the interrelation between subject and object, physical reactions to art, and phenomenology in art. This essay described how subjects and objects work interchangeably, especially with artwork. One line that stood out to me was, “Merleau-Ponty’s theory of the chiasmus, in particular, can be viewed as at least a partial solution in that it argues for a reciprocal interrelation between the viewing subject and the object she views, and between the viewer and the subject who is identified with the object as its maker.” The essay goes on to explain that we as people view subjects yet create our meaning from them. This means that as we view emotions presented to us, we create emotions in response. This exchange in feelings creates a relationship between subject and viewer where neither is more influential than the other. 

I also really enjoyed how this essay describes physical reactions to emotions in art. I am a very empathetic person and I feel things deeply. However, reading this essay made me realize how normal it is to feel physically impacted by art. When we see an unfamiliar image, our bodies use our senses to send signals to our brain and we thus create a physical reaction. This initial reaction could be disgust, fear, calm, and so on. This concept reminds me of the first time I saw “Dead Fox Lying in the Undergrowth” by Edgar Degas. I remember feeling physically sad when I walked closer to the painting only to realize the fox was dead. Other instances in my life, similar to this one, have proved to me that we as physical bodies are still emotional beings.

Dead fox lying in the Undergrowth, 1865, Edgar Degas

            In my opinion, the most abstract concept we discussed in this essay was phenomenology. This concept is something I had never been exposed to before. From what I gathered from the reading, this concept applies to art and life every day of every hour. What I liked about Jones and how she juxtaposed Courbet and his analysis of Origin and how that showed his life experiences and inner thoughts. I believe Courbet showed his desire when he described the Origin as in a state of orgasm, despite the lack of movement. The author Jones points out beautifully how his life and inner thoughts have created this critique based on the visual of the Origin. Courbet in my eyes became the subject rather than the viewer when he described the artwork in that way.

Overall, this week’s reading was interesting. I am still thinking about the concept of phenomenology and how it applies to art as I go throughout my day. My favorite thing about this class is its ability to apply concepts to a multitude of things. As a future art teacher, I hope to leave my students with ideas that travel with them outside of the classroom.

Sources:

Amelia Jones, "Meaning, Identity, Embodiment: The Uses of Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology in Art History," in Art and Thought, 2003

"Dead Fox Lying in the Undergrowth, 1865 by Edgar Degas: Oil Painting." By Edgar Degas | Oil Painting. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://www.edgar-degas.org/Dead-Fox-Lying-In-The-Undergrowth-1865.html.

Week 9- Difference

     This week in class, we read the lofty essay "Difference: A Special Third World Women Issue," by Trinh T. Minh-ha. My experience reading this essay was that it is difficult to read and requires a lot of background knowledge to understand its content. The main points of discussion from this reading are tokenism, authenticity, and the idea of the model minority. 

        Tokenism is a recurring problem as more and more programs are touting how they are inclusive and diverse. Sadly, promoting inclusivity has become trendy in some instances where minorities are used simply for their label. Tokenism is when a small number of people from underrepresented groups are shown within an organization in order to give the appearance of equality within said organization. These are some of the main problems with Diversity & Inclusion committees.

        Authenticity was a difficult concept for me to grasp. This is not related to authentic vintage coins or antiques. The term authenticity in this text referred to how many minority cultures are pressured to retain their authentic traditions. This causes problems to arise. One of the biggest issues with this is that it seems to keep minority cultures staged in the past. If people of color are only showing their history, then that means they are not building a representation of their present and future. I feel as though people who only want minorities to act within their authentic cultures, are trying to repress that culture from growing and evolving as all cultures do.

        Lastly, the idea of a model minority is so damaging to our current society. The idea of a model minority refers to how minorities who act in ways traditionally acceptable and praised by the majority, are put onto a pedestal for all to emulate. This means that minorities are only being praised for acting like society dictates. Most of the time, this model minority will be vastly difficult to achieve and it undermines the discriminations that people of color face while working up towards a career path or anything of that sort. This idea of a model minority only promotes those who are almost impossible to live up to while ignoring the hardships of minorities to make it seem like great feats are a bare minimum requirement for minorities to prove themselves.

        An artwork that both addresses and aims to dismantle these societal structures is Shibboleth I by Doris Salcedo. This is a series of artworks of the installation art shown in Turbine Hall of Tate Modern, London. The title of this piece Shibboleth was a word used to determine whether or not a person was part of the Gileadites. The Ephraimites, the Gileadites enemies, were unable to pronounce this word correctly which led to their slaughter in battle. This title of the artwork has major symbolism relating to how damaging cultural segregation is. 

Shibboleth I by Doris Salcedo, 2007

        When asked about this artwork, artist Salcedo explained its relationship to addressing cultural issues present in today's society. “The artist stated in 2007 that the crack in Tate Modern’s iconic space reveals a ‘colonial and imperial history [that] has been disregarded, marginalized or simply obliterated ... the history of racism, running parallel to the history of modernity (quoted in Martin Herbert, The Unilever Series: Doris Salcedo: Shibboleth, exhibition brochure, p.2).”

        Overall, this week’s reading was very interesting and enlightening to my understanding of the world and its diverse cultures.

Sources:

Trinh T. Minh-ha, "Difference: "A Special Third World Women Issue," 1986-7 

Tate. "'Shibboleth I', Doris Salcedo, 2007." Tate. January 01, 1970. Accessed October 22, 2021. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/salcedo-shibboleth-i-p20334

 

Week 8- Authorship

 This week’s readings were Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author, and Sherrie Levine, Statement. I had a hard time this week understanding the meaning behind these two readings. My initial thoughts were about the meaning of originality and truly unique creations. I thought the writers were speaking on how there are no original writings because all writings were first thoughts or verbal stories. However, after discussion in class, I was enlightened on more interpretations of authorship in these writings. 

The first writing, The Death of the Author, describes how texts are not merely a single thought constructed by the author. Writings are described as a collective of an author's lives and cultural influences. A quote from the text that describes this perfectly is, “A text is made of multiple writings, drawn from many cultures and entering into mutual relations of dialogue, parody, contestation.” For me, this is a great explanation as to how every person’s art and creations are influenced by their personal lives. This idea carries throughout each writing we evaluated. The second writing seems to embody this theory on authorship. The artist, Sherrie Levine, Statement, basically copies the first text in both sentence structure and meaning. She only changes a few words. Yet, she is allowed to plagiarize this text. She explains how since she is a woman and her life has differed from the original author, her experiences have changed the context of the original enough to become her own. This artist has done this with visual art as well such as, After Walker Evans: 4 where she simply took pictures of another artist’s pictures and displayed them as her own. Now whether or not you believe this representation to be valid, it has been identified as a factor that influences writing. This was one of the main concepts that I was able to think about and try to construct meaning from. 

After Walker Evans: 4, Sherrie Levine, 1981

Another concept from these readings that resonated with me was the role of the author. The book describes the author’s influence in several ways, which confused me when I first read it. The book states, “The explanation of a work is always sought in the man or woman who produced it, as if it were always in the end, through the more or less transparent allegory of the fiction, the voice of a single person, the author 'confiding' in us.” This part of the text alludes to the importance of the author’s experience and life while creating their work. However, later in the text it describes the author as, “the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author.” To me, this means that the author had a role in creating the artwork or writing, yet meaning can only be created by those who view or read the piece that was created. At the end of the day, the work that was made is now separate from its author or creator, and the author cannot always be beside the work to explain its context. It is only when the author gives up their work to the public that the public can make meaning from it. The meaning can also differ from the author’s original thoughts. So, even though an author is researched and questioned about an artwork, the viewer is the one who makes meaning for themselves. 

    This resonated with me because of my experiences at CSU-Pueblo. Professor Aaron Alexander always stresses the importance of not talking or explaining your artwork as other’s art critiquing it. He says that whatever your intent was doesn't matter, it's only what people have perceived from it. Which to me is such a brilliant concept. I feel like since meaning can be interpreted so many ways, that not every artist will feel understood through their works. This will encourage the artist to make more to try and express themselves clearer, yet this just begins the cycle again. Overall, these writings were difficult at first, but the underlying messages were important to understanding art and creation.

Sources:

"After Walker Evans: 4." Metmuseum.org. Accessed October 14, 2021. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/267214.

Week 7- The Oppositional Gaze

 This week’s reading was The Oppositional Gaze Black Female Spectators by bell hooks. This reading coincided with last week’s reading about scopophilia and the male gaze. The biggest takeaways from bell hooks’ writing, for me personally, was the domination strategies associated with the gaze, how black women viewed the male dominated Hollywood films, and how black women's self and art has been viewed over time. 

When people view another person or an object they are using their personal gaze. Throughout history for blacks in the U.S, the gaze was a power struggle between two people. Enslaved black people were threatened to not look their owners in the eye. This refusal of gaze took away even more intrinsic rights as a human and dominated them even further. As time passed, hooks described how she was taught to always look others in the eyes and how to set their gaze driven boundaries. As a white person, I had never thought about this power struggle. Reading this paper has taught me how small actions that affect a person’s gaze can have a huge impact.

As bell hooks' writing continues, she described the way black women viewed the male dominated Hollywood films. These are films that are written and produced by white men. In last week's reading, we learned how white women were treated on screen. However, this week's writing delved into the differences in how black women perceived these films. As it is well known, representation of blacks in movies was pathetic and not present in traditional cinema. In the writing, hooks described instances where she interviewed black women and their experience with movies. Many black women described that when they watched a film they felt the need to leave their identities behind just to somewhat enjoy what they were watching. Black women were forced to pretend to be a white person just to feel connected to a film. However as time passed and black women were shown more prevalent in films, white males seemed to be unable to empathize or connect with black characters and felt disinterested. This to me showed how white centered U.S white people have been raised by Hollywood.

Lastly, bell hooks described the misrepresentation that black women had suffered through when they first started appearing on the big screen. Black were were shown as nagging, annoying, loud wives to husbands. Their blatant disrespect for black women was evident in Hollywood’s gross and fictional representation of them. Rightfully so, black women fought against these stereotypes.

When They See Us, Lavett Ballard, 2020

    In the artwork, When They See Us by Lavett Ballard, the viewer experiences direct eye contact with the artwork’s subject, a black woman. Stereotypical and racist representation of black women lead to the development of the oppositional gaze. As bell hooks described it, “an overwhelming longing to  look, a rebellious desire, an oppositional gaze. By  courageously looking, we defiantly declared: ‘Not only will I stare. I want my look to change reality’."

This week's reading was a huge eye opener for me. In the future, I hope to see this country grow in representation.

Sources:

Bell  Hooks,  in Black Looks: Race and Representation <Boston:  south End  Press, 1992>, 115-3

"When They See Us by Lavett Ballard - Long-Sharp Gallery." Long. Accessed October 07, 2021. https://www.longsharpgallery.com/ballard-when-they-see-us-addl-info