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.