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.