Week 1 Assignment

"Bar seat series" by Djennifer Georges, inspired by Carrie Mae Weems  

Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems’s Landmark “Kitchen Table Series

“How do we begin to alter the domestic space?”

From this question I surmised that she was looking to open up a conversation that encouraged a new train of thought.  How might one reframe the inner workings and roles created in domestic spaces and do they have to be the way they are? This question is one that suggests that maybe the kitchen is not just a  womens’ place and maybe it doesn’t have to be. What if it became place for the family to share the space without assigned gender roles? 

“ these sight of the battle around monogamy, the battle around polygamy, the battle between the sexes”

As a reader I found it unique and insightful that she considered there to be a battle around monogamy and polyamory because polyamory is not a usual dynamic for households but it’s become more modern in todays living. So it makes you think of how different the structure of family household will be. Will men and women continue to take on the same role and should these roles even exist.

Susan Songtag Response 

"Photographs really are experience captured, and the camera is the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood."

In present day anyone would agree that we live in a time period where the lens of cameras have become a beacon of hope for the disadvantaged, the marginalized and the disbelieved, photographs truly can be considered an arm of consciousness. When purposed correctly and honestly, photographs capture moments and provide tangible proof of some THING to those who view them. Yet and still, photographs, camera lens’ and the media have been used with the intent to provide a glance often times into the imagination of those who produce mainstream media content. These producers although imaginative, aren’t always truthful. So in a time period where we are fed narratives, stereotypes, principalities and belief sets about people, things, beings—- photography, and it’s beautiful ability to capture reality seems to often times be at war with itself.

"Photographs furnish evidence."

As a reader I found this quote to be a gem. This was interesting because many time people look to others for opinions, think pieces and statements but often times the only true evidence is physical and visible. For humans the best evidence life’s in photographs. we believe with our eyes, when we see something we are more likely to take it as fact which is reasonable, but it brings to question what facts are actually facts when we are fed through the media ideas about what is and what should be. The media is full of celebrity gossip and under the tag line is a photo to prove it. We are swayed by what we see. There are more responses to news when we see pictures of what’s going on in the world rather than responses from us just hearing it.