Week 4 - Just An Old Truth Teller

 Essay

When walking into Danielle Scott's Kinfolk Gallery Exhibition, I was immediately taken aback by the various different amounts of works in the gallery; and while all being uniquely different in their own ways, they all tied together so perfectly to tell a culturally enriching story and a remarkable image the viewers can paint in their heads. When I looked deeper into the artwork propped up around me, I noticed a key theme which was Danielle Scott making her own mark on these very old photographs. With that vision in mind, I think she wanted us to look into these images knowing the cruel backstory and hardships the people photographed felt at the time. I believe she wanted to make the images visually more appealing to the viewers' eyes, so she added her touch of bejeweled clothing to almost every display. Because these images all exhibit a variety of different feelings to each and every witness such as race, gender, power, etc., I wanted to break down the ones I found the most intriguing. 

The first image that I was drawn to was MaDear Seamstress. I was immediately drawn to it because my grandma lives with me. I don't know the deeper meaning of the photo, but I'll say what I think it could mean. It looks like it was someone's grandma who wanted to better her life and be free from the shackles of slavery. When my grandma left Puerto Rico in 1958, she wanted to have a better life in America, and she knew there would be more opportunities. She wanted to start her family in a place where they wouldn't have to struggle. "After spending 20 years of my career as an oil painter, my career shifted unexpectedly in 2018 as I walked the streets of one of my ancestral homelands, Cuba.  It was my first time in the country, yet as I slept and woke, and walked, and worked, I felt a tug at my core that was both foreign and familiar. The rich art that lined the streets and walls powerfully depicted the story of Cuba’s culture and history, reflected the times and the people, in a way tugged at my soul.  The art and I were in communion, my ancestors’ powerful voices whispering to my soul, their stories written into the walls.  I was home." 

It's amazing that I'm learning about such cultural works from all over, but especially Cuba now with Mendieta and Scott. I feel that  I am somehow more drawn to the works of these Cuban artists since I am also part Cuban and can relate to the cultural influences in their work. Having visited both Cuba and Puerto Rico, I understand what Scott means in her quote about walking through the streets. I don't think this one is a self-portrait, but Scott might have had a similar situation with her grandma as I did. I also do believe that all of her artwork in this specific gallery are activist works, not just this one. It once again, shows how a hard-working mother and grandmother are making their way through life and always have a story to tell of the resilience in their struggles. These stories have their own uniqueness for each individual, but they really are not much different from each other.  

MaDear Seamstress, 2022
Mixed medium assemblage and resin

For my next image, I also found Celia and Bazile Churchill an inspiring piece of work. Like the first image, I don't know much about the origins; but from my point of view, it seems like a happy mother and daughter on the day of a photoshoot so they could cherish the memory together for as long as they live. Both the silhouette of a crown slowly forming on the daughter's head to me symbolizes that once her mother dies, the daughter will take over the throne of that family line. It's a beautiful piece of artwork, and it makes me think that as bad as things were back then, especially in a world that was filled with nothing but brutal hate and segregation, there was still beauty to be found. "Some are my own photography, depicting things that resonated deeply with me as I planted my feet on plantation soil." It makes me wonder if Scott was the one who took this picture, and if so that adds a whole deeper meaning to this line of work. 

Celia and Bazile Churchill. 2022
Mixed medium assemblage and resin

Overall, this gallery exhibit was an incredible, cultural experience. I firmly believe that every piece of work that an artist ever creates in his/her life always has a story to it. Art is how some people can express their feelings in the best way possible. "I created this work to allure and to create thought provoking dialect.  I want viewers to get absorbed in the work and to feel it as I do.  I want the work to be a perfect rendering of emotion and a spiritual tugging of the whole self." When Scott said that, it made me open my eyes to the more profound and alluring artwork that everyone can interpret in their own way.

Quotes 

The Cindy Sherman Effect

“A number of younger artists are very much indebted to Sherman in their exploration of not just identity but also the nature of representation. Now we all take it for granted that a photograph can be Photoshopped. We live in the era of YouTube fame and reality-TV shows and makeovers, where you can be anything you want to be any minute of the day, and artists are responding to that. Cindy was one of the first to explore the idea of the malleability or fluidity of identity.” 

“Cindy Sherman opened a lot of the doors. She was the trendsetter in terms of distorted characters within self-portraiture. Originally painters painted self-portraits, and then she kind of blew it open with photographic portraiture, and now there are all these avenues younger artists are taking, which would not have been so easy without her work.” 

Ugly Beauty 

“Her first series, the landmark “Untitled Film Stills,” 1977-80, featured 70 black-and-white photographs of scenes from fictional films, inspired by Hitchcock and Antonioni. She developed some in too-hot chemicals to give them the cracked, grainy look of cheap promotional materials. The camera stalks the women, all played by Sherman, as they stand in dark alleys or wait to hitch a ride on a lonely road. We glimpse them through bathroom doors left ajar, absorbed in their mirrors. Each photograph could be captioned: The last time she was seen alive.” 

“That slipperiness in her work — does she see people clearly out of kinship or cruelty? — becomes complicated here by her ambivalence about aging. On one hand, she expresses solidarity with the classicist Mary Beard, who has pushed back at criticism of her appearance: “That is what 59-year-old women who have not had work done look like. Get it?” On the other, Sherman still bemoans getting older, the way “everything falls apart at 60.” But she told me, “I can tape my neck for the photos.”

Just An Old Truth Teller

For this week's photograph, I decided to get inspiration from MaDear Seamstress and recreate it with my 88-year-old grandmother and add my spin to it. Both photographs show, what I interpret to be very resilient, very proud, and strong women filled with dignity and grace. Both women have seen a lot and experienced a lot in their lifetimes while looking toward a better future.

Just An Old Truth Teller
A photograph inspired by MaDear Seamstress