Week 4

When you first walk into the Danielle Scott's Kinfolk Gallery exhibition, you're met with a feeling of bereavement. As you listen to the video of the woman singing and with the view of all the frames and sculptures hung up, you can't help but think of those who have lost and those who've lived their whole lives devoting it to their culture and social justice. I think this exhibition really spoke to me in terms of being a person of color who’s had family members and friends that were dealt a bad hand for being who they are. The exhibition itself was very pleasing to the eye from the differfent textures and colors that were presented to the interactive parts of it like being able to feel and touch the picked cotton. What really drew me in about every piece was that it was a picture taken from years ago, probably even before us, and Danielle Scott was able to use different mediums to turn it into something that speaks to her and the viewer. It was quite touching to see pictures of people from the past before they even the knew how much things would change.

This was the first frame that stuck out to me when I visited the exhibition. It really did remind me of how my grandma would relax outside her patio on a nice day. I then noticed that the title for the picture was called "MaDear Seamstress, 2022" which I found insane since my grandmother is also the seamstress in the family. For this piece, I really loved how the fabric was peaking out of the frame and how Danielle Scott molded it in with resin. I also really enjoyed the colors and patterns on the dress and how it didn't really match together but since it was so abstract it almost looked like they were supposed to go together. The old lady looked very comfortable sitting where she was and it felt nostalgic looking at the piece. I think this photo conveys a sense of identity from generation to generation since anybody can relate to what was shown on there. I could see myself in that photo as well as my mom, or my grandmother, or my great grandmother and so on and so forth. I couldn't help but wonder who else was sitting there with her and who gets to sit in the same area now and what they may be feeling.

The next photo I chose that sparked something in me was this one that was titled, "True Love Galennie, 2022." At first glance, I noticed how diverse each and every photo was from eachother. In the back of the family, you see a picture of what looks like a green shed and a picture of what I assume is a kitchen window. What really drew me in to this collage was the colors she used on the family. I loved how the little kids are all matching and the oldest one has a yellow patch in the middle of their dress. Something about this collage took me back to when I was a young child and we used to visit my family in Pakistan for the summer. The kitchen in the photo (which was also used in a couple of other pieces) looked pretty similar to my family's old kitchen since it always had a blue hue to it as well as a beat curtain to block out the sun. You could infer that the people in the photo was a family and that they might've lived in one of the places that were also added in the collage. I really loved how there was a lot of texture in the bottom left of the collage as well. Overall I was very intrigued by the exhibition. I believe that as people of color we've all dealt with a lot of suffering whether it's ourselves or from our ancestors and I think the beauty in that is that it does bring us together in some sort of way. I love how Danielle Scott was able to tell her ancestors story through a mixture of mediums and photos that were taken from the old times. For this weeks portrait I chose this one still I took at a fashion show that I volunteered for. The show itself was made up of predominately brown and black people who walked the runway. At the end of the show, I was invited down to the fitting rooms where the male models were having a karaoke session. I found it really fascinating how we all came from different sides of the world and neither of us knew eachother but were able to connect by just singing along to songs we heard growing up.

Quotes "With Photoshop anything goes, and I don’t want to make easy crazy characters just because I can. I think there are some artists who are fine without any boundaries. It somehow frees them. But I really need certain limitations to know how far I can go and work within that. Few current artists have gone as far."- Cindy Sherman “The art world was ready for something new, something beyond painting. A group of mostly women happened to be the ones to sort of take that on, partly because they felt excluded from the rest of the [male] art world, and thought, - Cindy Sherman