#in-class assignment

Photo Exercise - The Frame Divided

For me, being black in America is a whole other experience in of itself. This country and its people has yet to come to terms with its racist past. African-Americans here never given any sort of reparations for slavery or Jim Crow. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that I cannot celebrate this country that doesn’t celebrate me.

Melanie Estes on the odds, Sam Gebhard on the evens

200 threads, two approving nods.

I reviewed “Right of Passage” by Martha Rosler, and “Aperture” by Loretta Lux. “Right of Passage” presents straightforward photographs of various roadways taken from within a moving vehicle. They serve to capture construction, various vehicles, road types, and situations of the roadway seen from a driver’s perspective. “Aperture” is much more surreal in comparison, and it presents multiple images of children and a few adults photoshopped into various environments. The images are blatantly unreal, and very calm, almost somber in the visuals: the backgrounds, colors, and expressions of the subjects are all very mellow.

The original photography (left) is focused on the tree and its many roots, which is twisted and jumbled, yet it show how strongly the tree is rooted into the ground. The cropped image (right) focuses on a student walking by, contrasting with the tall, unmoving trees to her left.