Collective Cultural Memory and Appropriation

     In almost any culture you examine, you might find that there are certain memories that every member of a generation has and in many cases those memories withstand the test of time and exist even today. However, with time and cultural differences, those memories are naturally appropriated into our brains. We obviously weren't alive hundreds of years ago, and yet we all know what an "indian" looks like thanks to the excessive use of the works of photographer, Edward Curtis. Many of his posed shots are very much staged and for Native Americans, these dull, colorless, and depressing representations of their heritage carry no weight in their minds because it is someone else's impression and not who they really are. Wendy Red Star brings this to mind as she recolors Curtis's black and white stills, and appropriates his work to bring the truth and respect back to her ancestors and heritage.
     This does bring up the important point that many artists embrace, the importance of knowing and discovering your family heritage from whatever means, found photographs or documents, can have a huge impact on ones artistic choices and life. Kevin Miyazaki, for instance, given his Japanese family roots, has done a very satirical and yet saddening reality of the internment camps during World War II, by showing a brochure for the camp in the guise of a vacation brochure. He goes into specifics on the housing accommodations, making it seem like you have a choice of different houses, but in reality they are all basically the same. However, what has me puzzled is how found photographs, as in completely unknown to you photographs, can carry as much weight on the heart strings as a family photo something the artist connects to?

Ethics Reading Response

I never really put much thought into the ethics codes of art making, let alone photography. But I guess I've never put myself into a situation where I'd have to prove my art was not plagiarized. All I ever did was trust my gut in knowing what was the right or wrong thing to do and followed the rules and standards that society has imprinted on me. I had no idea that there was so many divisions of ethics like virtue or deontology. This made the Ethical Theories essay a little intimidating and given that there was hardly any photographic context, it seemed out of place. The essay by Elliot seemed much more relevant to everyday life and was much more helpful to my understanding of the difference between plagiarism and appropriation. It brought up the fact that in todays age as we are surrounded by technology and we have ready access to source material, it is more important now than ever to give credit where credit is due. The final essay, Digital Appropriation added a more personal touch to the subject by providing real world example with situations and including actual quotes from various artists in history. My favorite quote though was "To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge – and, therefore, like power"

Brain Fitness Debrief #5

As the days pass, I find it's getting more and more difficult to find stuff to ask P without prodding too much into his life. Which ordinarily would be a bad thing, and in some ways it does hinder my ability to find ideas for a photo book, but in this case, it's actually a blessing. It means that P and I have breached that barrier of awkward first meeting small talk, casually exchanging interests and so forth. We've now reached a point where although our initial encounter is still kind of awkward, after we can easily break into idle friendly chit chat. And this has me very excited for my assignment because now I can get a better sense of who P really is if we're just talking casually and we don't feel obligated to maintain an appearance. But I am really more excited and happy for P because according to loved ones this is a real milestone for him. I personally didn't realize how much of an impact I was really having on a person until I heard that. So that really uplifted my spirits and now I find myself thinking back on that more often and I know it sounds cliche but I've embraced the phrase "It's the little things that add up that make the most difference." Who knew that meeting and chatting with someone for a few minutes every week could make such a ripple in someones life, and in your life as well ?

Kathleen Robbins - Into the Flatlands

For my photobook assignment, I decided to do my research on Kathleen Robbins and her photobook Into the Flatlands. Just looking at the title and the cover page makes me think that were about to go on an excursion somewhere exciting and unknown. Upon further inspection inside its pages, we come across a shock, as the photographs with in are anything but dynamic. They are flat, centered, and generic, nothing really special. Most of if not all of the photographs are the exact same dimensions and theres one photo per page right in the very center. At first glance it seems rather dull, because your eye doesnt move around to multiple frames. But after a few flips through, i realised what Robbins intent might have been. The fact that these ordinary photos are presented large and on one page, could only mean the artist wanted the viewer to take the time to look at all of the picturs before moving on; that although these photos are somewhat bland, they too are very important. The photos themselves then become super rich in context,  highlighting the land on which we live rather than the people that live on it. This is an interesting strategy that i could use for my memory book, as one photo can have a much bigger influence on the mind than a billion.

Photo Editing Handout Response

The main thing that really stuck with me after reading this passage, was the way the author was telling me that photography can be really hit or miss. Sometimes, youll capture a photo with that exact mental image in mind, you  know exactlly what you want to convey. And there are other times when you havent the faintest clue of what you need but you go out and take photos anyways because who knows? You could unintentionally walk into your muse. I felt this was a relief because, we as artists though it seems like we do the freest of activities, we feel pressure to confine ourselves to an idea right off the bat.

Brain Fitness Debriefing # 4

Day 4 and this is the second time I have met face to face with P. Slowly but surely I feel like I'm getting to know him better. This time we talked mainly about something we both share, which is a love for art. Although he doesn't paint anymore, he brought in several, beautiful watercolors he did a long time ago. I felt the ice starting to break as we shared artwork with each other and nitpicking at what we wanted to do in the pictures. I got to see his paint set, although old and cracked, it was well used which let me know that he really liked to paint in the past. 

      Next week, I hope I can make another breakthrough to find out more about P. Wish me luck. 

Day 3

    Day 3 of my Brain Fitness ventures went just as well as the last. I finally got to meet one on one with P, my designated partner. And of course, at first it was a little awkward to find questions to ask, but once we got started with a conversation it was easy to continue or to branch off and start a new subject. I learned quite a few things about P Tuesday. P worked for a company for such a long time that he was able to help it grow from a small, fledgling store to an international brand. That's quite the accomplishment! As a result of his employment, he was able to travel to many parts of the world, places that I personally would love to visit; I was really jealous. Just from our brief encounter, I wasn't able to decipher many things about P, except that he loves his family very much, they mean the world to him, and that his job brings him great pride. Well we'll see how much I can learn about P next time.

Seeing Photographs

In my assignment, there are great many techniques mentioned within the Seeing Photographs power point that I have already used. For some subject matter, I already had a clear picture in my mind of what shot I want and what angle I want it at, for others I had to play around with the lighting, angle, camera focus and aperture. There are also other methods that I have yet to think to use. I never paid much attention to balance, I just kind of went with what felt right, I haven’t been able to find many patterned things let alone ones that describe me. And of course, I always keep asking myself, “what does this say about me? What can they gather from this photograph?” So I’ve run out of ideas for things that really say something about me, besides the things that interest me.

Day 2

     Day 2 of my Brain Fitness Club ventures went much smoother than the last. We were each paired up for a one on one conversation with a member of the club; although I was slated to begin with P,     I ended up with B, as P was unavailable. Nonetheless, B was a wonderful conversation companion. They brought in quite a few mementos and photo books for us to flip through, all of which illuminated the things that they found most precious. Music seemed to be in everything in those books, from sheet music to songs they wrote, pictures of them singing and passing on their musical gifts to others. But family was much more prevalent than the music; you could just tell by the way they spoke about each family picture and each member of their clan that family is everything to them. In a way, I guess I saw a bit of my future self in B(though normally the phrase goes the other way around). My family has always been a huge part of my life, they have shaped me down to the bone, and I know those feelings will only grow stronger as time passes and I start a family of my own. And looking at B reminds me of all the joy in my life that is to come.
      So next week, I should be paired up with P and I will have the pleasure of getting to know two wonderful people. I'm excited!