Lecture: The Right to Our Identity

To-Do Date: Mar 15 at 11:59pm

 

 

4-Portrait-of-Old-Crow-and-Wife copy.jpg                WendyRedStar_Summer_from_series_Four_Seasons_2006-.jpg  

Left:  Portrait of Perits-Har-Sts (Old Crow) and With His Wife, Ish-Ip-Chi-Wak-Pa-I-Chis (Good or Pretty Medicine Pipe)–1873 Peace Delegation Series, 2017, by Wendy Red Star. Pigment print on archival photo paper, 17 x 25 in. (43.2 x 63.5 cm). Collection of the artist. © Wendy Red Star.

Right:  Four Seasons - Summer, 2006.  Wendy Red Star

The issue of agency in documentation of other people has been a subject of concern in the art world for many years.  The discussion of who has the right to tell their own story verses what right does anyone have to tell another person's story is a serious topic with ramification across all forms of representation.  Last week I posted a link to Edward Curtis's portrait work of the Native Americans along with a secondary article concerning the ethics of his work.  I have posted another article critical of Curtis's work in Required Reading section. 

The photographs above were created by Wendy Red Star Links to an external site. as a reaction against stereotypical images of native cultures made by the white majority and institutions.  Her aim is to challenge mainstream representations of her Crow heritage.  There is an interview with her in the Required Reading section. This is a link to her website. Links to an external site. 

Issues of representation are not only relevant to photography.  Painter Paul Gauguin has been accused of looting other cultures'  traditions for 'exotic' imagery.   Links to an external site.Dana Schultz's painting of Emmet Till brought controversy Links to an external site. to the Whitney Biennial in 2017, with many calling for the painting to be removed from the exhibition and destroyed.

This week we will be following up on the question of  "who has the right to document and record people who are not part of one's own socio-economic, religious and cultural background?" 

In Brian Sherwin's blog The Art Edge he address the issue of morality and ethics in photographing others.  Read and consider each of Sherwin's questions below in an excerpt from "Let's Have and Ar(t)gument:  At what point does a work of art become a from of exploitation?" Links to an external site.

"There are many questions to ask involving the problems surrounding the issue of art and exploitation. Below are several questions to think about:

  • Is it exploitation when an artist concentrates on racial or sexual identity struggles having never experienced said struggles directly?
  • Is it exploitation when an artist documents the life of a drug addict while doing little to help the addict recover?
  • Is it exploitation when an artist builds a financial empire on the creation of faith-based art while living a lifestyle that is in conflict with the religious views he or she claims to uphold?
  • Is it exploitation when an adult artist takes photographs of nude teens for his or her art project -- even if he or she has received permission from parents?
  • Is it exploitation if an artist uses his or her art to document people caught in the throes of poverty -- not offering any financial assistance -- knowing that he or she will receive thousands of dollars per image once the work is exhibited at a gallery?

Note: The examples listed above are all based on stories that have made headlines in recent years.

At what point does a work of art become a form of exploitation? Should we draw a line in the sand concerning specific scenarios? Do you have an ‘anything goes when we are talking about art’ mentality? Is the nature of artistic expression to exploit in some manner… even if our intentions are good?"