Photographic Strategies
Dana Scruggs is a photographer and director who is known for focusing her work on movement, abstraction, and evoking emotions based on the bodily form of her subjects. She became a photographer while she was going through a time of severe depression. In her career, she made photography a collaborative process between herself and the subject. For example, in her photograph of Mecca Mozelle, the photographer gives the subject the opportunity to show off their emotions by using different facial expressions and poses. The subject within the picture wears different colored makeup to different backgrounds to help create the mood of the photo. All the specific elements of the visual outcomes from the photos became statements within her work. One statement within her work appears on the cover of an issue of The Washington Post magazine where there is a picture of activist Stacey Abrams covering her eye with an emblem of the US flag. This shows that Abrams is connected to America and wants the government to see how hardworking everyone is and how they should be treated equally. The main reason that Scruggs does this is to show the world that black photographers needed to be acknowledged since they tended to be ignored by the public. Scruggs once quoted “I think that’s how you really change the narrative, is bringing other Black people up with you” as a way of saying that people need to change the way they view each other. Lots of people in the world act prejudiced towards those that are different from themselves, especially those that are Black. Since Scruggs is well known for diversity and inclusion, she makes sure to include that in her work. Moreover, even though she is not afraid to push boundaries and explore new concepts, she believes in staying true to your vision which aligns with your personal styles and beliefs.
ZANELE MUHOLI
Zanele Muholi is a South African artist and visual activist who focuses her work on race, gender and sexuality. Her work looks at black lesbian, gay, transgender, and intersex individuals within the field of photography, video, and installation. She mainly uses mobile photography as a way of creating South African LGBTI history. Mobile photography is when a photographer brings a camera to an on-location area and photographs the subjects in their natural conditions. This technique could help people see how subjects have been treated before being photographed. This technique is not very organized but it can bring the truth to life. As a visual activist, she photographs people to encourage everyone in the world to acknowledge those kinds of people equally. She has even set up her own exhibition as a way to give people places to express themselves. In her exhibition, she created “the activist wall” to destabilize the imagery of the gallery setting. “The activist wall” is a wall designed for people of different races, genders and sexualities to express themselves in their own ways. Muholi uses her activism as a form of art which highlights social issues and speaks for the rights of the LGBT community through her photography. Her work has been displayed on a global level which allows broader conversations about identities and human rights. Muholi quoted on her project that “I needed to give those humans a space to express, which is not what they usually do on a daily basis.” In other words, people of different genders, races and sexualities don’t usually express themselves in their own ways because it is hard for them to do. Those people need to express themselves more often because if they don’t express themselves, other people will keep mistreating them and make them feel different to society.
Ishiuchi Miyako is a Japanese photographer who is known for her photos of really old areas and of things that are destroyed. Before she became a photographer, she tried other art techniques such as designing and weaving but neither one worked out for her. When she looked in photo books and saw a border between two pages of one photo, she believed that borders of photographs lead to a very dark place in life. Her photographic career began in her hometown of Yokosuka where she shot streets and buildings following a war. Miyako quoted that “Taking photos is all about seeing”, as a way to show people something they can’t see. It means that people need to look closely at what they photograph and observe what’s different from the original. More recently, she also photographed pieces of clothing found after an atomic bomb explosion in the city of Hiroshima. Her photography was unique because she spread out the garments on light boxes to indicate the personality of the people who owned the clothing. The clothing that she photographed were mostly handmade. These clothing items highlight the traumatic times they lived through but they are photographed to show specific personalities, and it might even hold a spiritual significance. In one of her series of photos, she photographed scars around parts of the body. She initially photographed a scarred woman and that inspired her to start a series of photography called “Scars” because that led her into believing that scars become a part of you. In another one of her series of photos, she photographed items that belonged to her mother when she died of liver cancer. She was also inspired by her mother and other women who had their fair share of traumatic experiences. This shows that one of the strategies that the photographer used was that she drew inspiration from the people she was personally associated with, such as her mother and women she felt connected to, such as the scarred woman.
LaToya Ruby Frazier is a photographer who revolves her work around social justice, cultural change, and commentary on the American experience. Frazier quoted that “There's a need to be compassionate and [to] want to really, truly see someone's humanity when they're at their lowest.” This means that people need to understand that not everyone is treated equally like some people are. Her first book The Notion of Family was inspired by the racism experienced by her mother and grandmother and she also received an award for that in 2017. In her book The Notion of Family, she photographed many Black people as a way to show the world how they were treated due to racism. Frazier has used black and white in the series instead of color to show misery experienced by people due to racism. Similar to the above three photographers, she was inspired to be a photographer by the global issues she has learned about in her life. In her photography career, Frazier focuses on the environmental conditions that the subjects live in. Her photography portrays economic and social issues of the communities that she focuses on. This can represent the major problems in societies. Moreover, Frazier photographs a diversity of race, gender, and social economic class which allows her to capture experiences of people from different backgrounds and cultures. She photographs these issues because those are issues that need to be acknowledged to the world and it will show others that their actions can harm those societies. She uses multimedia elements including audio and video. This lets her express the issues at large for deeper understanding of the issues she wants to highlight. Moreover, she challenges societal norms and values which is clearly seen in her photographs. Her photography can have mixed opinions because not everybody might be open-minded enough to embrace what she has to express through her photography. Frazier grew up in the poorest neighborhood which might have inspired her passion for photography.
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