Yes, I changed the background

Yeah, I did. I was a little bored with the other one, and it didn't seem to fit what I've been talking about either. Enjoy! :)

Thoughts on the Williams College Museum of Art's Exhibit "Posing Beauty in African American Culture"

A few weeks ago my Visual Studies class went to Williams College to see the Posing Beauty in African American Culture exhibit. Delila Scrugs, who helped put together the exhibit, gave us a great tour. The exhibit features photos from African American artists commenting on how beauty in viewed. There were many great photos and artists represented, but one series of photographs stood out to me.

There was a series of photographs by Sheila Pree Bright that made you look twice. At first glance it looked like a bunch of photographs of Barbie’s, but as you looked closer you realized that something wasn’t right. Parts of the Barbie’s were real. In one image the Barbie has a human eye and mouth that make her look skewed and almost deformed. The picture is asking you if it’s really worth it to put in so much to look so perfect. In this image the beauty looks wrong. Being a bit of a feminist, and not a huge fan of Barbie’s (yes, I owned two, but they went on adventures with dragon beanie babies and fought evil), I loved seeing how the real and the fake contrasted, but also worked together. Another is the back of a Barbie with real dreadlocks. You can see the label and you get the sense this represents people being labeled as well. One of the photographs is just of a Barbie, but she looks tired and old. Her eyes droop and she’s missing an earring. She also has one brown spot on her perfect skin. It’s almost like she’s tired of being perfectly beautiful, and doesn’t mind the blemishes and imperfections.

Unfortunately this show is no longer at Williams College, but it is traveling. I encourage you to look it up and see where it’s heading next. There’s also a book you can buy if you really like it.

Photographer Jason Houston Visits My School!

Several weeks ago photographer James Houston came to our school and gave apresentation about his photographs. He works with a wide range of subjects. He takes photos for organizations and magazines as a photo journalist and also works on his own projects. He’s been to Africa and Asia, but also photographs in Western Massachusetts documenting artists working in a wood fire kiln. He talked to us about where he’s been, how he takes his photos, and how he got into photography. I’m going to focus on one of his series “Dying Beautifully.”

“Dying Beautifully” is a series of photos taken of a close friend, Chet Cahill the day before and after he died of cancer. His wife Billie Best invited Houston to the house to take pictures to document the time. Most of the pictures were of Cahill in his hospital bed, or of his wife with him.

For me this was particularly moving because it reminded me of when my grandmother lived with my family when she was dying of colon cancer. Like Cahill, she was in my living room in a hospital bed. The pictures captured the mood of the time; quiet, sad, and contemplative. In the images of just Cahill in his bed reminded me of how my grandmother looked. In one photo a yellow flower sits in the foreground reminds the viewer of the small beauties in life, and how they come into focus in when something is ending. The images with his wife are also moving. You can see her painfully letting go as she sits besides her husband’s bed. Houston subtly shows the process; a blown out candle breaks up the photographs before and after Cahill’s death, Best watches as they take out the box. None of the photographs are too cliché, they are simply there taking in the moments.

Houston is a photographer with many subjects he explores. I’ve only shown you a glimpse of one. If you want to know more, please check out his website: www.jasonhouston.com