Carrie Mae Weems - Constructing History: A Requiem to Mark the Moment
Can I have a volunteer to write the discussion questions/topic for this week's reading? I would prefer it be someone who is already familiar with Weems' work. Thank you!
Hey everyone, I'll be posting the topic discussion for this week. I'm planning on going to Slaton around 6 pm for their 5th friday exhibition, so expect the topic to be up somewhere between 5 and 6 friday afternoon.
Jenise, to be honest, I have no idea. I'm still banking that an iPhone and GPS will get me to slaton. But I imagine the crowds will be the tell-all sign.
As Tino Sehgal would say... WELCOME TO THIS DISCUSSION.
Carrie Mae Weems, as you read is a contemporary artist working primarily with photography, video and installation. Over the course of her career, her efforts have come to represent a unique, nebulous engagement between aesthetics and visual literacy with politics and cultural identities. For our purposes, we are reviewing her recent collaborative work Constructing History: A Requiem to Mark the Moment in an attempt to draw distinctions and similarities to the topics of our course.
Regarding the work itself and seen from one perspective, Constructing History allows the performers (students in this case) to get a better understanding of a historical context by researching and enacting the role of someone who was present for that original context. It is not that the performer will instantly better understand the larger socio-political issues that had previously constructed that historical context, but by placing one’s physical body into the engagement of re-enactment, the performer does reach a more nuanced, richer appreciation of the dynamics of what had occurred rather than simply reading about it in a history textbook.
Weems then takes it a step further by photographing the re-enactments as a dual movement of conceptually re-finishing the surface of the memory of these original acts while simultaneously bringing together the fleeting nature of memory to meet the absoluteness of the present; for the viewer of the images resulting from these re-enactments, there is often, an awareness of something familiar in the gestures, poses and props, while there is something unfamiliar found in the anonymous identities of the performers re-enacting these iconic gestures.
As cited from the first page of the Deborah Willis article, (Carolyn, please correct me if there’s a better way to cite a book that does not have page numbers) Weems’ work, as a whole, consistently engages with:
“the ‘isms’ that [ ] have defined free speech, beauty, identity, oppression and love over the last 40 years: racism, feminism, sexism, anarchism, optimism, pessimism, collectivism, egoism, humanitarianism, intellectualism, liberalism, modernism, and postmodernism.” (last paragraph, first page, Willis essay; Carrie Mae Weems: power to the people)
These “isms”, as we are aware, are focus points for a wide range of social interest and areas of study such as political and economic sciences, sociology, ethnography, and so on. But no one area attempts to reach out to engage all these “isms’ quite like art education, specifically the study of contemporary art, where some degree of acknowledgment of all these topics is usually expected to be found in a healthy curriculum. Additionally, consider how Weems partnered with SCAD on this project, using a variety of students to assist in everything from set production to acting to documenting.
With this in mind, make an argument whether for or against a possible criticism of Weems’ project as being overly Academic in its nature. In doing so, keep in mind how the idea of doing research will most likely continue to be closely associated with academia for the foreseeable future and how this is so because of the attraction of validity and creditability that seems to come free-of-charge when research is conducted in the academic context.
Next,
Lets think about Weems’ use of showing at least part of the photographic or recording apparatus in these history images. How does this correlate to her comment about wanting her viewers to watch the unwatchable? Hint; think of the line about the students “studying world history from 1968 as they fabricated props and costumes.” (bottom of third page of An Opus) What could it mean to study history with the intention of reconstructing it while you’re in the process of fabricating it?
Finally… Which of the qualitative research methodologies does this act of showing “behind the scenes” seem to converge with?
I do find it odd, however, that you don't mention race, feminism or the historic context of Weems' project, since these are central to her work. I don't think that teaching younger generations about the Civil Rights Movement is an academic pursuit. Teachers at all levels are engaged in this effort. The best art teachers find ways to bring together creative expression, historic awareness, and the role of race and gender in social justice movements. For me, Weems' residency at SCAD accomplished this goal. It would have worked equally well with secondary or primary-level students.
From my perspective, I thought it would be more unifying for our discussion if I focused the questions on a more macro level verses a micro where as everyone might go in to different tangents of different aspects. I thought if I kept it within a larger picture then there might be more give and take on difference of opinions within a unifying topic. I totally agree that teaching about the Civil Rights movement from as many different vantage points as possible is the best solution.
I see that I may have phrased my academic emphasis poorly, let me try this again...
I feel the work (as art form) was excessively academic. The attempt to engage so many "isms" as it was mentioned seemed kind of like a movie that wanted to hit every audience through devices of every genre... The heart-warming, down-to-earth comedy, suspense-driven, blockbuster-slasher-thriller of the season. Or to put the analogy even closer to home, It felt like a hodgepodge of different master's thesis projects. Stephen Shore (photographer) gave us a wonderful quote a few months before our thesis show, the effects of which were internalized too late for any of us to actually rethink our work. It went something like this... Art Students do work that looks a lot like art.
If you can look at work and begin to fill in the blanks correctly without any assistance from artist statements then you've either seen too much art and may a problem with cynicism or you've seen just enough work to know when something is truly original and when its just a mash-up of other over-used ideas floating around the graduate studios.
Additionally, "Constructing History" is done within the construct of an academic environment, which I think is absolutely fantastic and an amazing opportunity for the students involved. But still, all of this comes in to play when I step back to look at the work as a creative product with the intention of finding a contemporary context in which to place it in.
As much as Weems' work deals with race, gender and historiographic aspects of american culture, It does so (in my opinion) first and foremost from within an academic context. This same academic context and standpoint was, as we learned in Leavy's 1st chapter the gold standard of what was the only acceptable way of conducting research before the voices of marginalized perspectives began questioning the old, prodominately white, academic system of beliefs that dictated what was and was not worth studying.
If I'm not mistaken, It was the academics that discredited the early notions of feminism and standpoint perspective theory. Once again, I see nothing inherintely wrong with Weems' work, thats because I'm not a forward thinker, which if history proves anything, is what it will take to once again find the flaws in our standards of quality in research even as they continue to take new shapes and forms.
But then again, I might be totally wrong. If so, take mercy on me... I'm only a student.
I have read the material a few times, and studied the photographs; her work is very interesting.
I was born in 1960, I remember a lot of the events. I lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1967-1968. Much of what was happening in the USA was broadcast on the news on the BBC- I vividly remember--we did not know "what" we would be coming home to. Our little town in South Jersey had race riots in the high school (1969-1970). I reflect on my own memories when I see her photographs, remember the turbulent times, the upheaval. I know the struggles my own divorced/single mother faced in the 1960's and early 1970's. I saw the strength of the black women in our town, eking out a living on ultra low wages, long hours and holding their families together, making tough choices. One of them was my babysitter, who raised me for the first several years of my life, as my mother went to college and then into the classroom to teach. While my children were growing up (and I was also a single mother, going to college and then into the classroom), I told them of these events and their impact on life then and now. They were not taught then about these events (they are 26, 26, and 30 now) and their intricacies in school. I think this generation does not understand the struggle it has been and still is, for women and minorities. Carrie Weems' work has a vital impact on the viewers, to learn and feel the depths of the events, and to not forget, and for some to "see" them for the first time. Visual experience has such an impact! Time creates distance on these events and the 'characters' involved, after many years, with no memory of them alive, I feel and fear these important men and women will become icons disconnected from any real life, that they were human and lived real lives.
I hope the 'players' in the photographs did connect to the time in a new way to promote new, deeper understanding, yet I am haunted by a kind of virtual reality (not CG-type) that the media pursues, "tell us, how did it feel?" Weems left the camera tracks and other trappings and evidence that the images are reenactments to keep the viewer grounded in both the past and the present, to juxtapose those feelings, memories, images--very powerful.
Allison, I also lived (and remember) the events of the sixties. I was born in 1957. I was a "news junky" from the very beginning. The reason I wanted to learn how to read was so that I could read the newspaper (not the comic strip, the news).
That was a disturbing time. My grandfather passed away 2 days before Kennedy was assassinated and we were in Dallas for the funeral that very day. I remember watching it all on TV and the confusion of death all around.
Jenise, yes the Weems image is what's called a Pieta: a standard subject in Christian art depicting Mary holding Jesus after he is taken down from the cross. Michelangelo's sculpture is the most famous example of a Pieta, but there are many, many others since it was a standard subject in painting, sculpture and performance in the western European Medieval and Renaissance periods.
I think the photos of the performances are artfully done and I like the message contained within it.
However, (this is a commentary strictly from a graphic designer point of view), the book's design and lack of information in the tradition placement makes the reader work harder. The images are without caption; the reader must read full all the text to make the necessary connections. As Francesco pointed out, there are no page numbers, which many books don't, but it makes it more challenging when citing the content. All that being said, it left me wanting more information, which makes the book successful.
As for the question of being too academic, I wanted it to be more academic. I think it was great for the students who had not lived through the actual time, being submersed in the history to give them a better understanding of what the events meant and the emotions that were caused by the events. But, I wanted more information, maybe some interviews from the participants and maybe a bit of autoenthography from Weems herself. The text was all about Weems but not from her in the first person. I am sure I feel this way because of my own approach to writing, mainly in the first person, involved up to my elbows.
Jenise, I too was looking for a statement from Weems. The absence of one is conspicuous and therefore, probably purposeful. Perhaps she wanted the work to speak for itself.
Other work by Weems - the "Family Pictures and Stories" (1983) series in particular, which launched her into fame - has been highly autoethnographic. The images in this series are accompanied by a written, first-person narrative. Maybe she doesn't want to be redundant?
I too had issues with the book design. It was borderline frustrating trying to get through it. The lack of page numbers, the incoherent nature of the layout and even the binding of the book made it difficult to keep pages open. Oye!
It felt like the book just wanted to closed and left alone.
I thought that maybe Weems allowed the viewer of the photographs to see the equipment because she wanted to give them a better sense of how it felt to be there in person and as a reminder that she wasn’t trying to “trick” the viewer into thinking it was the actual event but a reenactment.
I took the comment about wanting the viewers to watch the unwatchable more literally. When I am watching TV and know that I am about to see a disturbing image (for me, things like needles going into arms, gunshots and drowning) I hide my eyes to shield myself from the emotion of the image. I felt like Weems wanted to create images, performances that we could not hide from as so many people did when the events actually happened.
#1, 3 I will response the first and third question in this section. For me, they are related to each other. The first and third question makes me think about what is “Academic”? In what kind of standards that I could use to evaluate this project to see whether it is Academic. If I evaluate this project from positivist’s scientific point of view, this project is far away from “Academic”. Can I use qualitative research perspectives to see if it is Academic research? This project involved various disciplines: painting, photography, writing, and design and various issues: race, gender, politic, and history. Students who worked with Weems in this project transgressed the boundaries of disciplines to do research of the historical events, design and make props, and perform the historical events. Meanwhile, Weems photographed and recorded the performance and made a film from these records. This performance/photography/video/book project could see as an arts-based practice research and ABR is considered as part of qualitative research. However, arts-based practices posed challenges to qualitative research conventions. Leavy points out:
Although arts-based practices are an extension of the qualitative paradigm, these methods practices have posed serious challenges to qualitative methods conventions, thus unsettling many assumptions about what constitutes research and knowledge.(2009, p. 9)
Then in the book she further points out the four stages of an Academic research by employing Hunter and her colleagues’ four stages of a legitimized research process: (1) problem identification, (2) literature review, (3) methods, and (4) results (p.10) According to the four stages of a legitimized research, then I can use it to review Weems project. Problem identification: This project involved the (re)constructing history, politics, gender, race, religion issues.
Literature review: As Frank’s quote the students in this project “studying world history from 1968 as they fabricated props and costumes.” They did research to the history and re-enacted these historical events.
Methods: This ABR adopt performance, photography, and video as methods to reveal the unwatchable history. Therefore, this project involved several qualitative methods, such as: performance, photography, and video.
The result: This project not only represents these historical events but also unveils the possible details. These details powerfully reveal the possible perspectives of interpretation of history.
#2 As a viewer of a written historical event, I can only watch the scene that author gave me. In these Constructing History project, Weems were not trying to “re” construct the history but trying to imitate a historical event. Through this pattern, the performers and viewers will write their own history through the details that they perceived in the performance. Moreover, the photographs and film of the performance allowed viewers to watch the performance (historical events) in different physical perspectives. In this way, Weems helps viewers to construct their own significant history.
I also notice the front and back cover design of this catalog. The designer put the images of a portrait of a Black color skin woman, a white male on a throne with gun and warder in his hands, a scene of a male waiting(Waiting for Godot), and monks of Tibet in the front cover and divides it into five horizontal strips. These images present various issues that Weems wants to bring up and the strips for me like the chronological timeline of histroy and the blank part of the strips that without image need readers to fill it. The fold form of the front and back cover present the unwatched history.
You needn't ask for my mercy, Francesco! I respect your ideas and appreciate what you contribute to the class. No blame, no shame.
Let's look at the bigger picture. This is a class in feminist research methods. Feminism is one of those "isms" referred to in Willis' essay, as is racism. Feminism and racism are the two most prominent "isms" in Weems' work. But feminism and racism are not academic concepts.
We must also consider the context of this particular body of work. It was done during a residency at a college - the Savannah College of Art & Design. Deborah Willis, who authored the main essay in the the exhibition catalogue, is the Chair of Photography and Imaging at Tisch. She was probably asked to write the essay based on her previous scholarship on Weems. She is one of the few African American female scholars of contemporary Black art in the U.S. This uniquely positions her to write the essay
People get PhDs to become scholars, and their position in academic institutions is entirely dependent on the quality of their scholarship. Having a PhD does not automatically make a person a scholar, and it does not guarantee a position at an academic institution. Even if one is lucky enough to land a position at a college or university, continued employment is wholly contingent on one's scholarship. It is a long, hard climb to the top in academia. Publishing quality scholarship is notoriously difficult. More people crash and burn than not. It's not an "anything goes" climate at all! On the contrary, it's harsh and abusive. I can't emphasize the latter points enough.
Carolyn, you're absolutely right. I should have acknowledged the rigorous nature of the project and the research and scholarship surrounding it as well as focused more on our central topics. To a large degree, I am both naive and critical in nature as I struggling with my demons in trying to come to terms with what it means to balance a throwback desire from my Master's to create something that extends the discourse of high art while also feeling the necessity within my current program to generate an original work in the realm of acceptable research.
Finally, I never mentioned that I always enjoyed Weems' kitchen table work. It was, in my opinion, more relevant to photography's potential as tool for social reform than Sherman's untitled film stills.
For me, Carrie Mae Weem’s work is based upon the qualitative research methodology of narrative perspective, seen in Leavy’s book: “The narrative method is a collaborative method of telling stories, reflecting on stories, and (re) writing stories.” (Leavy, 2009, p. 27) I do not find her work “too academic” because the images are both haunting and evocative for me, calling forth memories from the past with gestures that tell universal stories. I agree with Stephanie S. Hughley’s description of Carrie Mae Weems when she states: “Mixing brass beauty with bitter realities, she calls to our attention the stereotypes we choose to play ourselves, as well as those we perpetuate in others.”
I agree with Jenise in that I feel that Weems includes the camera paraphernalia so that the viewer knows that this is a re-enactment, not the true moment. Her deep desire is to communicate the truth and this element of visual reality makes that clear.
I was driving home this afternoon with my grand-daughter after viewing a play and we talked about why theater is so compelling for her. She said, “When I am playing a part I try to ‘get into the skin’ of the character so that I can understand their viewpoint, how they feel.” As I perused Weems’ work with the young artists from SCAD I realized that these experiences of enacting historic moments would be life changing for each person for that very reason. To put this in the simplest of terms, the only way that we can truly come to understand others is to “walk in their shoes”; somehow, this SCAD series does that very thing. To enact the scene well, each actor was forced to place himself/herself in the moment. I, again, agree with Jenise in that some visual images are too horrific for me! I just want to cover my eyes; yet Carrie Mae Weems pulls away the veil of denial and forces me to look. We must look, if we are to see the truth. In one of her bio quotes on the Carrie Mae Weems web page (http://carriemaeweems.net/) she states:
“My work has led me to investigate family relationships, gender roles, the histories of racism, sexism, class, and various political systems. Despite the variety of my explorations, throughout it all it has been my contention that my responsibility as an artist is to work, to sing for my supper, to make art, beautiful and powerful, that adds and reveals; to beautify the mess of a messy world, to heal the sick and feed the helpless; to shout bravely from the roof-tops and storm barricaded doors and voice the specifics of our historic moment.”
The image of the woman (Carrie Mae, I believe) standing before the lovely, blooming tree communicates the fragility of life, how swiftly the blossoms fall, how transitory that historic moment is. We each have historic moments of choice and we must face the bitter truth to know what our own choice must be: to play at stereotypes and perpetuate them or seek the truth, to reach out or build walls, to choose life or death. I choose life.
I would have to say I am against a possible criticism of Weems’ project being overly academic in its nature. Other than seeing her name when I ordered her book I personally have never heard of Carrie Mae Weems until this discussion. As I analyzed her work before reading her biography, I witnessed an educator, a student, an activist, a psychoanalyst, and a courageous humanitarian. Weems takes her audience to a time and place that is lost, forgotten, or buried beneath the surface. She compels the knowing to remember and reminisce, while simultaneously compelling the unknowing to be attentive and responsive. Despite her many uses of research based methods, Weems work clearly casts her personal, internalized projections onto her audience through the performance based method of ethnotheatre. Ethnotheatre employs the traditional craft and artistic techniques of theatre production to mount for an audience a live performance event or research participant’s experiences and/or the researcher’s interpretation of data. (Saldana, 2005 p.1)
I agree with Dr. Erler when she stated, the best art teachers find ways to bring together creative expression, historic awareness, and the role of race and gender in social justice movements. Not only did Weems actively engage her students academically, she authentically engaged her students in personal growth and awareness. Wow, I have to admit I absolutely despised opening Leavy’s “Methods Meets Art” book. Now I consider it my bible to being a successful art educator. Do you know how much of my students knowledge can be enhanced and how much their ignorance would diminish if I were to collaborate theater arts/art with social studies objectives? The effects would change the learning environment. To study history with the intuition of reconstructing it could have endless opportunities to cultivate social and personal growth. I’m curious to know the mental side effects Weem’s students endured through these controversial historical events. Where they affected by the tragedies? Where they angry or question their humanity? Did they know the extent of the issues they reenacted? How did the fabricating of clothing feel? How did it feel when they put the clothing on? Did the students subconsciously think of their list of to-do’s after getting dressed just as Kennedy thought of his list of to-do’s while getting dressed the morning of his assassination. Were her students compassionate towards the historical contexts they were reenacting?
During my research I came across this interview segment Weems did for a show called Season 5, which was aired on PBS in 2009.
“There are ideas about compassion—what you sacrifice for compassion, what you give up, what you choose not to live with so that you can express that. But we all sacrifice something for our compassion in some way. We’re giving up something so that something else larger can happen, so that something bigger than you can take place. Sometimes we sacrifice our families. Sometimes we sacrifice other levels of interpersonal communication so that we have that larger relationship with questions that move and shape the world.” (Miller, 2009) Weems also stated, “…artist that are really engaged in the act of appropriation who think that there is a larger story to tell." (Weems, 2009)
Weems intuitively incorporates all methodologies of Art based research that we have been studying. Methodologies including social research that fulfill her desire to create art through words and images of political issues. Narrative Inquiry that leaves her audience telling and retelling the events they witnessed from her work. Poetry based research that evokes emotions and human connection through the multiple meanings her audience takes and internalizes. Music based research which helps her viewers access a rhythm and pattern of beats and tones when words will not serve. Movement based research that evokes her viewers to be close up and personal with Weem’s installation involving living, breathing subjects. And visual art based research that represents a viewer’s perspective to be challenged and captured. Her viewers will watch the unwatchable out of curiosity, there is something raw about staring at a person without having to look away when you make eye contact, it becomes intimate.
Saldana, J. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnodrama: An anthology of reality theatre. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press
Miller, W. (2009, July 9). Flash Points: Do artists have a social responsibility? Retrieved April 1, 2012, from Art21, Inc.: http://blog.art21.org/2009/07/09/meet-the-season-5-artist-carrie-mae-weems/
Weems, C. M. (2009, October). Meet the Season 5 Artist: Carrie Mae Weems. (art21org, Interviewer)
Liz; You have expressed Weems' incorporation of Art based methodologies so well! She absolutely does use them all: art, theater, poetry to create her powerful narratives!
I agree, the work seems to be of a narrative type of research based method. The book, although very nice, gets in its own way for our purposes, no page numbers or image numbers. It is a document of a piece of work much larger than the book, and I feel we are only getting a fraction of its true power. I do understand that she may have wanted it to speak for itself, and have the viewers put all the pieces together, but I would like to have heard her disclose her vision about the project and the learning process that was a result of the "doing" by her reflection and all involved, similar to the reflective thoughts of the Womanhouse project or other collaborative projects by artists such as Judy Chicago, or Liza Lou, who also worked with others to produce their work.
I too went internet shopping for more info on Carrie Weems. Her work touches a place (in me) that is for the most part, without words; but where thoughts and feelings rush into each other, but are not able to settle. Our country- or rather the people of our country, still cannot get a handle on racism, sexism, feminists, and the multiple groups that weave together to create our culture and society of the 99% (is there a trickle down divide and conquer strategy being employed to prevent meaningful dialogue?)....a chorus of the voiceless.....
Francesco, you've been very gracious. Thank you. You should know that I felt free to be critical with you because I felt you could handle it - and you did. Since you're in a PhD program, I also felt compelled to clarify some things about academic life. I can't emphasize enough that academia is highly competitive and frequently brutal. People who work closely together for years often hate each other's guts. Just a warning so you know what you're getting into.
Liz, Girl you are APA stylin'! Good job digging up other sources to support your comments. It also makes me happy that the Leavy book is working out for you. I know you were worried at first. But you stuck with it and now you are reaping the fruits of your labor. That's what learning is all about. Learning is hard, but you know how it goes: feel the burn!
Liz I also agree that ethnoperformance is a powerful teaching tool because it pushes students out of their familiar worlds into a different reality. When the reality is historic, the effect can be very powerful. When I was teaching middle school in Florida, some teachers did a Holocaust performance with the students. Not all the students took it seriously (middle school is the toughest!) but those who did came away with an expanded consciousness about history, politics and mass psychology.
I've had visual studies undergrads tell me they "can't relate" to the Civil Rights struggles because they aren't "old hippies" like Ed, Future, Dennis and I (!!!). As if you have to live through something in order to care about it. As teachers, it's our job to shake students out of their trance of complacency. The U.S. was founded by radical political activists - old hippies, if you will - and there's never been a point in our history when people weren't giving their lives to the struggle for social justice. You'd never know this from the bland curriculum that passes for education in our schools (higher ed included), though. As artists, we have the tools to shake things up in ways that other teachers can't. Weems is living proof.
Allison, I totally agree that a statement from Weems would have rounded out the book. The lack of page numbers is annoying too, especially when you're trying to document your sources. Like I said before, it's conspicuously absent. I kept waiting to read something FROM HER but it never came. Again, I think it must be purposeful. An artist like Weems is too good and too careful to represent (or not) a detail of her art without a reason. While the omission is bothersome, I guess we have to accept that sometimes art is bothersome on purpose!
Suzanne, thank you for the Weems quote and for sharing your beautiful interpretation of the blossom scene. Your comments deepened my understanding of Constructing History. Thanks, too, for acknowledging Jenise' insight about Weems' decision to include the wider stage set, cameras and all. This practice derived from the work of German poet, director and playwrite, Berthold Brecht (1898-1954). Brecht's productions introduced what is known as the "distancing effect," also called defamiliarization: confronting the audience with the artifice of theatrical performance. The point is to discourage the audience from becoming drawn into the spectacle of narrative drama, and to encourage self-aware, critical observation. His most famous play, Mother Courage and Her Children (1938-39/41) was written during Hitler's rise to power. During the war, which interrupted his writing, he lived in Sweden and the U.S.. The film version of Mother Courage is horrendously long. The distancing effect is achieved through odd moments when the characters suddenly stop and break into song.
A-Ta, I was curious what your reaction would be to Constructing History. I did not expect you to grasp it much at all, but you did a fine job of approaching the subject matter from different perspective. I know you will bring a much different perspective to your research on imagined Chinese landscapes and family pictures. The difference what I call "embodied knowing."
Your comments made me think of a time when I lived in Tallahassee, Florida and was visited by a friend from Iran. In the past, I had heard my friend speak disparagingly about African Americans (he had experienced the seedy side of American life). Like many U.S.-born Americans, he complained that "they" used slavery as an excuse for bad behavior. Then one day we visited a plantation that had been turned into a museum. He read all the placards very carefully, and was struck by one statistic: in 1850, 98% of all Tallahassee residents were slaves. The reality behind the rhetoric he had heard, which had struck him as excuse-making, began to emerge. It emerged more fully when we visited a tree in the middle of town that had been the site of several lynchings. I told to him how people (suspected criminals) were strung up or bound to trees, set on fire, mutilated and so forth in front of large crowds of curious onlookers. It was important that he know lynchings were not criminally prosecuted until Civil Rights activists forced the federal government to step in and do something - a full century after slavery was abolished!
Carolyn; I want to see "Mother Courage" now! What courage Brecht possessed to narrate his social concerns in an era when you could lose your life by doing so! No place in Europe seemed safe for honest, compassionate, and vociferous people during Hitler's reign. Thank you for giving me this connection. I love to find the inter-related connections throughout all of humanity's suffering: the universal themes and messages of the human condition.
Please see the Civil Rights Martyr website that lists those who lost their lives speaking up against inequality in America during the fifties and sixties: http://www.splcenter.org/civil-rights-memorial/civil-rights-martyrs. Sadly many have lost their lives in our own nation for being vocal about the suffering of African Americans.
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
Suzanne, if you want to see Mother Courage, be forewarned that it "distances" the viewer by going on way too long, causing some agitation. I saw it several years ago at the University of Minnesota Film Society theater. The main patrons of this theater are artists, writers, intellectuals and film geeks. About half of the audience left before the film was over. I went with a woman who was then a student in a highly competitive doc program in literary theory & comparative studies. She started yawning loudly, which made others in the audience laugh. This was exactly what Brecht wanted. The audience became aware of itself as an observer, and took pleasure in this discovery.
I just looked up Mother Courage on the IMBd database and was amazed to see that it's only 151 minutes long. If you watch it, let me know how you feel by the second hour!
Thank you for telling us about the Civil Rights Martyr website. I didn't know of its existence before, but I will use it in my classes from now on. It's amazing what is NOT taught in our schools today. Allison just sent me an email reminder of the HBO film, Iron Jawed Angels, which tells the stories of the women who died in prison for picketing the White House in the struggle to gain the right to vote. The way they stood their ground despite horrendous abuses by prison guards says it all: major social change happens only when people organize around a cause, confront military power from their own government, sacrifice their lives and never, ever give up. Major social change doesn't usually happen in a single generation. Struggle builds momentum over several generations until finally, the lid blows off.
Why don't we have a better understanding of this? This is who we are as Americans, it's our history. We should be so proud of our heroes and martyrs - the people who took democracy seriously and showed us what it's all about.
As you can tell, I have strong feelings on this topic. Here's my argument in a nutshell:
1) Kids (and adults) need civics education. 2) An honest, unvarnished view of history is needed for effective civics education and a well-informed populace. 3) We have nothing to be ashamed of as Americans. 4) One can be critical without being anti-American. 5) We should honor and celebrate our martyrs for social justice, because they believed in democracy and ultimately proved that democracy works. 6) Democracy is hard work and doesn't stand still. If we're not moving it forward, we're letting it slide backwards. 7) Not participating in democracy is extremely dangerous.
Thank you everyone for fueling a vigorous conversation!
I don't think I would be able to appreciate the full meaning of an art exhibition based on a particular moment in Taiwanese history. I could learn about it, but no amount of exposure would enable me to feel it at a gut level. It seems we belong to the land of our birth. We can emigrate and start to understand a new place, but our roots will always be somewhere else. This is what makes life so painful for people who are forced to live in political exile.
The experience with my Iranian friend made me realize the complexity of American history. Without knowledge of this history, it's impossible to understand present-day social issues, especially regarding race and gender. One has to feel it at a gut level first. But many, many Americans still haven't had that gut-level experience, a fact that you must find amazing. This is why socially aware educators work so hard to break through the walls of silence, shame and denial to help students understand the brutal history of our land.
Interestingly, the Germans have done a much better job of confronting their recent history. When I visited Berlin about 10 years ago, I saw reminders everywhere of WWII - banners downtown, bronze plaques in the sidewalks, soldiers stationed outside a Jewish temple, & and &. It really made me wonder why Americans have had such a hard time facing our own history. Allison is right to say that we've done a very poor job of learning from past mistakes and moving forward from a solid place of understanding.
Hey everyone, I'll be posting the topic discussion for this week. I'm planning on going to Slaton around 6 pm for their 5th friday exhibition, so expect the topic to be up somewhere between 5 and 6 friday afternoon.
ReplyDeletecheers!
I can do it and will post my question before noon.
ReplyDeleteFrancesco, where is the new gallery? I saw something about it and missed where it is located.
ReplyDeleteJenise, to be honest, I have no idea. I'm still banking that an iPhone and GPS will get me to slaton. But I imagine the crowds will be the tell-all sign.
DeleteVery true. Slaton is not that big :)
DeleteWell, Frank, it seems that your post was earlier than my, so I think that's yours.
ReplyDeleteAs Tino Sehgal would say... WELCOME TO THIS DISCUSSION.
ReplyDeleteCarrie Mae Weems, as you read is a contemporary artist working primarily with photography, video and installation. Over the course of her career, her efforts have come to represent a unique, nebulous engagement between aesthetics and visual literacy with politics and cultural identities. For our purposes, we are reviewing her recent collaborative work Constructing History: A Requiem to Mark the Moment in an attempt to draw distinctions and similarities to the topics of our course.
Regarding the work itself and seen from one perspective, Constructing History allows the performers (students in this case) to get a better understanding of a historical context by researching and enacting the role of someone who was present for that original context. It is not that the performer will instantly better understand the larger socio-political issues that had previously constructed that historical context, but by placing one’s physical body into the engagement of re-enactment, the performer does reach a more nuanced, richer appreciation of the dynamics of what had occurred rather than simply reading about it in a history textbook.
Weems then takes it a step further by photographing the re-enactments as a dual movement of conceptually re-finishing the surface of the memory of these original acts while simultaneously bringing together the fleeting nature of memory to meet the absoluteness of the present; for the viewer of the images resulting from these re-enactments, there is often, an awareness of something familiar in the gestures, poses and props, while there is something unfamiliar found in the anonymous identities of the performers re-enacting these iconic gestures.
As cited from the first page of the Deborah Willis article, (Carolyn, please correct me if there’s a better way to cite a book that does not have page numbers) Weems’ work, as a whole, consistently engages with:
“the ‘isms’ that [ ] have defined free speech, beauty, identity, oppression and love over the last 40 years: racism, feminism, sexism, anarchism, optimism, pessimism, collectivism, egoism, humanitarianism, intellectualism, liberalism, modernism, and postmodernism.” (last paragraph, first page, Willis essay; Carrie Mae Weems: power to the people)
These “isms”, as we are aware, are focus points for a wide range of social interest and areas of study such as political and economic sciences, sociology, ethnography, and so on. But no one area attempts to reach out to engage all these “isms’ quite like art education, specifically the study of contemporary art, where some degree of acknowledgment of all these topics is usually expected to be found in a healthy curriculum. Additionally, consider how Weems partnered with SCAD on this project, using a variety of students to assist in everything from set production to acting to documenting.
With this in mind, make an argument whether for or against a possible criticism of Weems’ project as being overly Academic in its nature. In doing so, keep in mind how the idea of doing research will most likely continue to be closely associated with academia for the foreseeable future and how this is so because of the attraction of validity and creditability that seems to come free-of-charge when research is conducted in the academic context.
Next,
Lets think about Weems’ use of showing at least part of the photographic or recording apparatus in these history images. How does this correlate to her comment about wanting her viewers to watch the unwatchable? Hint; think of the line about the students “studying world history from 1968 as they fabricated props and costumes.” (bottom of third page of An Opus) What could it mean to study history with the intention of reconstructing it while you’re in the process of fabricating it?
Finally… Which of the qualitative research methodologies does this act of showing “behind the scenes” seem to converge with?
Thanks for reading and good luck!
Thank you for the insightful analysis and challenging questions, Francesco. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI do find it odd, however, that you don't mention race, feminism or the historic context of Weems' project, since these are central to her work. I don't think that teaching younger generations about the Civil Rights Movement is an academic pursuit. Teachers at all levels are engaged in this effort. The best art teachers find ways to bring together creative expression, historic awareness, and the role of race and gender in social justice movements. For me, Weems' residency at SCAD accomplished this goal. It would have worked equally well with secondary or primary-level students.
ReplyDeleteFrom my perspective, I thought it would be more unifying for our discussion if I focused the questions on a more macro level verses a micro where as everyone might go in to different tangents of different aspects. I thought if I kept it within a larger picture then there might be more give and take on difference of opinions within a unifying topic. I totally agree that teaching about the Civil Rights movement from as many different vantage points as possible is the best solution.
DeleteI see that I may have phrased my academic emphasis poorly, let me try this again...
I feel the work (as art form) was excessively academic. The attempt to engage so many "isms" as it was mentioned seemed kind of like a movie that wanted to hit every audience through devices of every genre... The heart-warming, down-to-earth comedy, suspense-driven, blockbuster-slasher-thriller of the season. Or to put the analogy even closer to home, It felt like a hodgepodge of different master's thesis projects. Stephen Shore (photographer) gave us a wonderful quote a few months before our thesis show, the effects of which were internalized too late for any of us to actually rethink our work. It went something like this... Art Students do work that looks a lot like art.
If you can look at work and begin to fill in the blanks correctly without any assistance from artist statements then you've either seen too much art and may a problem with cynicism or you've seen just enough work to know when something is truly original and when its just a mash-up of other over-used ideas floating around the graduate studios.
Additionally, "Constructing History" is done within the construct of an academic environment, which I think is absolutely fantastic and an amazing opportunity for the students involved. But still, all of this comes in to play when I step back to look at the work as a creative product with the intention of finding a contemporary context in which to place it in.
As much as Weems' work deals with race, gender and historiographic aspects of american culture, It does so (in my opinion) first and foremost from within an academic context. This same academic context and standpoint was, as we learned in Leavy's 1st chapter the gold standard of what was the only acceptable way of conducting research before the voices of marginalized perspectives began questioning the old, prodominately white, academic system of beliefs that dictated what was and was not worth studying.
If I'm not mistaken, It was the academics that discredited the early notions of feminism and standpoint perspective theory. Once again, I see nothing inherintely wrong with Weems' work, thats because I'm not a forward thinker, which if history proves anything, is what it will take to once again find the flaws in our standards of quality in research even as they continue to take new shapes and forms.
But then again, I might be totally wrong. If so, take mercy on me... I'm only a student.
I have read the material a few times, and studied the photographs; her work is very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI was born in 1960, I remember a lot of the events. I lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1967-1968. Much of what was happening in the USA was broadcast on the news on the BBC- I vividly remember--we did not know "what" we would be coming home to. Our little town in South Jersey had race riots in the high school (1969-1970). I reflect on my own memories when I see her photographs, remember the turbulent times, the upheaval. I know the struggles my own divorced/single mother faced in the 1960's and early 1970's. I saw the strength of the black women in our town, eking out a living on ultra low wages, long hours and holding their families together, making tough choices. One of them was my babysitter, who raised me for the first several years of my life, as my mother went to college and then into the classroom to teach. While my children were growing up (and I was also a single mother, going to college and then into the classroom), I told them of these events and their impact on life then and now. They were not taught then about these events (they are 26, 26, and 30 now) and their intricacies in school. I think this generation does not understand the struggle it has been and still is, for women and minorities. Carrie Weems' work has a vital impact on the viewers, to learn and feel the depths of the events, and to not forget, and for some to "see" them for the first time. Visual experience has such an impact! Time creates distance on these events and the 'characters' involved, after many years, with no memory of them alive, I feel and fear these important men and women will become icons disconnected from any real life, that they were human and lived real lives.
I hope the 'players' in the photographs did connect to the time in a new way to promote new, deeper understanding, yet I am haunted by a kind of virtual reality (not CG-type) that the media pursues, "tell us, how did it feel?" Weems left the camera tracks and other trappings and evidence that the images are reenactments to keep the viewer grounded in both the past and the present, to juxtapose those feelings, memories, images--very powerful.
Allison, I also lived (and remember) the events of the sixties. I was born in 1957. I was a "news junky" from the very beginning. The reason I wanted to learn how to read was so that I could read the newspaper (not the comic strip, the news).
DeleteThat was a disturbing time. My grandfather passed away 2 days before Kennedy was assassinated and we were in Dallas for the funeral that very day. I remember watching it all on TV and the confusion of death all around.
Before I post my thoughts concerning the questions Francesco has poised to the class, I wanted to see if anyone else noticed a correlation in the photo on the cover of “Constructing History: A Requiem to Mark the Moment.” When the book arrived last January, I saw the cover and thought it was reminiscent of the Madonna images of the European masters. I posted a photo on Flickr (don’t know if I did it right). The name of the art is: “Madonna with Child” (Madonna col Bambino) Vincenzo Foppa (ca.1427- ca.1515/Italian) Tempera on Wood Pinacoteca Civica Castello Sforzesco, Milan © SuperStock / SuperStock
ReplyDeleteThe classroom clock that was referenced in the section called “An Opus: Carrie Mae Weems” is positioned perfectly to create a halo.
Jenise, yes the Weems image is what's called a Pieta: a standard subject in Christian art depicting Mary holding Jesus after he is taken down from the cross. Michelangelo's sculpture is the most famous example of a Pieta, but there are many, many others since it was a standard subject in painting, sculpture and performance in the western European Medieval and Renaissance periods.
DeleteThank you for confirming that for me! It has been way too long since my art history days.
DeleteI think the photos of the performances are artfully done and I like the message contained within it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, (this is a commentary strictly from a graphic designer point of view), the book's design and lack of information in the tradition placement makes the reader work harder. The images are without caption; the reader must read full all the text to make the necessary connections. As Francesco pointed out, there are no page numbers, which many books don't, but it makes it more challenging when citing the content. All that being said, it left me wanting more information, which makes the book successful.
As for the question of being too academic, I wanted it to be more academic. I think it was great for the students who had not lived through the actual time, being submersed in the history to give them a better understanding of what the events meant and the emotions that were caused by the events. But, I wanted more information, maybe some interviews from the participants and maybe a bit of autoenthography from Weems herself. The text was all about Weems but not from her in the first person. I am sure I feel this way because of my own approach to writing, mainly in the first person, involved up to my elbows.
Jenise, I too was looking for a statement from Weems. The absence of one is conspicuous and therefore, probably purposeful. Perhaps she wanted the work to speak for itself.
DeleteOther work by Weems - the "Family Pictures and Stories" (1983) series in particular, which launched her into fame - has been highly autoethnographic. The images in this series are accompanied by a written, first-person narrative. Maybe she doesn't want to be redundant?
Jenise,
DeleteI too had issues with the book design. It was borderline frustrating trying to get through it. The lack of page numbers, the incoherent nature of the layout and even the binding of the book made it difficult to keep pages open. Oye!
It felt like the book just wanted to closed and left alone.
I am glad it wasn't just me. I have become so 'into' Ebooks that I find most printed books a bother to deal with.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI thought that maybe Weems allowed the viewer of the photographs to see the equipment because she wanted to give them a better sense of how it felt to be there in person and as a reminder that she wasn’t trying to “trick” the viewer into thinking it was the actual event but a reenactment.
ReplyDeleteI took the comment about wanting the viewers to watch the unwatchable more literally. When I am watching TV and know that I am about to see a disturbing image (for me, things like needles going into arms, gunshots and drowning) I hide my eyes to shield myself from the emotion of the image. I felt like Weems wanted to create images, performances that we could not hide from as so many people did when the events actually happened.
#1, 3
ReplyDeleteI will response the first and third question in this section. For me, they are related to each other.
The first and third question makes me think about what is “Academic”? In what kind of standards that I could use to evaluate this project to see whether it is Academic. If I evaluate this project from positivist’s scientific point of view, this project is far away from “Academic”. Can I use qualitative research perspectives to see if it is Academic research? This project involved various disciplines: painting, photography, writing, and design and various issues: race, gender, politic, and history. Students who worked with Weems in this project transgressed the boundaries of disciplines to do research of the historical events, design and make props, and perform the historical events. Meanwhile, Weems photographed and recorded the performance and made a film from these records. This performance/photography/video/book project could see as an arts-based practice research and ABR is considered as part of qualitative research. However, arts-based practices posed challenges to qualitative research conventions. Leavy points out:
Although arts-based practices are an extension of the qualitative paradigm, these methods practices have posed serious challenges to qualitative methods conventions, thus unsettling many assumptions about what constitutes research and knowledge.(2009, p. 9)
Then in the book she further points out the four stages of an Academic research by employing Hunter and her colleagues’ four stages of a legitimized research process: (1) problem identification, (2) literature review, (3) methods, and (4) results (p.10) According to the four stages of a legitimized research, then I can use it to review Weems project.
Problem identification: This project involved the (re)constructing history, politics, gender, race, religion issues.
Literature review: As Frank’s quote the students in this project “studying world history from 1968 as they fabricated props and costumes.” They did research to the history and re-enacted these historical events.
Methods: This ABR adopt performance, photography, and video as methods to reveal the unwatchable history. Therefore, this project involved several qualitative methods, such as: performance, photography, and video.
The result: This project not only represents these historical events but also unveils the possible details. These details powerfully reveal the possible perspectives of interpretation of history.
#2
As a viewer of a written historical event, I can only watch the scene that author gave me. In these Constructing History project, Weems were not trying to “re” construct the history but trying to imitate a historical event. Through this pattern, the performers and viewers will write their own history through the details that they perceived in the performance. Moreover, the photographs and film of the performance allowed viewers to watch the performance (historical events) in different physical perspectives. In this way, Weems helps viewers to construct their own significant history.
I also notice the front and back cover design of this catalog. The designer put the images of a portrait of a Black color skin woman, a white male on a throne with gun and warder in his hands, a scene of a male waiting(Waiting for Godot), and monks of Tibet in the front cover and divides it into five horizontal strips.
DeleteThese images present various issues that Weems wants to bring up and the strips for me like the chronological timeline of histroy and the blank part of the strips that without image need readers to fill it. The fold form of the front and back cover present the unwatched history.
You needn't ask for my mercy, Francesco! I respect your ideas and appreciate what you contribute to the class. No blame, no shame.
ReplyDeleteLet's look at the bigger picture. This is a class in feminist research methods. Feminism is one of those "isms" referred to in Willis' essay, as is racism. Feminism and racism are the two most prominent "isms" in Weems' work. But feminism and racism are not academic concepts.
We must also consider the context of this particular body of work. It was done during a residency at a college - the Savannah College of Art & Design. Deborah Willis, who authored the main essay in the the exhibition catalogue, is the Chair of Photography and Imaging at Tisch. She was probably asked to write the essay based on her previous scholarship on Weems. She is one of the few African American female scholars of contemporary Black art in the U.S. This uniquely positions her to write the essay
People get PhDs to become scholars, and their position in academic institutions is entirely dependent on the quality of their scholarship. Having a PhD does not automatically make a person a scholar, and it does not guarantee a position at an academic institution. Even if one is lucky enough to land a position at a college or university, continued employment is wholly contingent on one's scholarship. It is a long, hard climb to the top in academia. Publishing quality scholarship is notoriously difficult. More people crash and burn than not. It's not an "anything goes" climate at all! On the contrary, it's harsh and abusive. I can't emphasize the latter points enough.
Carolyn, you're absolutely right. I should have acknowledged the rigorous nature of the project and the research and scholarship surrounding it as well as focused more on our central topics. To a large degree, I am both naive and critical in nature as I struggling with my demons in trying to come to terms with what it means to balance a throwback desire from my Master's to create something that extends the discourse of high art while also feeling the necessity within my current program to generate an original work in the realm of acceptable research.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I never mentioned that I always enjoyed Weems' kitchen table work. It was, in my opinion, more relevant to photography's potential as tool for social reform than Sherman's untitled film stills.
For me, Carrie Mae Weem’s work is based upon the qualitative research methodology of narrative perspective, seen in Leavy’s book: “The narrative method is a collaborative method of telling stories, reflecting on stories, and (re) writing stories.” (Leavy, 2009, p. 27) I do not find her work “too academic” because the images are both haunting and evocative for me, calling forth memories from the past with gestures that tell universal stories. I agree with Stephanie S. Hughley’s description of Carrie Mae Weems when she states: “Mixing brass beauty with bitter realities, she calls to our attention the stereotypes we choose to play ourselves, as well as those we perpetuate in others.”
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jenise in that I feel that Weems includes the camera paraphernalia so that the viewer knows that this is a re-enactment, not the true moment. Her deep desire is to communicate the truth and this element of visual reality makes that clear.
I was driving home this afternoon with my grand-daughter after viewing a play and we talked about why theater is so compelling for her. She said, “When I am playing a part I try to ‘get into the skin’ of the character so that I can understand their viewpoint, how they feel.” As I perused Weems’ work with the young artists from SCAD I realized that these experiences of enacting historic moments would be life changing for each person for that very reason. To put this in the simplest of terms, the only way that we can truly come to understand others is to “walk in their shoes”; somehow, this SCAD series does that very thing. To enact the scene well, each actor was forced to place himself/herself in the moment. I, again, agree with Jenise in that some visual images are too horrific for me! I just want to cover my eyes; yet Carrie Mae Weems pulls away the veil of denial and forces me to look. We must look, if we are to see the truth. In one of her bio quotes on the Carrie Mae Weems web page (http://carriemaeweems.net/) she states:
“My work has led me to investigate family relationships, gender roles, the histories of racism, sexism, class, and various political systems. Despite the variety of my explorations, throughout it all it has been my contention that my responsibility as an artist is to work, to sing for my supper, to make art, beautiful and powerful, that adds and reveals; to beautify the mess of a messy world, to heal the sick and feed the helpless; to shout bravely from the roof-tops and storm barricaded doors and voice the specifics of our historic moment.”
The image of the woman (Carrie Mae, I believe) standing before the lovely, blooming tree communicates the fragility of life, how swiftly the blossoms fall, how transitory that historic moment is. We each have historic moments of choice and we must face the bitter truth to know what our own choice must be: to play at stereotypes and perpetuate them or seek the truth, to reach out or build walls, to choose life or death. I choose life.
I would have to say I am against a possible criticism of Weems’ project being overly academic in its nature. Other than seeing her name when I ordered her book I personally have never heard of Carrie Mae Weems until this discussion. As I analyzed her work before reading her biography, I witnessed an educator, a student, an activist, a psychoanalyst, and a courageous humanitarian. Weems takes her audience to a time and place that is lost, forgotten, or buried beneath the surface. She compels the knowing to remember and reminisce, while simultaneously compelling the unknowing to be attentive and responsive. Despite her many uses of research based methods, Weems work clearly casts her personal, internalized projections onto her audience through the performance based method of ethnotheatre.
ReplyDeleteEthnotheatre employs the traditional craft and artistic techniques of theatre production to mount for an audience a live performance event or research participant’s experiences and/or the researcher’s interpretation of data. (Saldana, 2005 p.1)
I agree with Dr. Erler when she stated, the best art teachers find ways to bring together creative expression, historic awareness, and the role of race and gender in social justice movements. Not only did Weems actively engage her students academically, she authentically engaged her students in personal growth and awareness. Wow, I have to admit I absolutely despised opening Leavy’s “Methods Meets Art” book. Now I consider it my bible to being a successful art educator. Do you know how much of my students knowledge can be enhanced and how much their ignorance would diminish if I were to collaborate theater arts/art with social studies objectives? The effects would change the learning environment. To study history with the intuition of reconstructing it could have endless opportunities to cultivate social and personal growth. I’m curious to know the mental side effects Weem’s students endured through these controversial historical events. Where they affected by the tragedies? Where they angry or question their humanity? Did they know the extent of the issues they reenacted? How did the fabricating of clothing feel? How did it feel when they put the clothing on? Did the students subconsciously think of their list of to-do’s after getting dressed just as Kennedy thought of his list of to-do’s while getting dressed the morning of his assassination. Were her students compassionate towards the historical contexts they were reenacting?
During my research I came across this interview segment Weems did for a show called Season 5, which was aired on PBS in 2009.
ReplyDelete“There are ideas about compassion—what you sacrifice for compassion, what you give up, what you choose not to live with so that you can express that. But we all sacrifice something for our compassion in some way. We’re giving up something so that something else larger can happen, so that something bigger than you can take place. Sometimes we sacrifice our families. Sometimes we sacrifice other levels of interpersonal communication so that we have that larger relationship with questions that move and shape the world.” (Miller, 2009) Weems also stated, “…artist that are really engaged in the act of appropriation who think that there is a larger story to tell." (Weems, 2009)
Weems intuitively incorporates all methodologies of Art based research that we have been studying. Methodologies including social research that fulfill her desire to create art through words and images of political issues. Narrative Inquiry that leaves her audience telling and retelling the events they witnessed from her work. Poetry based research that evokes emotions and human connection through the multiple meanings her audience takes and internalizes. Music based research which helps her viewers access a rhythm and pattern of beats and tones when words will not serve. Movement based research that evokes her viewers to be close up and personal with Weem’s installation involving living, breathing subjects. And visual art based research that represents a viewer’s perspective to be challenged and captured. Her viewers will watch the unwatchable out of curiosity, there is something raw about staring at a person without having to look away when you make eye contact, it becomes intimate.
Saldana, J. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnodrama: An anthology of reality theatre. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press
Miller, W. (2009, July 9). Flash Points: Do artists have a social responsibility? Retrieved April 1, 2012, from Art21, Inc.: http://blog.art21.org/2009/07/09/meet-the-season-5-artist-carrie-mae-weems/
Weems, C. M. (2009, October). Meet the Season 5 Artist: Carrie Mae Weems. (art21org, Interviewer)
Liz; You have expressed Weems' incorporation of Art based methodologies so well! She absolutely does use them all: art, theater, poetry to create her powerful narratives!
DeleteI agree, the work seems to be of a narrative type of research based method. The book, although very nice, gets in its own way for our purposes, no page numbers or image numbers. It is a document of a piece of work much larger than the book, and I feel we are only getting a fraction of its true power. I do understand that she may have wanted it to speak for itself, and have the viewers put all the pieces together, but I would like to have heard her disclose her vision about the project and the learning process that was a result of the "doing" by her reflection and all involved, similar to the reflective thoughts of the Womanhouse project or other collaborative projects by artists such as Judy Chicago, or Liza Lou, who also worked with others to produce their work.
ReplyDeleteI too went internet shopping for more info on Carrie Weems. Her work touches a place (in me) that is for the most part, without words; but where thoughts and feelings rush into each other, but are not able to settle. Our country- or rather the people of our country, still cannot get a handle on racism, sexism, feminists, and the multiple groups that weave together to create our culture and society of the 99% (is there a trickle down divide and conquer strategy being employed to prevent meaningful dialogue?)....a chorus of the voiceless.....
Francesco, you've been very gracious. Thank you. You should know that I felt free to be critical with you because I felt you could handle it - and you did. Since you're in a PhD program, I also felt compelled to clarify some things about academic life. I can't emphasize enough that academia is highly competitive and frequently brutal. People who work closely together for years often hate each other's guts. Just a warning so you know what you're getting into.
ReplyDeleteLiz, Girl you are APA stylin'! Good job digging up other sources to support your comments. It also makes me happy that the Leavy book is working out for you. I know you were worried at first. But you stuck with it and now you are reaping the fruits of your labor. That's what learning is all about. Learning is hard, but you know how it goes: feel the burn!
Liz I also agree that ethnoperformance is a powerful teaching tool because it pushes students out of their familiar worlds into a different reality. When the reality is historic, the effect can be very powerful. When I was teaching middle school in Florida, some teachers did a Holocaust performance with the students. Not all the students took it seriously (middle school is the toughest!) but those who did came away with an expanded consciousness about history, politics and mass psychology.
I've had visual studies undergrads tell me they "can't relate" to the Civil Rights struggles because they aren't "old hippies" like Ed, Future, Dennis and I (!!!). As if you have to live through something in order to care about it. As teachers, it's our job to shake students out of their trance of complacency. The U.S. was founded by radical political activists - old hippies, if you will - and there's never been a point in our history when people weren't giving their lives to the struggle for social justice. You'd never know this from the bland curriculum that passes for education in our schools (higher ed included), though. As artists, we have the tools to shake things up in ways that other teachers can't. Weems is living proof.
Allison, I totally agree that a statement from Weems would have rounded out the book. The lack of page numbers is annoying too, especially when you're trying to document your sources. Like I said before, it's conspicuously absent. I kept waiting to read something FROM HER but it never came. Again, I think it must be purposeful. An artist like Weems is too good and too careful to represent (or not) a detail of her art without a reason. While the omission is bothersome, I guess we have to accept that sometimes art is bothersome on purpose!
Suzanne, thank you for the Weems quote and for sharing your beautiful interpretation of the blossom scene. Your comments deepened my understanding of Constructing History.
ReplyDeleteThanks, too, for acknowledging Jenise' insight about Weems' decision to include the wider stage set, cameras and all. This practice derived from the work of German poet, director and playwrite, Berthold Brecht (1898-1954). Brecht's productions introduced what is known as the "distancing effect," also called defamiliarization: confronting the audience with the artifice of theatrical performance. The point is to discourage the audience from becoming drawn into the spectacle of narrative drama, and to encourage self-aware, critical observation. His most famous play, Mother Courage and Her Children (1938-39/41) was written during Hitler's rise to power. During the war, which interrupted his writing, he lived in Sweden and the U.S.. The film version of Mother Courage is horrendously long. The distancing effect is achieved through odd moments when the characters suddenly stop and break into song.
A-Ta, I was curious what your reaction would be to Constructing History. I did not expect you to grasp it much at all, but you did a fine job of approaching the subject matter from different perspective. I know you will bring a much different perspective to your research on imagined Chinese landscapes and family pictures. The difference what I call "embodied knowing."
Your comments made me think of a time when I lived in Tallahassee, Florida and was visited by a friend from Iran. In the past, I had heard my friend speak disparagingly about African Americans (he had experienced the seedy side of American life). Like many U.S.-born Americans, he complained that "they" used slavery as an excuse for bad behavior. Then one day we visited a plantation that had been turned into a museum. He read all the placards very carefully, and was struck by one statistic: in 1850, 98% of all Tallahassee residents were slaves. The reality behind the rhetoric he had heard, which had struck him as excuse-making, began to emerge. It emerged more fully when we visited a tree in the middle of town that had been the site of several lynchings. I told to him how people (suspected criminals) were strung up or bound to trees, set on fire, mutilated and so forth in front of large crowds of curious onlookers. It was important that he know lynchings were not criminally prosecuted until Civil Rights activists forced the federal government to step in and do something - a full century after slavery was abolished!
Carolyn; I want to see "Mother Courage" now! What courage Brecht possessed to narrate his social concerns in an era when you could lose your life by doing so! No place in Europe seemed safe for honest, compassionate, and vociferous people during Hitler's reign. Thank you for giving me this connection. I love to find the inter-related connections throughout all of humanity's suffering: the universal themes and messages of the human condition.
DeletePlease see the Civil Rights Martyr website that lists those who lost their lives speaking up against inequality in America during the fifties and sixties: http://www.splcenter.org/civil-rights-memorial/civil-rights-martyrs.
DeleteSadly many have lost their lives in our own nation for being vocal about the suffering of African Americans.
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”
Delete― Mahatma Gandhi
Suzanne, if you want to see Mother Courage, be forewarned that it "distances" the viewer by going on way too long, causing some agitation. I saw it several years ago at the University of Minnesota Film Society theater. The main patrons of this theater are artists, writers, intellectuals and film geeks. About half of the audience left before the film was over. I went with a woman who was then a student in a highly competitive doc program in literary theory & comparative studies. She started yawning loudly, which made others in the audience laugh. This was exactly what Brecht wanted. The audience became aware of itself as an observer, and took pleasure in this discovery.
DeleteI just looked up Mother Courage on the IMBd database and was amazed to see that it's only 151 minutes long. If you watch it, let me know how you feel by the second hour!
Thank you for telling us about the Civil Rights Martyr website. I didn't know of its existence before, but I will use it in my classes from now on. It's amazing what is NOT taught in our schools today. Allison just sent me an email reminder of the HBO film, Iron Jawed Angels, which tells the stories of the women who died in prison for picketing the White House in the struggle to gain the right to vote. The way they stood their ground despite horrendous abuses by prison guards says it all: major social change happens only when people organize around a cause, confront military power from their own government, sacrifice their lives and never, ever give up. Major social change doesn't usually happen in a single generation. Struggle builds momentum over several generations until finally, the lid blows off.
Why don't we have a better understanding of this? This is who we are as Americans, it's our history. We should be so proud of our heroes and martyrs - the people who took democracy seriously and showed us what it's all about.
As you can tell, I have strong feelings on this topic. Here's my argument in a nutshell:
1) Kids (and adults) need civics education.
2) An honest, unvarnished view of history is needed for effective civics education and a well-informed populace.
3) We have nothing to be ashamed of as Americans.
4) One can be critical without being anti-American.
5) We should honor and celebrate our martyrs for social justice, because they believed in democracy and ultimately proved that democracy works.
6) Democracy is hard work and doesn't stand still. If we're not moving it forward, we're letting it slide backwards.
7) Not participating in democracy is extremely dangerous.
Thank you everyone for fueling a vigorous conversation!
You are right! At least in America, we can HAVE a conversation!
DeleteI don't think I would be able to appreciate the full meaning of an art exhibition based on a particular moment in Taiwanese history. I could learn about it, but no amount of exposure would enable me to feel it at a gut level. It seems we belong to the land of our birth. We can emigrate and start to understand a new place, but our roots will always be somewhere else. This is what makes life so painful for people who are forced to live in political exile.
ReplyDeleteThe experience with my Iranian friend made me realize the complexity of American history. Without knowledge of this history, it's impossible to understand present-day social issues, especially regarding race and gender. One has to feel it at a gut level first. But many, many Americans still haven't had that gut-level experience, a fact that you must find amazing. This is why socially aware educators work so hard to break through the walls of silence, shame and denial to help students understand the brutal history of our land.
Interestingly, the Germans have done a much better job of confronting their recent history. When I visited Berlin about 10 years ago, I saw reminders everywhere of WWII - banners downtown, bronze plaques in the sidewalks, soldiers stationed outside a Jewish temple, & and &. It really made me wonder why Americans have had such a hard time facing our own history. Allison is right to say that we've done a very poor job of learning from past mistakes and moving forward from a solid place of understanding.