Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1565841077 ISBN 13: 9781565841079

Publisher: New Pr, 1995

Synopsis

A study of African American identity is the creation of an expert on African-American photography who asked writers, critics, and filmmakers to select a photograph of personal or historical significance and "read" it for insights into the black experience.

About this title

About the Author:

Deborah Willis is curator of exhibitions at the National African American Museum Project of the Smithsonian Institute. Her previous books include Early Black Photographers: 1840 to 1940 and VanDerZee: Photographer 1886–1983. She lives in Washington, D.C.

From Publishers Weekly:

In 18 stimulating essays, black writers, scholars and critics reflect on individual photographs-often a family snapshot-to address questions of black identity (but not a black photographic aesthetic). If a portrait of his mother conjures up lost dreams for Edward P. Jones, a picture of her T-shirted father reminds bell hooks how her sisters differ in their view of him; and a photo of a many-hued family suggests to Christian Walker the politics of skin color. Some photos dredge up history: in an 1850s daguerreotype of a nude woman, Carla Williams finds a stimulus for questions of black sexuality; Claudine Brown finds implications for the present in a dignified 1901 mug shot. Others represent the essayists' view of politics: to Clarissa Sligh, newspaper photos from 1956 recall white demonization of integration; to Angela Davis, current popularity of her iconic afro suggests a triumph of fashion over politics. Willis, collections coordinator of the National African-American Museum Project of the Smithsonian Institution, has begun a worthy dialogue on an under-analyzed aspect of black history. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: New Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1565841077
• ISBN 13: 9781565841079
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 209
• Editor: Willis Deborah