Dawoud Bey uses photography to find his voice because he has experienced hearing loss. Hence, he used his sight and his skills in photography to express himself as well as the experiences of Black people. He wanted to show the realness behind the way Black people were represented by media in a different era. One of his projects that represents his voice is with the Underground Railroad. This project consists of mysterious dark or black and white images of woods and unspecified areas. One photo that specifically stood out to me in which he communicated this was the photo in the area where he mentioned he felt a deep presence while taking it. He uses this project to describe the experience from the point of view of slaves when traveling through the Underground Railroad.
The Kitchen Table Series was a project that Carrie Mae Weems used her photography to be a voice for women in a domestic background as well as an emphasis on the significance of being able to have that one space (ironically, the kitchen) which she is able to control the environment. The image that stood out to me the most was the image of the woman alone, at the Kitchen Table with the wine glass and bottle by her side on the table. This stood out to me the most because of the ironic significance it portrays. It is ironic to me that the setting is a woman alone at a kitchen table, which usually is a symbol for togetherness, family, and bonding.
Bey and Weems are both similar when it comes to their art by trying to represent African American people in a specific era. They’re also similar by having both of their main goals be to use their photography as their art to express a type of oppressed people. I think that Dawoud Bey said the power of photography is to “re-shape the world” because he was successful in his method of taking photos of a specific type of people and using that to get the audience or viewers to feel an emotion when they see it or even to imagine what the subject’s life might be like. It allows people and certain experiences to be seen that society would otherwise overlook.
Bey’s project Night comes Tenderly, Black doesn’t try to show us what the escaping people saw but tries to get us to feel what they felt. It think that makes it very powerful.
When you write control the environment, I think that the photographer can control the environment as well as that women control the kitchen.
As you say, both are trying to ell stories that are not often heard.