Discussion 1: Finding your voice

Dawoud Bey’s passion for photography stems from his deep interest in wanting to describe black culture and the deep complex humanity that’s acquainted. Bey says that the camera for him became a way of having a voice in the world. Despite his hearing loss, his vision blossomed and directed us through a perplexed, deeper level and understanding of this subject. One of his projects I really enjoyed hearing about “Night Coming Tenderly Black” targets the radical silhouette of history, focusing on the Underground Railroad. He aimed to make “the invisible, visible”. Bey conveyed this by taking photographs of the historical site of the railroad in Ohio. The photographs were different from his usual style. With the exclusion of human figures and faces, what is left is a dark and mysterious landscape. The impact he sought with this project gives the viewer the opportunity to immerse themselves in the photographs which are in the perspective of the slaves looking for freedom. Ultimately, Dawoud Bey knew the importance of history and wanted to remind people of liberation.

Carrie Mae Weems is another photographer who found her voice by creating “The Kitchen Table Series”. She wanted to know what it meant to develop your own voice. In that regard, the kitchen table project started in a curious, spontaneous way as a response to an organic way of finding her voice. Mae wanted to be a voice for women. In the project, she uses a single light source, and all the photographs were centered around the kitchen table. Topics such as family, polygamy/relationship between sexes, children, an array of everyday emotions flow through the compositions. The impact she created with the series were bringing up and making the viewer conscious about the tender subject of social dynamics between men and women, the social living arrangement and social contract.

I believe I can find my own voice through photography by integrating my sense of beauty and what I think beauty is. We all have different styles and our personalities spill through our creations. I want the photographs to speak for itself as well as carry my vision and perception with authentic personality.