Listening to images
Liberation, by definition, is a state of letting free or freeing a group of individuals from oppression, especially if the abuse is coming from a foreign force. There are many forms of liberations, and it can be social or economic liberations. Discriminations and some bias, especially those arising from traditional roles or ways of life, propagate oppression, which is the opposite of freedom. On the other hand, objectification is the act of treating a person as an object. Objectification involves the dehumanizing of an individual and not giving them the respect they deserve. In Szwarcs portraits images are personified to have the ability to communicate, and outlay emotions. We are all aware that these are human abilities as humans can speak and be listened to. Listening to images is a method that entails recalibrating vernacular photos as quotidian practices to give access to useful registers that the image speaks to its audience. (Listening to image, 5). Often people tend to think of their future when they are young, and it can be traced in their faces. What a person thinks about the future can be influenced by many factors like background, origin, historical experiences, and many more. A precise analysis of Szwarcs (American Girls) portraits gives a revelation that they are both liberatory and objectified.
The portrait (American girls) comprises the African Americans and the whites taken at different places and postures. In a closer look at the eyes of the people in the images can communicate a lot. The white kids in the portraits have their eyes directly looking at the forward at the photographer. The significance of this is that of a person who is astute, focused, and dares to combat and conquering anything that comes their way. Contrary to the images of the African American, which are rather dull, or are either looking away or downwards from the photographer. What implication does this give us? It means that these are groups of people who do not want to attract attention and are not liberated. Reasons might be that they feel unwelcome in the diaspora where they have been subjected to some bias, so they are not free. Diaspora, by definition, is a place farther from the original home. And historically, we know the reason that brought the African Americans to America, and that is slavery, so this is a contributory factor to the melancholy.
A gaze the portraits gives a descriptive feature about them, and depictions can be easily made to prove the contrast between races and culture. In the American Girls portraits, the portraits that featured the white girls they look rather pale or sad; this can be as a result of sickness or loneliness.
When one is sick, they cannot do their normal activities; therefore, they tend to stay indoors a lot, where they are lonely. The dolls are made to look like the owners, this is to give them company, but this does not work seemingly. Another reason for the sad look can be due to the current lifestyle, where work is a priority to the parents and consume most of their time. Again the segregation is evident as the kids cannot have an interaction with other kids making them stare at other kids playing and having fun. The children have dolls that match their skin color except for one, which signifies discrimination.
There is bias on the number of portraits; the portraits for the whites are many compared to those of the African Americans, which are less. Does it mean the African Americans to be shoot were less? No, but these are deliberate attempts to show that they are not the center of American Girls. The whites are given preferential treatment and have more extensive exposure compared to blacks (Striking Poses in a Tense Grammar, 67), is compared to South Africa, which has experienced segregation for quite some time.
The essential point that has become clear is on virtuosity in Szwarc’s portraits and the racial implication of them. But how do these images portray the black community? As Scott describes them, the pictures of the blacks are still and emotionless (Striking Poses in a Tense Grammar, 50). As motionless as he tends to explain, it is just physical manifestation of responsiveness rather than submission as assumed. But behind the stillness lies an embodiment of power. It is quite evident that the relationship between the subject and their masters is very strained in the setting of colonization. And this has not culminated in the present world, the history of colonialism and subjection are very fresh. The pose of African Americans in the pictures is not relaxed, eased, or free from any constraint, but the muscular tension, the cheeks bones, and teeth that are clutched together reveal otherwise. A comprehension of the images is deduced to be in a state of stasis, which is a condition of standing at an equilibrium of two opposing forces, which causes tension and subjugation (Striking Poses in a Tense Grammar, 51). If the portraits are viewed to be a depiction of stasis and not stillness, then we see a struggle in achieving a balance between two opposite forces.
Conclusively, albeit racism, should be a thing of the past and should be condemned in the strongest terms. It’s time for embracing and appreciation of diversity for the common good. As (Striking Poses in a Tense Grammar, 66) puts it tensions between ethnographic gaze and black self-fashioning remain alive, and people still experience them in unlikely places. So the underlining question remains. Were the pictures taken of Africans meant to build the African images or display them as trash to the western world? Let’s embrace diversity and celebrate it.
Works cited
“Striking Poses in a Tense Grammar.” Listening to Images, pp. 47–67., doi:10.1215/9780822373582-003.
“An Exercise of Counterintuition.” Listening to images, pp. 1-11…