I've been out shooting twice since the critique in Photo 3 and have some new work to share. I've also done more research into the park's history and learned that it's more complex and troubling than I was initially aware of. Its original inhabitants were the Chesapeake Indians, a small tribe that survived until just about the time the Jamestown colonists arrived, at which time they disappeared. There seems to be some debate over how they disappeared - whether they were essentially killed off by the colonists or by the Powhatan Indians who were expanding their territory. Either way, the Nansemond tribe took over the area. In the 1990's, a group of remains of Chesapeake Indians was discovered and ultimately reinterred in the park; visitors still leave various offerings on the fenceposts around the site.
As I mentioned in class, when it was time to build the park, an African American crew from the Civilian Conservation Corps did the work. However, the park was segregated - blacks weren't allowed to use the cabins or the beach. A group of African Americans sued the state in 1951 for access to the park, but the suit was put on hold until Brown v. Board of Education could be decided. When it was (in 1954, remember), the park was closed rather than be integrated. It didn't open again - as an integrated park - until after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.
As far as white Europeans are concerned, I feel that the land/park has provided a sort of safe haven and refuge, so what I want to try to depict in this series is the contrast between what the park has meant to folks like me and what it has historically meant to Native Americans and African Americans. With that said, I've acquired some new props and taken some new photos. Here are a few representatives (completely unedited) - I really look forward to hearing what you think, as I am very much unsure that I am accomplishing what I am trying to accomplish!
What an interesting history!! I think you are on the right track. I would try to vary your compositions more. Not everything has to b so close up. You can give the viewer some time to meander through and figure it out without hitting them in the head with every set up. All in all this is coming together fantastically!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I do have alternative compositions for some of these, so will go through them. I know the Marlboro pack doesn't stand on its own well; I was wondering if it might work in the context of other images of the grave site, where it could carry multiple layers of meaning?
DeleteDoes the marlboro pack signify whites trashing up the place? tobacco that colonized the place? tobacco being sacred to the indigineous people? not sure so make that clearer.
ReplyDeletemaybe lots of packs at the grave site
ReplyDeleteI would agree that the Marlboro pack is vague though can have suitable implications.
ReplyDeleteThat red tree has some potential, just due to it's weathered nature - that it has withstood time, while further it could relate to the descriptive slur of the "red man".
The pictures that incorporate the found photos: I'm having a hard time switching focus between the photograph and the surrounding area. I'm wondering if it would work better to have pictures of the photos be stand alone, much like the image of the Native American illustration you have here (what is that by the way?). In a book format, for instance, this kind of sequencing would help give equal weight to the environment and the artifacts.
Then again this may depend on the origin of the photographs, which I don't really know.