During my first year in the Documentary Media MFA program, I devoted much of my research to exploring the history of 'white science' and its relationship with early anthropological photographic exploits. White scientists Eadweard Muybridge and Francis Galton in particular, athleticized Black bodies, while concurrently demeaning Black minds. As a result, my research from this perspective analyzed the African-American athletic legacy/struggle through the 'gaze' of mainstream Western culture and media. This explains my use of cyanotype in a attempt to represent, and in turn, subvert many of these early scientistic race theories.
This year, being my thesis year, I intend to develop work that represents the African-American athletic heritage through the gaze of Black communities in the United States. It is my belief that no archive is complete until it is balanced against a counterpart. Therefore, I am hoping that my work this semester will elaborate on African-Americans' athletic achievements as they were viewed through the eyes of this dynamic community in the United States.
Defender Telegraph, page 1, No. 001
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Are there any other forms of cultural media, for example films or magazines created by the Black community, that can be viewed as a counter archive or an attempt to reclaim the image of African-American athletes? Nice Blog btw!
ReplyDeletehey,
ReplyDeleteread through everything, but I cannot see a relation to the title of the blog and the subjects discussed.
can you elaborate?
It's a bit of a play on words because - usually - the term 'Defending Champions' specifically refers to a professional team or athlete defending his/her championship title right?
ReplyDeleteIn this case, I'm using the term to point out that sometimes even those with an elevated social status (i.e.: star athletes, celebrities, pop stars, etc...), can be marginalized in the media or on the field for various reasons such as race, politics, or religion. A good example of this was when Lebron James was featured on the cover of Vogue with supermodel Giselle Bundchen in a recreation of the original King Kong movie poster; a photograph taken by Annie Leibovitz. Another would be when Italy's Marco Materazzi allegedly taunted French football star Zinedine Zidane with racial slurs during the 2006 World Cup final; a scene that led to Zidane's exodus with his retaliatory headbutt to the chest of Materazzi. Damn shame since Italy's my team.
So I'm using the blog in some cases to defend, or to at least point out those who are already defending themselves, and therefore, creating some discussion around it.