McFadden and Vicuna

Joshua Rashaad McFadden has been considered one of the best upcoming photographers of this decade because of his portrayal of certain aspects of black culture. His visit to NJCU, as well as his “Come to Selfhood” exhibit that is on campus, opened my eyes to the way that certain emotions can be expressed through photography, as depicted in his project “After Selma.” The historical context of the piece is that Martin Luther King led a march in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery to secure voting rights for black people, and he captures the emotions of the elderly that have fought in a demonstrative way for their rights.

A depiction of the 50th anniversary march of the original march from Selma.

Let’s analyze this photo as an example. This is a depiction of a march to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the march. A lot sure has happened for African Americans – they have been allowed to vote, and even the last President is black. But not all has been peaceful – we can examine the events of Philando Castile, Treyvon Martin, and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. If we look at this picture without the context of McFadden’s project “After Selma,” we would probably deduce that this is a part of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The elderly with the canes in the foreground of the picture represent the African American’s will to continue fighting for their rights, in the midst of a racially regressing and financially declining nation. I remember the readings that we were assigned these past few weeks and saw how the picture could be seen as a political image. Art is considered political, but given the context of this photo, it is clear to see that this image is intended to evoke a political feeling – specifically the “agitprop” feeling. McFadden deliberately knew what he was doing with this image by capturing a preacher with various elderly, such as the priest in the center and the women on the side with the sign “demand justice.”

I read about Cecilia Vicuna’s work in English class last semester, and when I saw her name show up in the list of artists in the online articles, I knew immediately that I wanted to look more of her up. Sadly, I also saw a quote that there was not much to gain from analyzing Vicuna’s work, hence the lack of time that her work will have in an exhibit. Her stories were mainly collections of memories, building a coherent timeline of events that she deems important to her readers.

A compilation of Vicuna's works.

This photo is also a collection of some of her works. Although it can be hard to talk about the painting as a whole, let’s look into some of the subsidized images. I found the yin yang image on the leftmost and two women on the bottom most contradictory. When comparing the two images, it can be said that the yin yang example is not always true, especially now. It seems that this specific instance is a representation of conformity, showing that a man is nothing without his woman and vice versa. It had been mainly taught in society that it is normal to have a heterosexual relationship, but with the everchanging mindsets of the millennial age, Vicuna might have thought about homosexual relationships, hence the two women in the bottom image. The most interesting part of these two images that struck me is that all the people depicted are nude. It is as if that they are to be accepted as for who they are, rather than for their appearance. I found it odd that the two women are having intercourse in a bathroom in that image. Could it be because they couldn’t have it anywhere else, or were they scared of being judged for their relationship? This strikes me as political because a lot of women’s rights have been shut down recently, which caused multiple protests across the country, especially the Women’s March. This is the problem that can be related easily to McFadden’s piece, because even though African Americans have been trying hard to push for their rights, they had also been shut down in various ways, such as police brutality. I think that now is a perfect time to utilize agitprop to bring about change because this will help both African Americans and women triumph under the new Presidency.

Works Cited

"'A Day without a Woman' -- Women's March Organizers Plan General Strike." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2017.

"After SELMA." Joshua Rashaad McFadden. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2017.

Horner, Sarah. "Cop Who Shot Philando Castile ‘indeed Saw Gun,’ His Attorneys Say." Twin Cities. Twin Cities, 7 Feb. 2017. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

"Paintings." Cecilia Vicuña. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2017.