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Black Self/ White Self: Identity Explored Through Photography Location: Pearsontown Elementary School, Durham, North Carolina Teacher: Cathy Fine Artist: Wendy Ewald Grade: Fifth Photographer Wendy Ewald collaborated with Cathy Fine and her fifth-grade class on this project in which students wrote two self-portraits, one as themselves and then one in which they imagined themselves as members of another race. Ewald then photographed the students posing as their “black” and “white” selves. Wendy Ewald: I sensed that race, although an important issue for the children and teachers, was seldom talked about. It was difficult for some of the students to visualize themselves as the “other,” but I hoped that this project might begin a dialogue. The students began by writing self-portraits. When Cathy and I asked them to write a second self-portrait as if they were of another race, we were first met with silence, then laughter, and finally an enthusiastic barrage of questions. After they finished their writing, I photographed them posing as their “black” and “white” selves. I gave them the large-format negatives to alter or write on so they could further describe their characters. For the students, the idea of transforming the photographs and their own physical features was exciting and challenging. They had to think hard about scratching the negative image in order to produce a black line or adding a black mark on top of the emulsion to make a white line. In this way, negative and positive and black and white took on meanings that were both conceptual and physical. Since the white children rarely dealt with the black world’s perception of them, they had almost no idea of how to pose; some asked the African American children to direct them. The African American children never needed such coaching. For Ms. Fine and myself this project was a way to examine how society, through its children, looks at issues of race. For the children it was a chance to talk among themselves about what it means to be black or white. Through my work with this class, I’ve come to believe that it is crucial to understand how we see one another. Described procedurally, the concept of this project is simple. But for me, it produces images that are at once mysterious and stunning in their clarity. 
Cathy Fine: Addressing the nature of identity through this collaborative endeavor raised simple but salient questions about race that the students could frame visual answers for in their posed and manipulated photographs. The questions spanned their personal lives and the lives of their families and communities. If I were a member of another race, how would my life resemble my present one? How would it be changed? Would my family be the same? Would it have different expectations of me in relation to the community and society at large? How might my real life correspond to the “other” me? The project enabled the children to carefully examine their lives and earnestly ask about the lives of their classmates, to compare their notions of the “other” with the answers they received. When asked what is life might be like if he were a member of another race, one of the students replied, “Why should it make a difference?” In the Classroom Have your students write a self-portrait. Ask the students question in preparation: What do you look like? Who is in your family? Where do you live? What do you like to do? What do you hope to do in the future? Encourage your students’ efforts by introducing books written in an autobiographical style about children their age, such as Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street. Then ask the students to write a second self-portrait using the same questions as starting points. In this piece, however, they must write about themselves as if they were members of another racial or ethnic group. If the class is racially mixed, the students may interview each other for information. If not, they may imagine what their other life would be like. Encourage them to create a new identity, complete with a different name and family, but to keep their own age and gender. Show portrait photographs to the students, avoiding commercial pictures and advertisements. Talk about what information is revealed about the subjects. Consider the elements of facial expression, body position and posture, and clothing. Black-and-white pictures are best for this, especially the work of photographers Gaspard Nadir, Mike Disfarmer, James VanDerZee, Hans Namuth, and Milton Rogovin. Introduce the idea of making photographs from the self-portrait writings. Ask them to bring props of clothing from home to illustrate the two people in their writings. The actual photographing may be done in several ways. The students can work in pairs and photograph each other, or the teacher can photograph each child. When posing for their photos, ask the children to think about the background, as well as their facial expression and body language. Any kind of camera and film can be used. (For Wendy’s project, a Polaroid Pro-pak camera with a flash and Polaroid positive/negative film were used.) Once the portraits are made they can be altered or text can be added to further describe the two personas. If “point and shoot” cameras are used, the children may draw with permanent markers on the finished prints. If positive/negative film is used, a large negative will be produced that is easily altered. This provides an opportunity to teach students about positive and negative. If you want black letters, write backwards in a black or dense area on the dull side (the emulsion side) of the negative. You can use anything sharp, from paper clips to etching tools, to scratch the emulsion. If you want white letters, write normally in a clear area on the shiny side with a black marker. Other Ideas Allowing the children to become comfortable with the ideas of origin and “otherness” is crucial. Discuss the different nationalities and ethnicities of people who live in North Carolina and the rest of the Unites States. Using a map, find their countries of origin. Then switch the focus to the cultural backgrounds of the students beginning with their states or countries of birth, then those of their parents, and on through the generational history they know. Photographs can function as a basis for identity projects and can be altered in several ways to explore the boundaries of self and the realm of the “other.” Instead of working directly with the negatives or prints of self-portraits, use drawings and photocopies as the source for the manipulation. Ask the students to bring in several photos from home. Have the students tape tracing paper over the pictures and make tracing of them. Ask the students to draw in additional features or symbols, or erase and alter the tracings, in order to illustrate themselves in their two personas. Encourage the use of writing on the pictures to further elaborate their idealization of themselves in both roles.  banner image: Photograph by Wendy Ewald. From Secret Games: Collaborative Works with Children, 1969–1999 by Wendy Ewald. top |
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