Upon reading the article, An Invisible Monster by Cynthia L. Nakashima, we wanted to illustrate how mixed race people are perceived in a hegemonic society that essentially revolves around a single ‘superior race.’ Because mixed race people are portrayed as horrible individuals yet attractive at times, we wanted to hint towards the social marginalization that they face. Because some parts of the US are not culturally competent and are less informed about mixed race people, we chose Richmond, Virginia as our comic setting due to its predominantly White population.
In our comic strip, the protagonist is the mixed race couple and the antagonist are the white people in the community. Through our nine scenes, we intended to capture possible reactions that people have towards mixed race people. More specifically, we strived to show how people are often fixated with what they see on the surface level rather than seeking to further understand certain situations. With subtle humor and witty dialogues amongst our characters, we wanted to provoke people’s emotions to possibly get them to think critically about further implications behind our artwork.
I think this piece really shows a new perspective of "Don't judge a book by it's cover." If I were in the story, I would have been the antagonist. I have to admit that I too am quick to judge in many instances. I guess it goes back to what we talk in class about the internalization of specific ideas in mainstream society. I think this piece did a great job in explaining the main theme that we talked about in class. The one thing that I was kind of iffy about is the text. I can barely read it.
ReplyDeleteI can be either ignorance or by choice, or another, that certain communities have yet to understand the changes in demographics in the U.S. Your group took the theme of the week into another perspective and related it back to the readings. The comic is lengthy, but it does provide necessary information that educates those who read it. Your statement needs no adjustments.
ReplyDeleteThe comic strip is very fascinating and does bring a new perspective of what we talked about in class. When talking about the One Drop Rule this shows that the parents have that gene even though they look white. This isn't something that happens everyday and I would like to see if this type of surprise will hit the media. The only thing problem with the comic strip is that the text is difficult to read.
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DeleteThe comic is a bit long for a 'Sunday strip' format, but it gets its point across. I'd like it more if the text was bigger or a different font was used, as it's really thin and hard to read. The artist statement is clear and it helped me understand the message of the comic better.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting commentary on the various opinions people have towards interracial couples and mixed race children. The artist statement does a good job explaining the comic in further detail and doesn't need any improvements.
ReplyDeleteI like that the artist statement is clear and precise. I think it's the web's format; I'm unable to zoom in to read the dialogues. It is difficult for me to follow up with the story. But aesthetically, this is something I envision out of the Sunday's newspaper.
ReplyDeleteThis art piece did a great job of relating back to this weeks reading through the lens of this interracial couple. The artist statement is concise and does a good job articulating the piece, I do not see any improvements needed.
ReplyDeleteI like that the artist provided various scenarios where mis-identification can (and does) occur. The artwork, however, was sub par and disjointed. The artist statement lacked critical analysis and did not quite contribute to a better understanding of mixed race issues and certainly did not support the complex cartoon. One can see that in comparison to the other cartoons in this exhibit, this one just did not hit the mark.
ReplyDeleteThe art project incorporated the idea of Nakashima's and illustrate how the society sees the mixed race. The art project has very good concept but it is a little to hard to read the dialog thus hard to analyze further. The artist statement well explained how the ideas ties back to the artwork. However, they can mention more about how did they make the artwork, and what it is to be artist.
ReplyDeleteThis comic strip well reflects one of the themes of this week, which is how the dominant U.S. culture fails to acknowledge people of multiple racial heritages. The artist statement matches well with the art piece and further analyzes the thought process behind the development of the story. However, the story still needs to connect how this would be a greater problem and goes beyond the surface level of racism. I wish the artists could have make the texts and drawings more clear and visible.
ReplyDeleteThe artist statement was very thorough and walked me through the comic strip and its meaning very well. The comic strip contains a lot of great points about how mixed race people are often perceived by the way they look on the outside which is a big issue in mixed race people.
ReplyDeleteThis comic strip really focuses on the issues we discussed in class about how the dominant U.S. culture fails to recognize and accept people of mix race. It also further analyzes that topic. I enjoyed it very much because it is short and the message is delivered right away.
ReplyDeleteThis project essentially highlights how society judges a person based on race, which results to poor stereotypical recognition and misidentification. This project overall has a very simple art and an empowering and informative statement that goes well with the presented story.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the comic and artist statement show that race is a social construct through the case study of the mixed race couple and their offspring, the comic and artist statement needs to evolve beyond the reasoning of outdated race theories. The artist statement needs to critique the readings of the course and to relate back to week two's theme -- such as eugenics and the invisibility of the monster/mutant.
ReplyDeleteThe statement explains every element of the comic and ventures into perhaps more analysis into themes found in Nakashima's writing could help strengthen it. Overall the comic reflects the themes discussed during week 2, however the print could be changed to be more readable.
ReplyDeleteThis project essentially highlights how society judges a person based on race, which results to poor stereotypical recognition and misidentification. This project overall has a very simple art and an empowering and informative statement that goes well with the presented story.
ReplyDeleteWhile the overall message of mis/judgement is inherently clear through the various dialogues, the milieu or setting of an identifiable superior-race hegemonic culture is not as clearly demarcated. It seems that many of the "white" spectators are not so much concerned with mixed race issues as they are with modern science, or private marital drama (who did she sleep with?). The doctor is unprofessionally surprised, and I do not know whether this disbelief stems from racism or downright boredom. Perhaps the setting is exactly that: uninformed.
ReplyDeleteI want to find humor in all of this but the "big" ideas seem too coerced. This leads me to the bigger question, "Do we deliberately apply hatred/racism to situations that do want warrant such force? Are we too quick to scream 'racism'?"
Ignorance is bliss? People are quick to judge and always have something to say about someone else appearances. The comic takes me to the societal expectations people should have about others. This can also be a reflection that not everybody accepts the idea of mixed race people, as this couple has to "prove" themselves. The statement connects great with the comic, and yes it fits the themes we discussed this week. I had trouble viewing the comic, other than that it was good!
ReplyDeleteI believe the message of this comic is easy to get, but of course one that still makes you wonder and this about how it applies to our everyday lives. Even though it may seem a bit far fetched to us Californians because of all the diversity we are surrounded by everyday, there are definitely still places within the US that have issues like this. If the baby doesn't look like the parents, people assume they are babysitting, it's adopted, etc. One thing that I believed could be improved upon is the comic text as it is a bit difficult to read.
ReplyDeleteI think the concept of this comic definitely addresses mixed race, and the societal assumptions of what a family looks like--but doesn't have a deep critique of mixed race issues.
ReplyDeleteI really like your artist statement because it is something I would normally see at an art museum/ gallery. Maybe it’s my laptop but the texts were a little too small and hard to read so I had difficulties trying to keep up.
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