By: Angela Nguyen, Christine Lee, Nicholas Sanchez, and Kurt Romero
Upon learning about the case of Rachel Dolezal and her desire to identify as a mixed race person when she was actually of White descent genetically, our group of artists wanted to shine light on a similar issue that relates to the concept of colorism. While Dolezal, as well as many Americans are tanning to achieve their desired skin tones that often deviate from their own race, many women - from Asian countries specifically - have reversed this trend by embracing a more pale and white-looking appearance. While some may argue that these women are race traitors for changing their initial skin pigmentation to that of a lighter Western-looking tone, or cosmetically reshaping their facial features, we also recognize the fact that for many centuries, lighter skin is a symbol for being upper class and more privileged, which could also explain for the lighter skin trend. However, we chose to put an emphasis on the first explanation since it is more relevant in today’s society.
We were mainly inspired by American artist Kip Fulbeck’s photography project, “The Hapa Project” and came up with something similar. We built off the personal anecdotes of his subjects in order to illustrate the positive desire for lighter skin. We captured each of our collaborative artists with and without a whitening product heavily applied onto our faces. We chose to have our subjects smiling with the product applied and to be unenthusiastic without it, reflecting how this whitening products positively affects how we see ourselves and the notions of colorism. Moreover, we placed our subjects from lightest to darkest (left to right) skin tones to show that people who are darker tend to use more products and methods to be lighter in comparison to fairer-skinned individuals. Furthermore, we chose a humorous approach to our artwork to lighten up a complex issue by applying excessive amounts of the whitening cream. By making it comical, our message with colorism became more pronounced while upholding substantial entertainment value.
As artists, students, and various people of color, we collectively wanted to bring about a prevalent issue regarding race that is ongoing in American society. Through our artwork, we hope to foster intelligent discussions about race while providing laughter with lessons to better ourselves and those around us.
I like how you guys present the photos. Particularly, I like the white face photos on the bottom. The ideology behind these photos struck my very strongly. It's a simple yet strong art piece. The artist statement was a little long but it explains in good detail of what the art is.
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ReplyDeleteThis photo is a fun, humorous response to the concept of colorism. The artist statement supports the art piece very well. I see no need for improvement.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea you guys had for making this photo! The statement was well written and created a fun and exciting way to learn about the issues of being mixed race and to learn about the Western/white dominancy and identification in mixed race individuals. No need for improvement!
ReplyDeleteThe concept behind this photo is brilliant. It also reflects the theme and readings of this week which cover the concept of colorism. The art piece matches the artists' statement well and the image delves deep into many analytical and complex social issues we've talked about in class.
ReplyDeleteThere is much truth in your claim that in some Asian countries, I have observed in particular in the Philippines, there is an emphasis that to be move up the social hierarchy one must have lighter skin. Your visual was easy to understand, your title straight forward, and humorous. I would suggest adding in your statement ways to change this ideal that having lighter skin is better, in addition to making people be aware of it in a comedic way.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fun piece! I can tell you all had fun making it. It's entertaining while also making a statement and touching upon the issues of colorism -- good job!
ReplyDeleteThis piece of work is enjoyable. I think your artist statement really explains the main purpose of each image and what influenced your group to do such work.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice that you all were inspired by Kip. The before and after of the whitening powder reminds me of Kip's ten years later photos. I appreciate that the statement specify that it is a comical piece and I thought that the guy in the far right was supposed to be a version of Santa Claus.
ReplyDeleteI liked your groups approach to your artwork; despite it's truly deep meaning, you guys tried to keep it comical which resonates with the audience in a deeper way than being, say solely dramatic. Not only was there one deep meaning behind the white face, but you guys took it to the next level and used the actual skin colors of the artists' photographed in order to add more complexity to your artwork as a whole. I thought your product really worked well with the week's discussion of racial hierarchy and how society reacts to it.
ReplyDeleteYes, the artist statement is reflective of the image. This reminds me of black face make up and how white folks used it within theatrical performances in order to represent black folks. Now within this image the roles are reversed where people of color take on this white face. I liked how you had the unhappy/happy noted in the statement. It is true that our perception of self can be affected by how we feel, that was reflected in these images. Great job!
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the psychosis of mixed race studies, the combination of your artwork and critical racial studies hint that whitening one's skin as a person of color translates to racialized self-hatred masked by the illusive wanting of whiteness as happiness. I like how your art piece questions the fact that Rachel Dolezal's tanning of her skin is a act of racialized self-love, but when POC whiten their skin, it's an act of self-hate. I really like your project; the project could've focused on the theoretical framework of the week too, which is race traitors and cultural translators. Maybe you could also expand cultural translators to transracial translators (like Dolezal and scholars writing about her) as race traitors too.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how this simple yet very effective photo set reflects the teachings of this week. Even the tile "Life if Lighter When You're Whiter," shows the kind of dynamic society has set on skin color and social hierarchy. The artist statement definitely explains the idea in an in-depth way and it's overall a great project!
ReplyDeleteThis project is so cute! I really like the contrast between the first and second panel. I also didn’t have to read the artist statement to know what it is about; colorism (the project and its title was very obvious). The artist statement was well-written as well. No improvements needed! :)
ReplyDeleteI very enjoyed the project! I liked how the artwork portraits the issue of white skin is beautiful and how it leads to confidence. It has great focus on colorism, and the contrast made it very easy to identify the issue of the society right now. The artist statement mentioned Rachel Dolezal and how she is similar to how rest of us getting impact of the idea from the media control or self-desire. If there are more to incorporate with mixed race that will be great. I enjoyed the artwork along with the artist statement.
ReplyDeleteThis is a clever and humorous take on people's obsession with having paler skin due to the prevalence of colorism in many societies. I also read the white cream to say, it does not matter if it is irrational, excessive, or even unattractive, people would rather see white on their faces then to accept themselves and critique societal biases.
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