Model 2, Post #3
Photography theory is certainly going to play a large part of my research. One theorist, John Tagg, who doesn’t see the medium as cohesive (and for good reasons) has this to say about the cameras: “The representations it produces are highly coded, and the power it wields is never its own…but the power of the apparatuses of the local state which deploy it and guarantee the authority of the images it constructs to stand as evidence or register a truth.” This is one reason oral history is not considered “truth” or objective in any way by the dominant society. It’s a representation of history that’s not approved by the “apparatuses of the local state”.
The sad thing is the western institutions of power function under the assumption that photographs contain objective truth; the truth is we bring our prejudices and bias to a photograph. Add to this the all too easy manupulation of digital images and that assumption can get thrown out the window. What is needed is cuation and careful analysis–doctored images, even the best of the best can be found out through careful analysis.
How does this tie into first-nations identity? It does because any photographs taken by a first nations person for a first nations audience that ends up on in the internet can be re-interpreted, manipulated, and changed to have a meaning never intended. This is where a copyright notice is important, and so to is legislation that protects the photographer and her work.
I found this project online:
It’s a photography project funded by the government of Ontario with the purpose of giving “Aboriginal youth a voice”. What fascinated me was who was guiding and training these youth in photographic techniques. According to their website the youth involved in this project are taught by an Aboriginal photographer called a mentor. These “mentors are assisted on-reserve by a member of theOntario First Nations Young Peoples Council (Chiefs of Ontario), and in urban settings by a member of theOntario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres’ Youth Council.” I find this fascinating because this is a great approach to self-representation and the videos on youtube allow these kids to speak and explain their photography and their work, without the biases and prejudices of the dominant society. What I wonder is how/who will edit the book of these photographs for this project? I hope they allow captions written by the youth who took these photographs; words and photographs are a very powerful combination.
-Velasquez