Pondering the statement “Whiteness means not having to think about it” over the past two years, I have begun to investigate my white identity and question the common assumption of “Whiteness” as an implied norm and a kind of symbolic lack of cultural identity. Through this personal journey, I have attempted to untangle my ethnic and cultural identity from the social and historical construct of “whiteness”. The resulting artwork is at times a documentation of my search, a reflection on my experience of whiteness, and/or an attempt to answer my own questions about the formation of racial identity.
Through research focused in study groups, films, and books, I have come to recognize policies that created significant benefit for those identified as “white”. While coming to understand the basis of white privilege, I simultaneously began to pinpoint what might be understood as white cultural values- amassing examples of characteristics that describe white culture through the lens of my own family. From this inquiry, themes began to emerge. I gathered historical and iconic images, looking for symbols and metaphors related to these themes. Researching my family history and reading through writings that were left behind, I was able to compare who I thought my family was, with who they were revealed to be through these findings. This eventually led to examining my family’s photographs where I began to catalogue the repeated traditions and rituals my family chose to document.
These works have shown in a variety of ways as apart of:
White Ghosts at Kranzberg Art Center, St. Louis, MO.
Playing Innocent, curated by Elizabeth Wolfson at John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities.
Show statement is downloadable below.
American Mythologies at GCADD with artists Jamie Kreher and Daniel Stumeier.
Exposure 10 at UMSL.
Through research focused in study groups, films, and books, I have come to recognize policies that created significant benefit for those identified as “white”. While coming to understand the basis of white privilege, I simultaneously began to pinpoint what might be understood as white cultural values- amassing examples of characteristics that describe white culture through the lens of my own family. From this inquiry, themes began to emerge. I gathered historical and iconic images, looking for symbols and metaphors related to these themes. Researching my family history and reading through writings that were left behind, I was able to compare who I thought my family was, with who they were revealed to be through these findings. This eventually led to examining my family’s photographs where I began to catalogue the repeated traditions and rituals my family chose to document.
These works have shown in a variety of ways as apart of:
White Ghosts at Kranzberg Art Center, St. Louis, MO.
Playing Innocent, curated by Elizabeth Wolfson at John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities.
Show statement is downloadable below.
American Mythologies at GCADD with artists Jamie Kreher and Daniel Stumeier.
Exposure 10 at UMSL.
Below are two versions of the essay about this body of work, as written by Elizabeth Wolfson.
1. White Ghosts- Scanned Pamphlet featuring essay and photos, designed by Kara Clark.
2. Playing Innocent- Scanned essay from original photocopy.
1. White Ghosts- Scanned Pamphlet featuring essay and photos, designed by Kara Clark.
2. Playing Innocent- Scanned essay from original photocopy.
| white_ghosts.pdf |
| playing_innocent.pdf |