The flash of the camera goes off, but reveals very little. The back of someone’s head, long braids. But there’s not quite enough information in the picture to take all that in even at first glance. It could be mistaken for the front of someone’s head, the braids obscuring the face. It’s impossible to tell whether the subject of the picture is female or male, and maybe that’s part of the point. It all stays hidden. But like every other snapshot in “The Indispensable Project” — running for a short time in the first floor gallery at Creative Arts Workshop through June 11 — it’s vital.
Curated by Allison Minto and Michelle Kewei, the exhibit comes out swinging. “Imagery profoundly impacts people of color and how they come to understand their value and position within the broader hierarchy of American culture,” the curators write in an accompanying statement. “Friends families, and members of our community have expressed how their careers, social standing, and politics are all deeply influenced and affected by a kind of representation that has been outside their control.”
But this is where things gets interesting: “This project seeks to change that,” they continue. “Six black female-identified and non-binary high-school students from Wilbur Cross High School, using disposable cameras, photographed narratives in their own communities. This exhibition of resulting images will engage students, their families and the greater New Haven community.”
In this reporter’s humble opinion, the curators are right. It starts with the fact that the students are purposefully anonymous, perhaps to protect their identities and the identities of their subjects. At a time when crisp digital images from phones are the norm, the grainy images from the disposable cameras lend a certain rawness. The photographs don’t feel old; they feel private, as if we’re being let in to see people’s lives in a way we might not ordinarily be invited to see.
Many of the subjects of the pictures are anonymous, just like the people who took the pictures. They are silhouetted. Their backs are turned. An arm is thrown over the face, as if the subjects are all too aware of the invasiveness of the camera. They know what games get played with cameras — the kind of game the curators are talking about — and they are not having a part in it.
This makes the more open photographs in the show that much more effective. The photographers capture moments of exuberance — and trust in the photographer.
Other subjects exude a relaxed confidence.
And even a half-smile carries weight.
Perhaps most affecting are several scenes of close camaraderie that really do seem rarely captured on film. These photographs seem to jump off the walls. In an exhibit that examines the damage done by color lines, they reach across those same lines to speak to everyone.
“The Indispensable Project” runs at Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., through June 11. Click here for hours and more information.
