Okay, I am definitely at a point in this semester where everything is catching up to me. I am still in the process of trying to find models for the photography concepts I have. I did come up with a defining question that I want to ask those who are willing to be photographed: ‘How would you look at someone, after they told you not to look at them?’
I want to have a section dedicated to looking, but I want these pages to be filled up with women of color. Mainly black women. I want this to be right, because bell hooks described in her ‘oppositional gaze’ theory, just how much black people have had to keep their eyes down. With slavery and the inability to do any looking. This obviously carried over into life and how black people are perceived in the media. Black women have to carry the weight of the gaze, by demanding representation in the greatest forms. I want the representation to be right in this book too.
The other section I have planned is based on hooks and her ‘intersectionality’ theory and statement. I see this section being much more colorful and fun. I want women of all backgrounds to be able to represent themselves in whatever way they choose. I see flowers as a main theme in this section. I am excited to let the models pose in their natural element and do whatever they want. So far, I have a few models committed. I need to figure out ways to fill up the other pages. Maybe with poems, writings and my own observations. A bell hooks bio should make an appearance somewhere.