Transcending thru Photography:
Identifying Blackness in Photographs by Marlo Herring
tran·scend·ing (v): the act of exceeding and to pass beyond the limits of
Photography is a fascinating medium of creative expression because it captures the moment of a specific encounter. The privilege of capturing this moment belongs to the photographer because he is able to use his unique perspective to infuse energy and ignite emotions that will act as historical indexes for the viewer. The historical, social, and cultural referents from each viewer are the catalysts that prompt the question, what is this that we are looking at? Throughout this exhibit, Marlo Herring uses subject matter, light, muted color, and the absence or presence of the body to capture the essence of blackness. His photographs activate thoughts from each viewer that challenge not only what is being seen, but how they are viewing it.
Using photography, Marlo Herring visually illustrates racialized blackness by confronting the limits of the black representational space. In one hand, he portrays black bodies in a way that does not make the image necessarily black; on the other hand, he creates racial images using the presence or absence of black body. He forces each viewer to think before they look or, in the reverse, think about what has been seen after looking. By obscuring the scope of race through selective yet simple judgment, the final produced photographs speak to embedded social indexes of race and reveal something about blackness.
ARTIST STATEMENT
When I first began this journey, it was important for me to produce a final project that represented my beliefs and the importance of photography as well as a final product that would begin a dialogue about what it is that we are seeing and/or witnessing in photographs. These are pivotal reasons for my choice of Marlo Herring’s work as subject for my reflection on race and presence in photography.
SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT
While debating on the actual spatial arrangement and layout of the exhibit I wanted to create an atmosphere that represented the topic of transcending and passing. The suspension of the photographs and the atmosphere within which it places the viewer is intended as a physical simulation of the thoughts and intent of the photographs. I arranged the photographs in an order that reflects the theoretical journey on the topic of blackness and the aesthetics of photography. As you enter the exhibit you will encounter an example of self-portraiture by Marlo Herring indicating the entry to his thought. These images are followed by black and white posed photographs of a solo body. After viewing the body, the viewer will come upon images of black and white cropped portraits that reveal the individuality and ownership that was omitted in the previous images of the single body. Once the viewer is introduced to the large scale cropped portraits, they encounter images that illustrate the performance and action delivered through the body. Lastly, the viewer will conclude the intimate journey through the mind of Marlo Herring by witnessing the environment in which the body performs. The images included in this exhibition were produced between 1993 up to 2008. Although this exhibition is only a small sample of his photographic work, the consistency with which it engages with the relationship between the body and the photographic has successfully withstood the course of 15 years.