Politics of Portraiture

Everyone wants to be seen but not everyone wants
to be photographed. This is a class that aims to
investigate that paradox. What are the politics of
Seeing and what are the politics of being seen?
What exactly is a portrait. Is it a conversation,
a collaboration, is it an archive, or a monument.
Does it represent or simply identify? Is it our
responsibility to represent the subjects of our
photographs with kindness or empathy. What is the
role of photographer's gaze. What is the role of
the Subject's Gaze. How is power transferred
through this process? Through a series of
discussions, and art assignments. We will
investigate the politics of photographic
portraiture from the 1920s-present.