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Submission Photography

Self-Portraits As An American Optimist

18.07.26 —

Self Portraits as an American Optimist is a confrontation that borrows from the rhetoric of Frank B. Wilderson III, the Black Panther Party, and Audre Lorde. Here I photographed the unconscious image still present in white America’s head: a dark violent creature that taunts and threatens. When I present portraits of my little sister with her Christmas best on, and topics of protest come up, stereotypes of this creature are imposed on her, whether conscious or unconscious. Self Portraits as an American Optimist is an uncomfortable protest. These portraits are meant to mirror how dehumanizing it is to beg for your humanity and to always be in a position of protest.


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Cenìnye Harris

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Self-Portraits As An American Optimist

18.07.26 —

Self Portraits as an American Optimist is a confrontation that borrows from the rhetoric of Frank B. Wilderson III, the Black Panther Party, and Audre Lorde. Here I photographed the unconscious image still present in white America’s head: a dark violent creature that taunts and threatens. When I present portraits of my little sister with her Christmas best on, and topics of protest come up, stereotypes of this creature are imposed on her, whether conscious or unconscious. Self Portraits as an American Optimist is an uncomfortable protest. These portraits are meant to mirror how dehumanizing it is to beg for your humanity and to always be in a position of protest.

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