Lorna Simpson

This writing by Okwui Enwezor was my favorite piece thus far.  I especially enjoyed the discussion of race and gender issues that Lorna Simpson complicates in her artwork.  Throughout this class I have been hoping for an article that deals with a photographer who can tackle these two difficult issues and I think Simpson does so in a very appropriate way, especially considering the historical moment in which she was operating.  In the post-civil rights and post-women's liberation era I think that a lot of the issues that Simpson confronts with her artwork were slipping through the cracks.  She deals specifically with what it meant to be a black woman during this crucial moment.  

Her artwork is an amazing reflection of the identity politics that black (and minority) women were, and still are, struggling with.  Because the subject of the civil rights movement was often assumed to be a black man and the women's liberation was primarily targeting white women, black women were left with no one to champion for their rights.  Simpson's art clearly is directed at raising awareness of the anonymity that black women felt at this time; the faceless, distorted, pieced together bodies represent how black women were overlooked in all the civil rights movements.  

I was less interested in her methods of photographs as I was in her overall message.  I really connected with this piece and loved that it discussed the social issues that Simpson was highlighting.