the earliest photographs were of an anthropolo-
gical and documentary genre, including daguer-
reotypes and cartes de visite (including one by
the abolitionist, Sojourner Truth), some of which
constituted more overt forms of exoticization and
objectification of people of color, Aboriginal peo-
ple, and non-Western subjects. In other instances,
White photographic subjects are engaging in ‘‘dres-
sing-up’’ as Native Americans or African Americans,
reducing race and ethnicity to a set of identifiable
codes—of aboriginality, or of Blackness—that can
be easily inhabited and mimicked. The exhibition
effectively pointed to the complexity of considering
the imbrication of race and photography, embracing
its many paradoxes and manifestations. In their own
revisiting of the history of photography, curators
Coco Fusco and Brian Wallis effectively identified
lesser known photographs of racialized subjects by
famous White photographers, such as Ansel Adams,
Richard Avedon, Lee Friedlander, Dorothea Lange,
and Edward Steichen; as well as contemporary
artists such as Cindy Sherman, whoseUntitled (Bus
Riders)(1976) (predating her better knownUntitled
(Film Stills)[1977–1980]) have her performing in
Blackface. It also incorporated the photographs of
lesser-known photographers, such as Toyo Miya-
take (and his substantive record of the Japanese
American Manzanar internment camp, where he
resided during World War II), and photojournalist
Gordon Parks’s documentation of African-Ameri-
can social history, especially the Civil Rights move-
ment of the 1950s and 1960s. Arranged neither by
genre nor in chronological order, and inclusive of a
large number of contemporary artists working with
photography,Only Skin Deepeffectively emphasized
how racialized visual subjects and strategies ap-
peared and resurfaced at various historical moments,
and moved across different photographic styles.
The exploration of racial photographic imagery
and its codes constitutes one manner of approaching
this intersection of race and photography, by focus-
ing on the subject of images. Another approach is
to highlight the identities of the photographers,
whereby, for instance, historical portraiture by pho-
tographers from racialized communities might be
foregrounded. Deborah Willis’s numerous exhibi-
tions and books have methodically compiled images
by African-American photographers; as Faith Moo-
sang’s recovery of C. B. Hoy’s negatives from his
photographic studio of 1909–1920 reveal the rich
interracial and intercultural communities of the Paci-
fic Northwest. The complex and contentious his-
torical photography of Aboriginal communities is
examined in exhibitions such as the Smithsonian’s
Spirit Capture; and projects such asPartial Recallin
which writers and artists such as Jimmie Durham
and Jaune Quick-To-See-Smith were asked to reflect
on historical archival photographs of Native Amer-
icans. Jeffrey Thomas’s ironic photographs of non-
Natives photographing performing Native dancers,
captures the matrix of viewing relations that underlie
Native communities in representation.
Contemporary photographers have investigated
race and difference in their artistic work with a
variety of approaches. These move across genres,
subjects, and racial imageries, making any easy
generalizations somewhat reductive. Representa-
tions of idealized Whiteness, for instance, should
be considered: Richard Prince’sUntitled (Cowboy)
(1991–1992)embodies the apogee of American
White masculinity, and usefully represents Dyer’s
argument about the status of Whiteness as the
pinnacle of race hierarchies. Nikki S. Lee’s uneasy
self-portraits foreground her Asian physical char-
acteristics as they dramatically contrast with the
social markers of other group identities, whose
communities she immerses herself into. Some
artists work with photographic images and may
use either a juxtaposition of multiple images, digi-
tal rendering, or physical manipulation to compli-
cate the truth value still attributed so powerfully to
the photographic image. Glenn Ligon’sSelf-Por-
trait Exaggerating My Black Features/Self-Portrait
Exaggerating My White Features(1998) (itself har-
kening back to a similar work by Adrian Piper)
uses text to challenge the veracity of fixed racial
evidence in two identical self-portraits. Lorna
Simpson’s serial images have been described as
‘‘anti-portraits’’ that refuse the plenitude of the
complete subject. And Dinh Q. Leˆ’s photographic
tapestries physically weave snapshots and histori-
cal photographs from the Vietnam War, with war
images culled from popular culture such as photo-
journalism and Hollywood films.
Photographic representation and race involves a
consideration of how photography has contributed
to constructing and maintaining certain types of
knowledge about race. Issues to address might in-
clude the subjects of images and how they are
portrayed, the social contexts within which photo-
graphs are taken and exhibited, the relations be-
tween photographer and their subjects, as well as
the identity of the photographer.
MonikaKinGagnon
Seealso:DeCarava, Roy; Documentary Photography;
Ethics and Photography; Image Theory: Ideology;
Interpretation; Photographic ‘‘Truth’’; Prince, Richard;
Representation; Simpson, Lorna; Social Representa-
tion; Weems, Carrie MaeREPRESENTATION AND RACE