“The Art of Photography,” by Nyia Sissac
During the third and fourth quarter of the Chicago Public School academic year, I planned on building an understanding with students on the importance of the word legacy. But as I continued through my eleven week program I realized that the students needed to focus on the word vulnerability. Starting from January until March I taught the students what it means to be vulnerable. What it means to accept themselves but also reflect themselves as the people they are becoming.Though journaling practices I taught the children how to open up, express and empower their feelings. Still touching on generational legacy the journaling allowed them to build themselves not only in the classroom but outside of it as well. With the journaling practices I saw the children become more aware of themselves, more talkative, and more prepared to create unique images, that were and are still strong to provide a story without much explanation.
Collaborating with Frederick Douglass High School, allowed me to be creatively free while also becoming somewhat of a teacher. Teaching the students the basics about the camera, photography history, and how to pose and frame themselves in an image. For the first half of the program (about 7 weeks into the program) I photographed the students on medium format Black and White film. Through this process we developed a routine but also room for exploration through flowers, frames and lighting. Instead of changing to color film I decided to stick with Black and White as it made the children more profound. I was able to have something that was the same yet different each week. Photographing the kids for the first seven weeks not only allowed me to get them comfortable in front of the lens, it documented the beginning of their journey. It allowed me to learn and memorize each of their stories, quirks, loves, passions and dislikes. Instead of releasing control to the background and lighting I let it stay the same for the eleven weeks, I released control to the students by allowing them to dress however they like, pose, and hold their prop however they choose. Of course with the help of my two class assistants we were able to produce magic. Towards the second half about
5 weeks left of the program students began taking photos of each other with little to no guidance they were able to develop perceptions of themselves. I believe I reached multiple goals, especially my main goal which was to see the physical and mental growth the students made in the short 11 weeks. Students went from not smiling to smiling, wearing hoodies to not wearing them. To being more veraball about how they wanted to be perceived and how they wanted the frame of the image to be. The biggest joy of this project was seeing the children grow through film. Each week I went home and developed the film by hand and scanned it to be digitized. Through the negatives of each image you can see when they begin to be themselves rather than the persona put on by peer pressure from teachers, other students, and even the pressure they put on themselves. The original concept for the Frederick Douglass High School installation was,”Taking a portrait of him (Fredrick Douglass) I will change the opacity to lighter and with the children in forefront. With this you can see hints of Fredrick Douglass peeking through the students hand picked portrait.” But instead we settled on 5 fabric panels that swayed. 4 of the panels were images of the students in a selection of three’s two panels set on each side with Fredrick Douglass in the center. This allowed for the students and their legacy to be front and center but also allowed them a moment of being in the spotlight.Not to be overshadowed by Fredrick Douglass putting him in the center still allowed for his legacy to not be left behind but cherished.
The reason I titled this work ,”The Art of Photography,” is because of the way photography can be used as a tool to create, cherish and learn from vulnerability. But also legacy, where we are able to document each phase of our lives and leave behind a legacy that is unique and filled with stories, ups and downs. The students learned the art of photography through history, lighting, framing and posing. They learned how to themselves in front of a camera which is the most important thing the art of photography can do.
