Globalization & Me:

a study of how I combine my roots with being a global citizen

Life & Globalization

     For the past few weeks I have been researching art and artist that exemplify the South. Since a Family Migration Study earlier in this same course, I haven’t been able to let go of the idea of researching your family roots, and those of the culture that you come from. Many of the artists that I’ve been studying have been photographers. I have enjoyed the journalistic approach of documenting an area from Matt Eich to the incredible story telling ability Hollis Bennett has with his subjects. Perhaps the common thread of photographers in this research comes because of a photograph’s ability to show an environment and people just as they are; honestly, unapologetically. This is how I think the South is best shared for those who aren’t familiar with it, as is most any culture that one is trying to explore without any other knowledge. One artist that’s been particularly inspiring is Shelby Lee Adams, working in my home state of Kentucky. He has been photographing in his home area of eastern Kentucky for over thirty years. It’s an area that isn’t always welcoming of outsiders, he’s even had a gun or two pulled on him, but it has been a consistent source of work for him. He has found a way to use portraiture as an expression for his subjects, and an area that he shows with much respect and heart. From one of Adams’ blogs he quotes Timothy Egan, “to look at the face and not see humanity is to lack humanity”, and I couldn’t come up with better words to summarize Adams' work. For whatever reason researching the South has led to me photographs, it has helped to shape this project. I was reminded of the scrapbooks my mom kept as I grew up, full of newspaper clippings, announcements and pictures. This is the way I remember documenting my family through the years. My work is a dedication to those scrapbooks, faces and humanity. It is full of people and words that partially belong to me, and greatly belong to others.
     So, what does globalization have to do with my exploration of the South? I know it’s important for us to understand our history, and for what reasons it behooves us as a culture to know our roots. But where does globalization fit in? How does a study of one small area really matter? I found my answer, or rather a reminder, as to what started this project, back to why it’s worth tracing our roots, from Carie Mae Weems. She has a wonderful line of work looking at heritage and story telling, and during a speech of her work discussing where now President Obama is she says that we are, “standing on the ashes and the spirit of all those things that have come before”, (http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/carrie-mae-weems). I felt like a lightbulb went off! Yes, I may only be studying a particular culture that is of great importance to me, but the bigger question remains, how did we get here? How are we all here? It’s critical that we understand that we have arrived at this very moment that we are in due to a long line of people that lead us to this point. My moment did not start nor does it stop here in the South. I have not arrived here solely on the family roots that I have traced. The culture that I know and love go back further than a few states, colonies, or even country. It is a global issue because we are all connected. My research and tracing of that in this small way is simply looking at the close up of a much larger picture.

 

 

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