“When we see another individual, we often have some form of assumption or judgment towards an individual based off of whatever they are wearing,” Malik Lovette, UO grad student and co-curator of the “I Am More Than Who You See” exhibit, said.
In the top, left-hand corner of the frame, a smiling face greets the viewers. The person pictured in the photograph has a gold hoop in their ear, a chain necklace on and a red bandana containing their many braids. Their smile is carefree and their eyes are warm and inviting.
“That fit on that day, felt like a form of gender-expression for me,” UO alum Jasmine Jackson wrote in response to the before-mentioned photograph of them. “This outfit makes me feel like a person who people would question if I’m a “tomboy” and to me, this fit falls under a more unisex look. Which is self-affirming as a non-binary person.”
The image itself is broken up — Jackson’s head and neck float in the upper left corner, their torso is in the center and their feet are pictured in the bottom right. The center image of their torso highlights their gold necklaces, watch and what looks like a handmade coin purse in their hand. They have a tattoo in bold font on their arm with only the word “girl’s” legible. On their feet, they wear a pair of black Nikes and their hands are tying the laces.
This is one image in a series that all highlight the subject’s clothes by breaking up their body into different sections. The background is black and serves to make the subject’s clothing and accessories the focal point of the image.
“What we wanted to focus on more was the positive aspect of clothing,” Kayla Lockwood, UO senior and the other co-curator of the exhibit, said. “But we wanted to focus on having the student express more of how they identify themselves rather than how they are misidentified.”
These images are part of a series called “I Am More Than Who You See” which is being shown at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. The exhibit was created by the Director of Education and senior instructor, PPPM, Lisa Abia-Smith based on an annual workshop focusing on identity and representation. The exhibit was led and curated by UO students, Lovette and Lockwood. The inspiration for the exhibit came from the “56 Black Men” campaign by Cephas Williams.
According to Lockwood, the pieces came from a series of conversations that were held throughout the last school year over Zoom. Lockwood and Lovette hosted these conversations where they talked about people’s experiences with misidentification and the relationship to clothing.
Lockwood and Lovette chose the students based on who had come to the talks and also by reaching out to those interested in being photographed. According to Lovette, only a quarter of the people who were photographed had also been to the talks.
Lockwood and Lovette requested that the students wear clothing that they felt a strong connection to for the photographs. After taking images, Lockwood and Lovette spent weeks editing and breaking the photographs up based on what they wanted viewers to focus on.
Another focuses on a woman with sky blue braids, her head tilted and a smile on her face. The image is broken up in a similar way to that of Jackson: head and shoulders in the upper left, torso in the middle and legs down in the bottom right. Kundi Kapurura, the woman in the picture, is wearing a Nike top, Nike shoes and holding a “Museum of Fine Arts Boston” canvas bag.
“We gave the participants the freedom to dress however they wanted to,” Lovette said. “There wasn’t really any parameters besides just try to have it mean something.”
“I Am More Than Who You See” will be featured in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art until Oct 10. The 14 images exhibited in the museum are all accompanied by a statement from the subject about why they chose the clothing they are wearing.
“I hope that people can see this, no matter the age or what you are going through, [as a message to] just be yourself and embrace who you are as an individual,” Lovette said. “On top of that, try to really reflect on what allows you to think that you are who you are.”
