PWI 101

In her book, Framing the Black Panthers, Jane Rhodes says, “DuBois explained that the nation’s racial ideology forced Black people to define themselves, in part, through the ways they have been represented,-- to see himself through the revelation of the other world. Thus the visibility of blackness is a problem regarding not only how whites see them but also how they see themselves”.

To be a black woman means having multiple identities that effect the way others perceive you and the way you see yourself. Our society has a tendency to think it can tell Black women who we are, what we need and what frustrates us. To negate that tendency through authentic representation is an act of direct protest and often warrants the ostracism of the Black woman, simply for responding to inequity and engaging in basic practices of self advocacy. This struggle is the result of the inability of whiteness to deal with the active presence of Black women.

The goal of this series is to give Black women the space to speak unapologetically on their experiences and how they have overcome them. Most of these images are deliberately focused on the experiences of some women at a specific primarily white institution as I was in college during the conception of this project. However, these experiences do not end upon graduation. Western society, in its entirety, is nothing but a primarily white institution that we must continue to carve spaces for ourselves in every single day.

Though these experiences are being shared, they are our own and not to be interpreted in any way other than what is presented.

When viewed in an exhibit. The series is displayed along with visual quote selections from interviews.