Kitchen Table Series - Nicolette Capua

Nicolette Capua, The Kitchen Table Series, 2022

 

Excerpt from On Photography

By Susan Sontag

Two Quotes: 

1-"Photographs, which fiddle with the scale of the world, themselves get reduced, blown up, cropped, retouched, doctored, tricked out" (Sontag 4). 

         The photos of today are tampered with and changed. A lot of people on social media change the original picture they take by using apps to fix their bodies to look a certain way. This is one of the toxic traits social media has. Some people also just feel original photos need editing and better lighting so they have to change the photo to grab more peoples' attention. 

2-"Since there was no professional photographers, there could not be amateurs either, and taking photographs had no clear social use; it was gratuitous, that is, an artistic activity, though with few pretensions to being an art" (Sontag 9).

        When taking photos was just for fun it gave a different meaning to it. There was no one who was better than the other. Every photo was unique for its own purpose. It was a pure and wholesome thing to do. Now, photos are used to show off on social media or to grab a wider audiences attention to gain more followers. It is no longer an artistic activity with professional photographers because most people are now taking pictures a specific way and editing them. 

Carrie Mae Weems, The Kitchen Table Series, 1990 

Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems's Landmark "Kitchen Table Series"

By Jacqui Palumbo 

Two Quotes:

1- "Weems's black-and-white photographs are like mirrors, each reflecting a collective experience: hold selfhood shifts through passage of time; the sudden distance between people, both passable and impassable; the roles that women accumulate and oscillate between; how life emanates from the small space we occupy in the world" (Palumbo 4).

            Weems' photos' show real life situations that many people can relate to and can see themselves in. Although these photos were taken many decades ago, they still relate to experiences that are timeless. The photos illustrate a collective experience that both men and woman can connect to. Specifically, some of her photos depict the female perspective and can relate to the roles that woman like themselves are in. She also left life lessons in these photographs that people were able to pick up on and understand. 

2-"Everyone can relate to this work," it's not just black women; it's white women, Asian women. Men can see the women in their lives- memories from their childhood or scenes from their marriage or family life. It's so universal yet representation like this is so rare" (Palumbo 6).

         This work of art is so relatable yet we don't see this type of art often. Anyone can relate to Weems' series making her art even more impressive. This is the type of art that touches everyone. It is simple yet very affective. It brings us back memories we may not have thought of in a long time. These photos are the type that we should see more of today as they leave us with a sense of awe and inspiration.