After yesterdays class and our discussion of Nikki Lee I can’t help but focus on the subject object aspect of her photos we were discussing. To focus on one photo in particular the Hispanic Project photo,
I found it difficult to tell the difference between the subject and object. I feel as thought because she is attempting to blend in with this Hispanic community and portray a type of reality in this photo that in many ways the community and Nikki Lee both become the object of this photo. But I’m left wondering what then the subject is, or whether or not the subject and object of the photo can be interchangeable?! However, after some more thought on this subject object thing I started to see it a different way. When looking at this photo and considering the fact that Lee seems to be the only one in the photo looking towards the camera and imposing the identity of a Hispanic person on her life she can be seen as the subject. It’s interesting how this can be looked at in two very different ways.
I feel like it really relies on how you look at the image. If you see her as blending in with the Hispanics and don’t recognize that it is Nikki Lee posing in the photo then its easy to assume that the entire photo centered around the “Hispanic project” turns the community and Lee into the object of the photo. On the other hand, the fact that she stands out the most out of everyone in the photo could also make her the subject in the Hispanic community which becomes the object world.
What was also interesting was the idea of Lee portraying stereotypes. This, for me, was most obvious in her Ohio Project. Like we also discussed in class the way she was placing herself in those photos was really mind blowing. Our society has placed certain stereotypes on a number of things in our world and its hard for me to tell whether or not Nikki Lee is trying to portray those stereotypes or question them. Lee is definitely very focused on specific views in the world which I really liked about her photography, but I can’t help but think theres something more going on behind her photos. She is constructing these subcultures but its hard for me to tell what exactly shes trying to do other than remind me of the many stereotypes we have in our society.
I also liked the HIspanic Project photo. As I was reading your post I started to think about bi-racial people. With just a quick glance at this photo I wouldn’t think anything was strange about it. Then I thought if I looked closer, yeah you can tell she’s not 100% hispanic, but she could be part hispanic. She has the same skin tone, hair color, and clothing as everyone else in the photo. I’m not sure how well bi-racial people are accepted into either cultures though.