This course examines ways that ideas of personal, ethnic, race and gender identities are given visual form and communicated in fine arts and the mass media. Students research examples of ways that different groups in society have been and are being represented. Students collect examples from media and then they interpret this material by creating visual artifacts, using collage, image and text, sculpture and other forms. This process and interpretation serve as a springboard to the production of work that explores personal and family culture, background and experience. Experience in the visual arts is helpful but not a requirement.
Students keep a visual journal that gives form to found and produced images and ideas.
The journal also serves as a collection point for ideas and responses to issues raised. Students develop visual literacy and research skills. They have the opportunity to use and interpret visual media while examining issues of culture and identity. Not only do they look inward by identifying, exploring and communicating personal concerns and history, but they attempt to document and compare ways that others in the society see themselves and are visually represented by others. The common creative process is an effective way for people to open up the lines of communication about issues of race and identity.