Mirror of Race
The Mirror of Race is a multidisciplinary endeavor whose subject matter is the representation of race in early American photography and whose broader purpose is to engender discussion about the meaning of race - past, present, and future.
The working thesis of the project is that these images
from 1839-1876 demonstrate that race in this period (spanning approximately
forty years; before, during, and after the Civil War) was a much more fluid
and ambiguous concept than we may now assume. The project’s aim would
be in part to discern and address how these images from the past dislocate
our own present presumptions about the representation of race. Of course, some
images may seem only to confirm our expectations of that era’s depictions.
This tension is what the Mirror of Race intends to explore.
But beyond the historical dimension,the project hopes to hold up these images as a mirror to our present, to confront our understanding of the meaning of race today. Daguerreotypes, the earliest American photographs, are, in strict point of fact, mirrors. Each one is a unique image produced on a reflective, silver-coated copper plate. As such, the daguerreotype serves as the “image” for all the images presented in the Mirror of Race project. In such photographs, we see ourselves in two senses: we see our ancestors and so our past, but we also see our own reflections on the same surface. Seeing, then, is a central theme to the idea of the project, for seeing underlies so much of the representation of race as grounded in appearance and seeing is what we do when we reflect in — and on — the mirror.
It is precisely because of the dislocation of time that the images collected in the Mirror of Race” may serve as an opportunity to reflect on what race means in America today — and what it can, should, and should not mean in the future. The hope underlying the elements of the Mirror of Race project is that these photographs from a century and a half in the past can instigate the kind of productive conversation, both academic and public, about race that often seems so hard to promote.
The Mirror of Race project envisions a range of venues for the display and discussion of the images such as this website, lecture/performances, teaching materials and other interdisiplinary multi-media undertakings. Please visit often to get updates on these developments
But beyond the historical dimension,the project hopes to hold up these images as a mirror to our present, to confront our understanding of the meaning of race today. Daguerreotypes, the earliest American photographs, are, in strict point of fact, mirrors. Each one is a unique image produced on a reflective, silver-coated copper plate. As such, the daguerreotype serves as the “image” for all the images presented in the Mirror of Race project. In such photographs, we see ourselves in two senses: we see our ancestors and so our past, but we also see our own reflections on the same surface. Seeing, then, is a central theme to the idea of the project, for seeing underlies so much of the representation of race as grounded in appearance and seeing is what we do when we reflect in — and on — the mirror.
It is precisely because of the dislocation of time that the images collected in the Mirror of Race” may serve as an opportunity to reflect on what race means in America today — and what it can, should, and should not mean in the future. The hope underlying the elements of the Mirror of Race project is that these photographs from a century and a half in the past can instigate the kind of productive conversation, both academic and public, about race that often seems so hard to promote.
The Mirror of Race project envisions a range of venues for the display and discussion of the images such as this website, lecture/performances, teaching materials and other interdisiplinary multi-media undertakings. Please visit often to get updates on these developments
