MVI_8697 from Niberca Polo on Vimeo
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Myles Loftyn, 2016
Hooded (design brief)
I created a multimedia project that humanizes and decriminalizes the societal image of black boys and black men dressed in hoodies. The media has always put a negative light on black men in hoodies and even when you google “black boy hoodie” you get images of criminals while the search “white boy hoodie” produces cookie cutter stock photos of white teenagers smiling. I photographed four black teens/men and portrayed them in a positive light that is in direct contrast to the media representation that has oppressed us. The final product is a series of photographs, screenshots and a film that attempts to shift perception.
Society’s standards placed against black males need to be erased because they are extremely harmful and divisive. It contributes to the reason black males are targeted more by police, why we receive longer jail sentences than our white counterparts and the discrimination that we receive. This project seeks to understand where these negative portrayals come from, and how we can change them for a better future. Also, by reversing the portrayals of black and white males this project seeks to understand how the perception of both will change depending on how they are depicted.
The project consists of a series of photographs, screenshots, and a short video. The photographs and video were done in studio. I used color as a way to show positivity and negativity, also to amplify the contrast between the images created and those disseminated by the media. For the photographs and video footage, I use vibrant colors (pink, blue, yellow, red). Different variations of shots will be used throughout the series to showcase emotion and context of the images. In between the photographs included in the slideshow I’m going to include screenshots of google image search results for the terms black teen in hoodie, white teen in hoodie, four black teens, and four white teens. In the film that I plan on directing I want to combine moving images with found audio from videos on the internet of politicians, news reports and other sources regarding black males, and black hooded males.
