Black Self, from the series Black Self/White Self from the collection of Van Every/Smith Galleries at

Black Self, from the series Black Self/White Self, 1994-1997

Gelatin silver print

19.75 x 15.5 in (50.17 x 39.37 cm)

Inv: 2623

Location: Collection Storage Hanging Storage

Made in collaboration with Douglas Bennett

Gallery Purchase

"When I began working in Durham’s inner city, more and more of the white population had moved to the suburbs and the public schools became segregated along city-county lines. Proposals to merge the school systems were stymied by objections from both sides.

In 1994, after the Durham school systems were finally merged, I designed a collaborative project that looked directly at the issue of race. I asked children to write about themselves, then to write another version, this time imagining themselves as members of another race.

This was greeted first with silence, then laughter, and finally with an enthusiastic barrage of questions.

Once the children had completed their written portraits, I photographed them posing as their “black” and “white” selves, using props they had brought from home. I gave them the large-format negatives to alter or write on, in keeping with ideas from their written portraits, so they could further describe the characters they had imagined themselves to be." (Ewald, "Black Self/White Self)

Bibliography

Ewald, Wendy. Black Self/White Self. 2016. wendyewald.com

Hughes, Holly. “Interview: Wendy Ewald, Pioneer of Collaborative Photography.” Photo District News (Online), Eastern ed., Emerald Expositions LLC, June 2018.

Turnbull, Gemma-Rose. Surface Tension: Navigating Socially Engaged Documentary Photographic Practices. Nordicom, 2015.

From Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College

Joshua White

Money Plant (Annual Honesty), Lunaria annua, from the series Photographic Survey of the American Yard, 2013

Archival pigment print

4 x 4 in (10.16 x 10.16 cm)
Peter Turnley

Ground Zero, New York City, Sept. 12, 2001

Archival pigment print

20 x 24 in (50.8 x 60.96 cm)
Gene Merritt

The Misty May You Fig It Out, 1999, 1999

Ink on paper

11 x 8.375 in (27.94 x 21.27 cm)
Thomas Neff

Campbell-Hasmire Sheep, Near Edwards, Colorado, 1986

Gelatin silver print

13 x 18 in (33.02 x 45.72 cm)
William R. Ferris

William Dunlap, McLean, Va., 1982

Gelatin silver print

9 x 13.5 in (22.86 x 34.29 cm)
Robert W. Fichter

Space Heater, 1980

Silver dye bleach print

11 x 14 in (27.94 x 35.56 cm)
Dieter Roth

Bats, 1978

Offset print

19.8125 x 13.875 in (50.32 x 35.24 cm)
Manuel Alvarez Bravo

The Unbandaging, from Survey 1986, 1938

Paladium print

11.875 x 9.875 in (30.16 x 25.08 cm)

View All Artworks

About the artist

Wendy Ewald

American

b. 1951

American photographer. Encourages collaboration with women, children, and teachers in her work which often depict community, everyday life, and hopes and dreams. The people she collaborates with often mark the film negatives, challenging ideas behind the maker and creator. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the International Center of Photography in New York and the Corcoran Gallery of American Art. Awards include a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Additional Details

Additional Artworks

Money Plant (Annual Honesty), Lunaria annua, from the series Photographic Survey of the American Yard, 2013

Ground Zero, New York City, Sept. 12, 2001

The Misty May You Fig It Out, 1999, 1999

Campbell-Hasmire Sheep, Near Edwards, Colorado, 1986

William Dunlap, McLean, Va., 1982

Space Heater, 1980

Bats, 1978

The Unbandaging, from Survey 1986, 1938

About the artist

Wendy Ewald