JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON IBD

Sinopse

This photo documentary book is a first-hand pictorial account of my presence and participation at the Trayvon Martin protest which took place outside the American Embassy in London March 31st 2012. The production of this historical photo document is about ensuring that the UKásupport for Trayvon Martin is recorded and archived in accessible libraries as opposed to onlyácommercial or private archives.ááThe book is broken int three sections: á1.áááSection One: Perspectives On The Death Trayvon Martin And Racism5áAcademic Essaysá2.áááSection Two Visual Activism And Iconic Protest Imagesáááá250 Photosá3.áááSection Three Race And Policing In The UKááá5áAcademic EssaysáThis publication consists of images taken with a basic digital camera cell phone. The images are not watermarked, neither do they come with captions. While I was reluctant to exclude images-based on quality alone, I adopted the view that images which express a wide range of emotions regardless of quality or áimperfections, to the consternation of many a purist photographer and editor. This photobook focuses on how interpreting black protestorsâÇÖ political dress practices can change the experience of viewing and ultimately understanding the black bodyâÇÖs role in civil in anti-racism protests. The role of feeling within photographic theory and practice is fundamental with regards to the experience of viewing photographs of suffering because it calls on the viewer to assume the role of a secondary witness, or rather a witness who was not present at the moment of incident develops an emotional identification. The visual experience is never purely visual, but rather engages with other senses that enhance how we see. To discuss feeling in relation to the photographic image is to discuss both the tactile, or the textural, and the emotional. In addressing the symbolic value of dress in relation to the black-body-as-protest-body the viewer gets closer to touching or rediscovering a new narrative of the photograph through the poetics of dress vis-Ãá-vis its aestheticization. The book highlights how the aesthetics of resistance are the wearable political signs, badges, worn in almost every public demonstration, act as a visual and material way of asserting collective beliefs through individual bodies and voices.áIn the case of the Trayvon Martin protests, the political dress is symbolized by participants wearingáhoodies, while carryáthe now infamous skittles, and ice tea complimented with cries ofá'NoáJustice No Peace. Protest.' áá