otograph. Carrie Mae Weems combines her love of folklore, storytelling, and photography by writing beneath her images to expand our understanding of the moment.
Sponsor a women’s photography exhibition with a reception, gallery talks, and a catalog made by students. Invite visitors to take the gender challenge posed by author Cathy Newman by displaying a dozen photographs, six taken by women and six taken by men. Have gallery visitors record their guesses as to the gender of each photographer.
Using magazines and newspapers as sources, ask students to collect portraits, representing many cultures, that depict a theme such as “Family.” In an accompanying chart, list the cultures or countries the images represent.In three additional columns answer the following questions: How do you feel when looking at the photograph? What do you see that makes you feel that way? What else do you see? These three questions will elicit specific and detailed observations with the photograph always the primary reference point.
Have students collect snapshots and/or photo images to assemble a photomontage depicting the theme “Generations.” The black-and-white photography of Lola Alvarez Bravo can be used to model the technique. As they choose images to depict the theme, ask students what age ranges and genders they need to represent. Encourage students to arrange and rearrange the various elements until they are satisfied, paying particular attention to balance and composition. The addition of sketching, painting, and words can be optional. Display photomontages so groups can observe how others represented the theme, and encourage discussion.
Teachers can help students create personal photomontages. Begin by having students take photographs of themselves in school; then have them add photos and artwork representative of other areas in their lives to create a biographical collage. Use Lowry’s Looking Back as a starting point for this activity.
Link historical literature with photographs from the same era. The home front and war front photographs of Dorothea Lange and Margaret Bourke-White, respectively, span such topics as WWII, the Great Depression, Japanese American internment, and the Holocaust. Young adult selections such as Autumn Street (Houghton, 1980) and Number the Stars (Houghton, 1989), both by Lois Lowry, Journey to Topaz (Creative Arts, 1971) and Journey Home (Simon & Schuster, 1978), both by Yoshiko Uchida, and Out of the Dust (Scholastic, 1997) by Karen Hesse parallel these major events. Picture-book comparisons are also informative; for example, in The Bracelet (Philomel, 1993) by Yoshiko Uchida, one can see the visual echoes of actual documentary photographs taken by Lange.
Pat Joel is a reading teacher who recently completed an online certificate program in youth literature and technology from Rutgers University.