Graduation Year
2025
Date of Submission
5-2025
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Intercollegiate Media Studies
Reader 1
James Morrison
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Rights Information
2025 Haimanot W. Belay
Abstract
Black Bodies have regularly been subjected to racial remarks and stereotypes in the United States for centuries. Through the pain and suffering, art came into existence and became utilized as resistance in part of telling the Black experience. Through movements like the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement, Black artists gained recognition and success across the world. Society slowly began to give Black people props for their artistic endeavors. The arts continued to evolve into digital spaces, known as digital and film photography, and as a result, Black people began expressing their thoughts into photographs. Black folks have been condemned and critiqued for the traumatizing acts and lack of bodily autonomy, and through photography, their right of choice was reclaimed.
My thesis looks to analyze the life and compositional works of Carrie Mae Weems, Dana Scruggs, and Lorna Simpson regarding the subject of Blackness in America, and how they each stylistically utilize the camera lens to create that. The study provides a brief overview of the beginning where and how art notably began in the United States. Then, I will give an introduction to each photographer and follow with my commentary and analysis of some of their most important works regarding the Black experience. This content museums stills and fashion magazine works that surround the idea of highlighting the Black community is a meaningful way. Lastly, I conclude with how their work’s have influenced the twenty-first century and their lasting impact.
Recommended Citation
Belay, Haimanot, "Black Bodies In America: A Examination of Carrie Mae Weems, Dana Scruggs, and Lorna Simpson’s Photography" (2025). CMC Senior Theses. 3801.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/3801
Streaming Media
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.