{"id":464,"date":"2012-10-22T18:39:57","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T22:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.briancroxall.net\/lit-tech\/?p=464"},"modified":"2012-10-22T18:39:57","modified_gmt":"2012-10-22T22:39:57","slug":"empowerment-through-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.briancroxall.net\/lit-tech\/2012\/10\/22\/empowerment-through-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowerment Through Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

In her work Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia<\/em>, Natasha Trethewey suggests that photography is an escape.<\/p>\n

Ophelia at the beginning does not understand who she is, who she was meant to be, or why she lives as a prostitute, though she does not explicitly use that term. In the series \u201cLetters from Storyville\u201d in the poem \u201cMarch 1911,\u201d Ophelia gives insight to her childhood. She states, \u201cLater, I took arsenic\u2014tablets I swallowed to keep me fair, bleached white as stone. Whiter still, I am a reversed silhouette against the black backdrop where I pose\u201d (Trethewey 20). As a child, Ophelia physically poisoned herself to masque her black skin. That she is a mixture of black and white races is confusing in itself. In her current life, she states that she is \u201cwhiter still\u201d and a \u201creversed silhouette.\u201d This language is somewhat oxymoronic. The word silhouette usually implicates dark and shadowy imagery, yet Ophelia uses this word to say she is a white silhouette, perhaps even ghostly. Whether a dark shadow or a white ghost, either way Ophelia describes herself using confusing descriptions because she herself does not know who she is.<\/p>\n

After she is introduced to photography and gets a feel for the technique, Ophelia finds capabilities within herself that she did not know existed. In \u201cDisclosure,\u201d Ophelia says, \u201cwhat power I find in transforming what is real, flushed with light\u201d (44). Ophelia is thus empowered by using photography. She is able to take something real and manipulate it to her liking. Physically, a photograph is \u201cflushed with light,\u201d but metaphorically, this statement can also be seen as a way to describe Ophelia\u2019s mood and happiness when she works with photographs. Her world fills with light, and that power she feels when manipulating a photograph morphs into feeling empowered in the real world.<\/p>\n

Lastly, in \u201cPhotography,\u201d Ophelia describes inverting a photo: \u201cin the negative the whole world reverses\u2026Inside out<\/em>, I said, thinking of what I\u2019ve tried to hide\u2026I look at what he can see through his lens and what he cannot\u201d (43). Through manipulation of a photograph, even though she is not physically able to see inside herself, Ophelia feels empowered to see herself from the inside out. Through photography and lighting effects, she is able to gain insight on her true self. She even states that she is able to see beyond what the camera lens can see. She pays closer attention to details on the outside as well as on the inside. Thus, photography is a way for Ophelia to escape her confusing, messed up life and gain a better understanding of herself, furthermore giving her power and control. Overall, Trethewey suggests that photography offers an escape to a better and more powerful life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her work Bellocq\u2019s Ophelia, Natasha Trethewey suggests that photography is an escape. Ophelia at the beginning does not understand who she is, who she was meant to be, or why she lives as a prostitute, though she does not explicitly use that term. In the series \u201cLetters from Storyville\u201d in the poem \u201cMarch 1911,\u201d<\/p>\n