Heirlooms/Evidence: A Workshop On Whiteness

Oct 32021

archive : 2021

Heirlooms/Evidence: A Workshop On Whiteness

What does responsible ownership and exploration of whiteness look like?

Presenters: Alexis Lambrou Jessica Bal Sarah Winter

Location: Online

Presented by:

Our Online Sessions are proudly supported by our partner PhotoWings.

Heirlooms/Evidence is an archival workshop in which we collect and reflect on personal objects and images that represent lineages of privilege in North America. These items act as a sort of physical evidence—as well as a concrete place for starting a dialogue and intentionally exploring identity. Participants will be guided through a series of conversations and hands-on activities that begin to unpack the ways in which our whiteness and privilege function in the world, and in our practice as media-makers, educators, and more. Heirlooms/Evidence invites participants to examine what we have inherited, and to rethink and shift the nature of what we pass on. We hope this workshop can provide a grounding, critical lens that makes whiteness more visible.

This workshop is geared towards white identifying people who are looking to delve into deep and often difficult conversations around whiteness as it relates to them personally. We ask that each participant bring an object or photograph that connects to their whiteness, or own personal privilege. We will be sharing stories around our objects. The goal is to encourage and provide examples of how to grapple with lineages of privilege, using an object as a concrete place for starting a dialogue.

Presenter Bios

Alexis Lambrou

Alexis Lambrou teaches photography and media literacy at Bard High School Early College. She has collaborated with young people through Sarah Lawrence College’s Social Justice Collective, the New York Public Library, the Magnum Foundation, the International Center of Photography, Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School, New York City’s Parks and Rec Centers, Photoville NYC, and the Sioux YMCA. Lambrou received her master’s degree in art and education from New York University and holds a BFA in photography from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Jessica Bal

Jessica Bal is a documentary artist, educator, and arts organizer passionate about projects that involve interdisciplinary collaboration and reciprocal approaches to storytelling. Bal’s work has been supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation, Magnum Foundation, The Polis Project, and Fledgling Fund, and published in The New York Times, BuzzFeed News, VICE, The Miami Herald, Narratively, and others. She coordinates education programming for Photoville and has taught photography to graduate students as well as middle and high school students in New York City. She also manages the digital archive of photographer Susan Meiselas. She received her master’s degree from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and holds a B.A. in english and art history from Tufts University.
Sarah Winter

Sarah Winter is an arts educator based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is the community engagement liaison at the Community Art Center (CAC). Originally from Minneapolis, she formerly worked in education and interactive media at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, where she worked on digital story-telling interactives and the early iterations of the Museums As Sites for Social Action (MASS Action) initiative. While living on the west coast, Sarah coordinated community engagement and education programming at a non-profit in Eugene, Oregon focused on arts accessibility and environmental sustainability. Sarah received her master’s degree in art, education and community practice from New York University, and holds a B.A. in art history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Organizations

PhotoWings

We’re honored to continue our partnership with Photoville for our 9th consecutive year, and to celebrate Photoville’s 14th edition! Each year Photoville provides so many rich, unique, and diverse experiences in and around photography–PhotoWings is thrilled to help enrich this community as Education Partners.

PhotoWings believes that photography has the power to influence the world. As such, we invest in strategic collaborations and programs that help make photography better understood, created, utilized, seen and saved. We also maintain an archive with hundreds of hours of original interviews and partner presentations from both within and outside the photo world, as well as curricula, tool kits, resources and community engagement activities. Ultimately, we believe that meaningful engagement with photography can foster deep thinking, communication and help people better understand and navigate the world.

The PhotoWings Outreach Program and our extensive media archive have myriad educational applications and possibilities, including projects from partners that cross disciplines, generations, and cultures. We also create toolkits/curricula for replication, adaptation and/or inspiration.

PhotoWings has partnered to document the Photoville Talks for the past five years, to expand the ways the global community can be a part of these important dialogues. Explore the collection of Photoville Talks today!

Be sure to check out all the Photoville Resources that have been supported in partnership with PhotoWings

And for more information about PhotoWings, you can visit http://photowings.org/