The document records a series of threaded posts from a Lehman College "Photography & Performance" class in February 2026. Students and the instructor (Brian McCormick) discuss five key photographic bodies of work: Carrie Mae Weems’ Kitchen Table series, Samuel Fosso’s self‑portrait performance series, Zanele Muholi’s visual‑activist portraits, Cindy Sherman’s staged identity work (including controversy over black‑face depictions), and Mehdi‑Georges Lahlou’s “Controlled Stupidities” video. Each contribution reflects personal reactions, contextual background, and critical interpretation of themes such as domesticity, gendered power, racial representation, embodiment, activism, and the politics of staging. The instructor adds scholarly framing, emphasizing feminist activism, the theatricality of staged photography, and the ethical dimensions of representation. The discussion collectively illustrates how photography can function as performance, a site of visual activism, and a medium for interrogating identity, power, and cultural stereotypes.
Topics
Weems’ Kitchen Table Series: Domestic Staging as Feminist Activism
Student and instructor analyses of Carrie Mae Weems’ black‑and‑white staged photographs that place the artist in various domestic roles, highlighting power dynamics, motherhood, and the kitchen as a site of both care and constraint.
Samuel Fosso’s Self‑Portrait Performance: Embodiment and Historical Re‑enactment
Reflections on Fosso’s use of costume, pose, and theatricality to inhabit real historical figures, examining how impersonation becomes a critique of colonial and gendered stereotypes.
Zanele Muholi’s Visual Activism: Black LGBTQ+ Visibility through Self‑Portraiture
Discussion of Muholi’s black‑and‑white self‑portraits, use of everyday materials, and explicit intent to document and protect marginalized South African communities.
Cindy Sherman’s Constructed Identities and the Blackface Controversy
Examination of Sherman’s role‑playing practice, the ethical critique of her early black‑face series, and broader questions about who gets to represent whom in photographic art.
Mehdi‑Georges Lahlou’s Controlled Stupidities: Silent Protest and Masculine Stereotype Subversion
Interpretation of Lahlou’s minimalist video of a shirtless man eating a banana with a Quran on his head, read as a non‑verbal challenge to religious and gender norms.