HIGH SCHOOL Me as an Icon metaphors, and memories relating to their icon of choice. Students combined them with photographs taken off streaming devices during their stay-at-home time. Instructions for Students What is an icon? If you describe someone as an icon, you mean that that person is important as a symbol of a particular thing. For example, in music, icons might be Nipsey Hussle, Bad Bunny, Tupac, Prince, or Juan Gabriel. For art, Frida Kahlo. Icons are influential, recognizable, and revered. In this project, you will use photography to express the impact pop culture and icons have on society. You will also under-stand and document why icons speak to you as well as specific communities. Objectives Make a self-portrait as your chosen icon. The self-portrait should be an abstract representation. You will not be com-pletely transformed; rather, you will incorporate a symbol and another element that distinguishes who your icon is. I Joe Medina n the summer of 2019, I was asked by the Magnum Founda-tion to mentor a Social Justice in Photography Fellow in a workshop titled “Reframing Photography and Education.” The goal was to partner photo educators with Social Justice and Photography Fellows to explore visual strategies in tra-ditional or alternative learning spaces, how the classroom can be a space for activism and radical imagery, and what photo education needs now. As part of the workshop, I developed a lesson plan inspired by the series Caricias by documentarian Arlene Mejorado. Caricias is a multimedia ode to migrant LGBTQ tribute artists who perform as Latinx divas. These nostalgic performances are a growing cultural phenomenon in Los Angeles, where tribute artists are invited to entertain at backyard parties, first communion and baptism celebrations, quinceañeras, and nightclubs. Me as an Icon Caricias explores the journey beyond the spectacle and dives into the intimate spaces these tribute artists create with their audiences and community. Inspired by Caricias , I created the lesson “Me as an Icon” for two geographically separate and culturally different groups of students in Los Angeles. This lesson comprises a self-portrait and documen-tary assignment that illustrates how icons are mirrors of our cultures and desires. This lesson asks students to investigate why icons speak to specific communities. What does it mean to be a fan of particular icons? For the self-portrait section of the assign-ment, I asked students to create abstract self-portraits in our studio. I required that students not be totally transformed, but rather incorporate a symbol or other element that repre-sents or distinguishes their chosen icon. Due to the pandemic, the documentary section of the assignment was no longer doable. As an alternative, I asked students to use images of Los Angeles taken before the schools closed. These images represent places, symbols, 20 SEPTEMBER 2021 SchoolArts
School Arts Magazine September 2021: Page 20
