The Digital Past Course Blog

Originally, I used this image in my first Omeka skill assignment. I chose it again for this skill assignment because I thought that it was a very poignant depiction of a common occurrence in the 1930’s. This photograph is of a farm auction that took place in Derby, Connecticut. In the 1930’s, auctions were common as farms foreclosed due to unpaid debt. Many farmers lost their land and their most valuable possessions because of these foreclosure auctions. 1

My historical question was: what new perspectives can I find from glitching the photograph of the farm auction? When I started the assignment for glitching the photograph, I wasn’t sure if I could tease out a meaning from an essentially corrupted image. However, I still went forward with the assignment, unsure if I would find something worth writing about. I borrowed my grandmother’s mac laptop, the only mac computer nearby, and I set to work. Thanks to the tutorial posted to slack by a fellow classmate, I managed to successfully glitch the photo. The first glitch split the auction crowd in two and flipped the left side to the right, and vice versa. The next glitch desaturated a large section of the photograph of most of its color, and the last glitch almost completely removed all of the color from the bottom half.

The glitches forced me to look at the photograph in a new way. However, it was not easy for me. I had to look at the photograph in a way that went “against the grain of history”. 2 The first thoughts that came to my mind when I saw the glitches were confused and unimpressed. How could I find a meaning or new perspective from a corrupted and disjointed picture? I stared at the photo and wracked my brain for several minutes. 

Then I realized something about the subject of the photograph. The subject was that of a farm auction, an event that must have been very distressing for the people whose property and belongings were being sold off against their will. The glitched photograph showed the auction and its attendees as split up and almost completely erased from the image. As I examined the photograph, I thought of what it would’ve been like if these farmers did not have to auction off their lands and belongings, if these auctions had not occurred. Many people would not have been forced to move and find a life elsewhere. Many things would have been different, if those auctions did not happen.

Exhibit References

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/farm-auction–derby–conn/farm-auction–derby–conn

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/admin/items/show/177

References

Ganzel, Bill. Penny Auctions Fight Foreclosures during the Depression, https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/money_10.html.

Kramer, Michael J. “Glitching History: Using Image Deformance to Rethink Agency and Authenticity in the 1960s American Folk Music Revival.” Current Research in Digital History, http://crdh.rrchnm.org/essays/v01-08-glitching-history/.

The creation of art and the inspiration behind art pieces has changed significantly over time- as it obviously should. Life, society, politics, and so on are constantly transforming through each generation. However, a way to link new art to old art is the creative digital art form of glitching. Michael J. Kramer delves into the power of glitching images taken during the American Folk Music revival, and the glitched images themselves create a whole other meaning that previously wouldn’t have been seen had they not been glitched ⁴ . The photograph I chose to analyze and glitch was one titled “Augusta Savage posing with her sculpture Realization”, created as part of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project, pictured here. I chose to analyze this photograph because I felt that it represented African American woman and African American people’s involvement in the New Deal era very well. It revealed that African American’s were an integral part of the Federal Art Program, and shows how important art was during the Harlem Renaissance, and the Great Depression era in general. The fact that an African American woman was documented posing next to her art that was funded by the government, speaks volumes about the change occurring in America at the time, and the obvious need of art and its power to bring others together. While we haven’t delved extensively into the Harlem Renaissance, we have touched on other African American artists, such as Leadbelly, as well as other american artists who demonstrated the power of music and the arts in a time where america was feeling less enthusiastic. Morris Dickstein, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, wrote in an article specifically about how song, dance, and art brought people out of the depression. ⁵

He makes  a point to emphasize that the arts of the time were not a form of escapism, but rather a “speed, energy and movement at a time of economic stagnation and social malaise”. The photograph and documentation of Augusta Savage with her sculpture proves there was a speed and energy at that time. African American’s were just as much as a part of this artistic movement as were white people, and they were being more recognized for it.

With these theme of change and the power of art in my head, I found myself thinking about how art effects America now, and how art from the New Deal/ Great Depression era, still impacts the people of today. How did the artists of that era feel when creating their art? Did they know it would be so impactful or did they just think of it as a federally funded project for the Federal Art Project. And lastly, would something like the Federal Art Project work today? In analyzing the Augusta Savage photograph, and other documentations of artists at the time, I felt as though America was just in a different head space at the time. Documentation of artists with their work isn’t necessarily created today in the way it was back then. People wanted to boost morale, they wanted to change. America currently seems more divided than ever so the idea of art being used in such an obvious way by the government, and being documented by the government, doesn’t seem like something that would work. However, I do feel that interacting with the art of the past, as we did when creating our exhibits and the glitched image, does allow for people to get a deeper understanding of the art of the Great Depression/ New Deal era, and demonstrates that art is an extremely powerful thing that should be considered important and valid.

My image selection process was very methodical and precise. My skill assignments are dedicated to the memorabilia of the Latino culture and representation of the cultural groups through historic media. History, during the Great Depression does not demonstrate enough Latinos because a majority were sent back to their countries of origin. Therefore my assignments will represent the Latinos captured during these times in an effort to demonstrate how different groups dealt with the Great Depression.

My image is called “Child of a Migratory Farm Laborer” which shows a little Latino boy sitting on the ground of a cabbage field. While analyzing this image, a few questions I asked myself were, “Aside from immigration, how were Latinos managing survival as well as getting by through the Great Depression? Did they suffer equal or worse discrimination than Black people?”. More importantly “After a wave of deportation, how did that affect immigrations laws for Latinos specifically?”. The documentary evidence that could be gathered is that there are not enough laws or precautionary measures for children to be on the work place, or the existence of continuing child labor. This image was unique because the boy in the photograph was smiling. Most photographs from different collections showed little or no facial expression on both adults and children. However, smiling depicts a different environment that is not as terrorizing or “depressing” through the conditions of others.

While working on the glitched version of this photograph, I worked from the bottom up. I found these methods easy and rare with the ongoing thought that each movement was randomized. As stated by Michael Kramer, “glitching and deformance make it possible for us to brush history against the grain by, in a certain sense, changing the patterns of the grain itself. Digitally remediated, the source’s representational layers become more alive. Distortions to artifacts caused by these tactics ironically generate more accurate considerations of the traces of the past embedded in them.” ⁶ Distortions allow us to “rearrange” history and alter prespectives by changing an image into something entirely different. In doing so, it gives us less to think about by letting us see a glitched photograph for what it is and gets rid of a made up storyline by viewing an original photo. Trevor Owens stated “I think it suggests the value of understanding the integrity of digital objects not simply as ‘looking right’ in one particular reading out to the screen. In many cases, the integrity of the objects is something that can be expressed through a range of software enabled readings of it.” ⁷ Trevor is reminding us that something as simple as a photograph is more complex as it appears by the underlying code. This has helped me comprehend underlying codes as well as study how these methods can create different perspectives.

Bibliography

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/159

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/ana-talavera/child-of-a-migratory-farm-labo

     This image I selected is called “Hartop Goshtigian playing the violin, portrait, photograph.” The man in the photo is an Armenian-American Musician. Him and his wife, Mary, lived in Fresno, California and played music together. When searching for my image I wanted to find one that would interest me. When browsing through the resource guide I read number ten, “California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell.”⁸ This grabbed my attention because I do not know much about the music culture in 1930’s California. I looked through the collection and saw some really interesting images. There were quite a few photos of instruments and of musicians playing their them. The photo of Goshtigian with his violin caught my eye. ⁹. It is a simple photo but tells a whole story. The story this photo tells is that of the life in the 1930’s. In this photo you see Goshtigian sitting in a chair outside what is presumably his home. He is in a nice suit, playing his violin. The chair and the house are both rundown and old. He is living in California during the height of the gold rush. To many people with little money. From examining the background, one could assume that Goshtigian’s house is one of many rundown houses all in that area. Since the Goshtigians were both musicians, they probably helped to keep up people’s spirits with their music.

     The main historical questions that I am asking are: Why did he want the photo this way? What parts of 1930’s life are shown? How can this photo provide insight into the lives of musicians in the 1930’s? Some of these questions can be answered without further research. They way that Goshtigian is pictured was more than likely his choice. He wore a suit to show that he is still a person even though he may be poor. However, Goshtigian wanted to be seen as a musician over any other label. He does not want to be seen as a struggling or a prospering artist. He just wants to be seen as an artist, period. This photo shows both worlds. The poor background but the hope of success in the future. The suit represents the hope. However as long as he is seen as an artist, that is all that matters. He wants to not labeled as an Armenian artist, colored artist, struggling artist, he just wants to be known as a musician. In regards to the insight of non-White American musicians we can interpret from what we already know. While many people prospered and White Musicians gained fame, musicians of color and other races still struggled. Many of the songs that White singers became famous for, were originally created by an artist of color. Yet the original artist received nothing.

     Asking these questions helped me to better analyze the photo. Without questions I would have been looking at this photo without any context or reason. Also, being able to annotate the image and focus on one specific area at a time was very helpful. I was able to look closer and dig deeper into the photo. With the annotation, I was able to write out my thoughts and be more organized. Overall, I found this assignment very interesting. It was a technique I had never used before. This image analysis process will definitely come in handy in other projects outside of this class.

“How Song, Dance and Movies Bailed Us out of the Depression.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2009, www.latimes.com/la-oe-dickstein1-2009apr01-story.html.

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/kylie-leake-image-analysis

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/166

I selected Francisco P. Lord

¹⁰

because I noticed quickly he was an artist of color. I knew that our project would include glitching and I’ve always been very curious as to how artists of color have been systemically silenced. I was drawn to him also because the sculpture he’s working on is called “seated figure” but looks feminine. I was drawn to his ability to work on sculptures of women in the time and be able to see them as art, and create them so realistically nonetheless. I think it reveals that despite the 1930s preaching to be so embedded in gender roles, there were people who were succeeding in more progressive ways. That there were people like Francisco P. Lord who wanted to create art for the sake of beauty and not for social gain. I also like that the photographer, though employed by the Federal Art Project, wasn’t scorned by the racism taking place that he still took an equal amount of pictures of Lord ¹¹. The caption reveals that he was selected to be shown at the World’s Fair. I felt like that was important to our earlier discussion on race.

¹²

The historical question I am asking is: How did photographs of artists of color alter the racist narrative beginning to take foothold in the 1930s?

These methods, like glitching and annotating images, help us to think more critically because they encourage us to understand them beyond just a photograph. They make us think why the photograph was taken, how the other person was affected, and what happens when we try to glitch it to expose the true sentiment behind it. I like glitching more than image annotation because I feel like glitching is a very active way to analyze the images. It allows us to really delve into their creation, and how the image changes meaning when it is altered. I especially feel that it reveals undertones that the original image cannot show that we can only interpret with previous historical insight.  Glitching

¹³

  made me draw conclusions about the image rather than see it for it’s objective parts. But, I feel like the annotation had to be the first step before understanding the glitching because I couldn’t have interpreted an image that I didn’t know anything about. I needed to understand it’s parts before I could draw assumptions about the whole. It helped me answer my historical question because I realized that photographers were open enough to take pictures of people of color and recognized their talent. So, as more photographs were taken of people of color, successful artists could be respected for what they were, successful artists. The question I still have going forward is how much those pictures were seen by everyone else? Because they can’t alter their narrative unless white people see them. Once I uncover that, I can truly understand more about my historical question.

The image I selected for this assignment stood out to me in many ways. There are innocent and young children staring at a cartoon painting of war. The contrast between innocence and darkness is what stood out to me and made me decide to do my assignment on this particular photograph. 

This photograph was taken in 1939 and at an art exhibit that was being funded by the Federal Arts Project. The arts were something that was used in order to lift the spirits of many Americans during the great depression. World War II broke out in 1939 and to see a painting of cartoon war being placed in a children’s art exhibit was interesting. The kids faces in the photograph don’t look upset but actually happy. I’m unsure if they know what war exactly entails but I wonder, were people happy about going to war? Was it something to focus on instead of the depression?

The glitched version of the original image is interesting because it takes the harshness out of the painting of war. Adding the color back into the image makes the innocence of the children come through and the word “war” is barely visible. Being able to glitch the image is an example of how we can manipulate it. This makes us able to “… pivot and change our perspective on it. Doing so can help us see things differently”. This image turns more cartoon like instead of serious which I think takes away from the meaning of the piece. I think the author Sol Horn was intending to have the contrast between kids and war stand out.

This may be a far fetched idea but when looking at both the original image and glitched image the one feeling I do not feel was intended was panic. Panic was one of the reasons the country fell into the Great Depression and my thought is that maybe the idea of having the painting in a cartoon format and around kids is to make it not seem as serious. By desensitizing people to the idea of war might cause Americans not to go into a panic again.

Archives of American Art – Children’s art exhibition sponsored by the Federal Art Project – 12271.jpg. (2018, March 25). Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Retrieved 14:49, October 9, 2019 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Archives_of_American_Art_-_Children%27s_art_exhibition_sponsored_by_the_Federal_Art_Project_-_12271.jpg&oldid=293691781.

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/18

http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/shannon-mulligan–children-s-a

I was searching for a picture that would be related to the WPA in the 1930s, but also where I could see the use of new technologies. I was expecting a combination of both.

I decided to focus on the Folk Music. I found this photograph, a portrait of Sidney Robertson Cowell, copying California Folk Music Project recordings for the Library of Congress. Cowell convinced the Northern California WPA Office in San Francisco that her project was one that was appropriate for WPA consideration ¹⁶

She was passionate by Folk Music as she said, “The first ingredient was an itching heel”. Throughout her portrait, we can perceive her hard work and strong will to create one main collection of California Folk Music recordings.

This image emphasizes the use of technology. Indeed, she was using a recorder and an engraver in order to accomplish her task. Those were heavy machines at the time, one must be courageous and applied to create good result.

Like I explained in my annotations, this portrait of Cowell working in the project office on Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, California in early 1939, intentionally justifies her work to her sponsors (co-sponsored by the Music Department of the University of California, Berkeley and the Library of Congress).

The picture was taken in an angle which propels us in the room and in Cowell’s hard work. The photo is black and white, but it depicts the use of new technologies. It brings an atmosphere where new challenges old. This is a good representation of the 1930s when the New Deal hustles the former era.

There are piles of recordings on the table next to Cowell. It shows the work getting done, but more importantly, a growing collection of gathered Californian Folk music and preserved for many years to come.

Cowell had a great journey collecting Folk Music for her state-based project. How did her journey influence her? She met Folk groups and learned about their life ¹⁷. What was Cowell’s motivation for building her project? What is the importance of technology within Cowell’s work?  

Not so long ago, I remember using transparency paper to annotate images and interpret them. If the light bulb was dead, then I could not project any image. If I did not have the pen to write on the transparency paper, then nothing could get done. Using a digitized photo, annotating it thanks to a software and being able to share it on the web is a great step forward. It is also extremely useful in order to get feedback at any time, comments, and ideas about the image in question.

The glitching method is new to me. It is surprising for sure. Humans have always evolved following another human’s idea. Since we created artificial intelligence, we can wonder what it could bring us. As a matter of fact, the glitching process is a kind of pre-step in the artificial intelligence interpretation. We still need to interact to understand what the glitch could bring us, but it helps us to have a different perspective.

In the glitched image of Cowell’s portrait, it is interesting to see that half of the frame was covered by a white band. It brings the audience to focus on the engraver, the recorder and Cowell herself. We can see on her face how focused and passionate she is with her work.

It also helps us not to think of the sponsors, because the glitched side of the image makes the university office room blurry. It also removes the interest of showing her work for the sponsors and instead, we can appreciate her work for itself.

The annotation and glitching methods were efficient in order to interrogate my historical questions. It brought a dynamism and bounced me between resources, readings, and the image. It brought a better understanding of the atmosphere and environment in which the photo took place. It felt like we could dive-in the scene and be taken on Sidney Robertson Cowell’s journey.    

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