Classroom activity
"kicks", a digital photo essay
In the vernacular of the urban adolescent, sneakers or shoes with laces are commonly referred to as "kicks". Students are enamored with shoe culture and are seemingly devout in their attention to the latest styles and trends. As mentioned previously, I am particularly taken by the idea of walking feet, as they map the path of journey, as the expressive phenomenon of storytelling. The images of feet walking in Alfredo Jaar's The Fire Next Time, 1989 that visually played in my mind as a metaphorical element are in fact contextually related to a broader socio-political message conveyed in the complete work. In this class activity students will work in small groups to create photo essays of a more light-hearted nature in utilizing photography to express common social narratives from the point of view of pavement-level perspectives of peoples' feet. Students' metaphorical journeys will become "pedestrian speech acts" as devices for storytelling through ground level views of "kicks", of students' feet walking.
In "Walking in the City", Michel De Certeau describes "the chorus of idle footsteps".
Their story begins on ground level with footsteps. They are myriad, but do not compose a series. They cannot be counted because ecach unit has a qualitative character: as tyle of tactile apprehension and kinesthetic appropriation. Their swarming mass is an innumerable collection of singularities. Their intertwined paths give their shape to spaces. They weave places together. 36
Students will consider how body language can communicate social interactions even when viewed at ground level. Students will brainstorm to determine possible stories they wish to tell and how best to convey the story within established limitations. Students will consider what types of social interactions can be defined in their step gestures. Students will stage arrangements of student subjects as seen from ground level views of their "kicks", their feet. The staged students will be photographed against a background of other students' moving feet as they are seemingly moving about from one place to another between class periods. Students' interactions will be photographically captured for their storytelling capacities. The following questions may provide students with direction:
How can it seem obvious to the viewer what is going on in the rest of the figures' bodies that remain unseen? How many feet are needed to story-tell an argument, a romance, athletic enthusiasm, struggle, debate, teasing, lunchroom clamor, tardy to class? What type/style of shoes tell the story? How is age, gender, ethnic culture conveyed by the shoes? What gestures or motions will be important in conveying the intended story? Students will present their photo essays in a public display in the school. Consider the possibility of having the photographs enlarged to poster size to increase their visual impact as storytelling devices. Critique the images and their appropriate installation. Is a script necessary or do the footsteps tell the story?
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