Black Postcolonial Archives In-Depth Analysis - Essay Example

Black postcolonial archives in-depth analysis

Introduction

Historical archives that existed after the post-colonial period were an essential in laying a landmark for the modern imaging techniques. Several artworks were exhibited in different parts of the world like Trinidad. It has also been established that the concept of imaging can be dated back to several years when the black had a unique photographic image making techniques. For instance, the black imaging technique mainly involved the opening up of the static meaning of images. It was believed that photography had more aspect of truth that forced the aspect of photography to develop. Photographers gained more concern to improve the aspect of imagery and the use of images to enhance its use in some areas. According to Kempado (2000), there has been a need to enhance hybridization of the aspect of imagery. In the period between 1838 and 1948, the aspect of ghosting emerged; this emphasized the aspect of imagery as well as fictional dialogue. This article will delve into some literature sources to discuss the aspect of imagery and its evolution.

Ghosting

Ghosting has been described as a digital work that is interactive where imagery and the fictional dialogue. It is a change that begun in Trinidad between 1838 and 1948 during a time when slavery and forced labor was a main occurrence in the region. It is believed that the socio-political and economic dynamics were responsible for initiating such changes. This shift rhymes with the aspect of art that involves imagination and creativity. Best imagination is derived from nature as well as the surrounding where a specific aspect can be used to develop an image that represents the situation. An image must have the artistic capacity to describe the intentions of the artists by the way he uses several features. The imagery in the post-colonial period is believed to have incorporated many aspects to indicate oppression. For instance in the case of Trinidad, imagery involved portraying slaves in the fields and further creativity deployed to depict forced labor.

The primary purpose for ghosting is to use the aspect of the digital representation of imagery or other multimedia artworks to analyze the visibility of an area. The main question is to establish whether an image can be used to view an image as a site of absence and visibility. Questions over the aspects of authenticity and realistic representation are often considered when ghosting. Just as the name suggests, an image has to consider some aspect of fictional dialogue to ensure that a person viewing the image gets involved in the imagination. The image should virtually act as a ghost in such a way that viewers must get in the fictional narration of the image. In most cases, creativity is a very important when such features are to be obtained.

The adoption of imagination and fictional approach to imagery was developed due to lack of historical representation of facts using images. Evidence in the postcolonial era was only found from oral narration, and there was a need to artistically represent these facts through imagery. The representation of oral accounts was definitely meant to incorporate an artistic approach to representing the various relationships that existed in the colonial period. For instance, for the case of Trinidad, imagery and fictional approach was used to develop a multimedia expression of the plantation slaves and the masters. For example, ghosting in Trinidad involved developing an image that would depict some different activities at the same time even though some rhymed while other contrasted. For instance, depicting a relationship between a master and a slave at the same time, slavery and love still had to find a place in the same illustration. Contrasting feelings were to be illustrated on the same image inhuman feeling leisure and aspects of sexual pleasure.

Ghosting has also been described as the unique way in which motion is interpreted. A gallery was developed from space with still images arranged in an artistic way that they appear to be continuous. Viewers and readers can interact continuously with the characters represented by the images and their respective stories. Modern digital artwork can highly benefit from the technique of ghosting.

Postwar Black settlement art

In imagery, culture has always been considered as one aspect that can trigger creativity and imagery. Many of the archives that have images from the post-war era evidently adopted socio-political activities to develop imagery. However, in the pre-colonial era, it can be argued that description was prepared from the culture in such a way that some aspects and techniques of art were culturally inherent within a particular cultural setting. Most museums have found the use of photographs very necessary in the depicting of certain historical aspects of a specific region. Both a period and activities can be explained by some historical images placed in museums. Photographs taken during the colonial and postcolonial period are used to depict specific message and have often been viewed as a turnaround to imagery.

The history of the blacks and their settlement in England is one of the historical events that have had many social and political issues. The collection of photographs from this postcolonial era has been collected and documented to form part of the evidence of historical periods. Transformation and change can easily be identified the collection in Britain. The imagery in England was different from the imagery in Trinidad during the same post-colonial period. While in Trinidad the ghosting was the main technique of imagery, real photographs were used in England. Ghosting was used a fictional approach to depicting historical facts in Trinidad. On the other hand, in England, the aspect of ghosting was not used to create a specific illusion for viewers.

Historical facts in England can well be identified from the photographs, which can be important role when writing historical facts of England. The post-colonial photographs in England are critical when it comes to the reconstruction of historical events and times. According to Stuart (1984), an aspect of photographic text can be derived from the post-colonial photographs in England. A lot of care must be taken while interpreting such photographs as they may touch on specific historical injustices. It has been established that the photographs are considered multi-accentual in meaning. However, varying textual meanings can be derived from the images, which is a factor of the intertextuality contained in the images. Stuart takes a look at one photograph of the post-colonial era taken at a railway station where black can be seen waiting for people to pick them. The people in the photograph are expectant and staring at something or someone beyond the photograph. When compared to the case of Trinidad, the photographs were clear and colored to create an illusion. The photos from England are in black and white and mainly depict the blacks in executive attires. The photography of nature in England was so rare as compared to Trinidad. It can be assumed that the concentration of imagery between the two regions varied during the post-colonial era.

Historical mapping using photographs

Historical mapping is an important aspect when attempting to explain some issues and events that occurred in the past. As established earlier own, in Trinidad, historical events from the colonial era could only be mapped using oral narration from the affected communities. Such a situation can jeopardize the aspect of tracing historical events in case the people possessing such knowledge pass away. As much as words can be used to explain specific events, words may lack expressions for unique events especially in for the postcolonial period when the black community was in the process of establishing a new way of life away from slavery. The fear of loss of historical events in the colonial period explains why ghosting was used in Trinidad. The lack of images during the era of forced labor and slavery implied that people would only develop imagination from creative ghosting. On the contrary, for the case of England, photographs seemed to have been used early to depict the state of the blacks during the postcolonial era. Some of the specific events that occurred during this period that affected the blacks were photographed.

Photographs have proven to be used alongside text in various media such as newspapers, magazines, and historical books. Archives heavily benefit from the use of photographs since they are easy to explain and are sometimes self-explanatory. Images have the ability to speak a message that can be political, economic or cultural. Images that have been edited through ghosting are intentionally meant to cover-up for the time that has not been represented in the past. For instance, the relationship between the slaves and their masters could only be depicted by ghosting. The approach was preferred because such time had not been represented in history.

In imaging historical evidence, images from newspapers were collected with an attempt to identify the image they can portray. Any person to express his or her interests using images taken at a specific time or specific events can use the technique. Kempadoo used the same technique to collect art material between 1997 and 1999 from Guyana. His interest in collecting the art was to depict his relationship with Guyana since many historical events tie him to Guyana. That is a good example of how imagery can be used to connect personal event. The same artist, Kepadoo, used the same technique to connect historical events. When images of the postcolonial period are collected and systematically arranged, symbolism can be derived from the arrangement. Another example can be identified from the Creole narration using imagery. Some of the historic messages depicted include the information about the Caribbean and the broad history of the cultural heritage of Britain. The Creole art has provided a good way of linking identity of a community by looking at the collection of images. The history of slavery and interactions among the various races in the Caribbean are represented in a unique way by the art collection. In addition, symbolic aspects such as migration and colonialism can easily be analyzed from the Caribbean collection. Other symbolic aspects from the Creole that were identified by Kempadoo are achieved by depicting shorelines, horizon, and space between lands.

Conclusion

Imagery is a unique way of presenting narration to viewers and has been used for many years for some reasons. One of the areas where imagery has been used is the museums where imagery has been useful in ‘narrating’ historical events. The aspect of imagery has also been useful in developing historical events in the post colonial era in many countries. The black were generally exposed to slavery and racism, which marks some of the darkest history for many black communities. Collection of art at various stages of changes among the blacks has been useful in depicting historical changes. Two examples have been provided where imagery was used in both Trinidad and England during the postcolonial period. Kempadoo has been very active in collecting art pieces to develop imagery to depict specific historical message. It is evident that many people artistically to represent specific factors through symbolism can use the technique.