At a Glance
Jalisa Haggins, Norman, Stereotype: Watermelon, black and white photographs from 35mm film, 8” x 10”
Jalisa Haggins likes watermelon, but not that much by Heather Read
Photography students at the University of Oklahoma’s School of Art and Art History showcased their recent work in a disappointingly brief exhibit entitled SilverShots at the Lightwell Gallery on the OU campus. This was not your typical student art show. Their art, mostly black and white photographs, displays a level of compositional sophistication common to an earlier generation of photographer. The work of one young artist in particular, Jalisa Haggins, stands out from those of her peers. In her series of three 35mm photographs, Stereotype: Watermelon, Haggins appears in varying states of joyful ecstasy as she devours a slice of watermelon against a stark white backdrop. Her laughs and shrieks of pleasure are almost audible to the viewer, and yet she remains steadfastly oblivious to the presence of the camera, absorbed as she is in the simultaneous act of possessing and enjoying the fruit she holds in her hands so provocatively. The photographs in Stereotype: Watermelon function like a low-profile shadow box: Haggins’ body has been cut out from the photograph, slightly elevated and then glued to the same spot. Dramatic lighting creates a shadow of her loosely-textured, unkempt afro upon the backdrop; the silhouette of her hair dominates the area beyond her left shoulder and leaves a featureless void to her right. The viewer’s belief in the sincerity of Haggins’ expression of euphoria-induced detachment diminishes exponentially once the complexity of the composition becomes clearer. She is 26
at a glance
detached from her original context but still a part of it, aware and yet isolated, all at once. She ogles, teases and flirts with the watermelon, and in so doing she ridicules this long-held stereotype with good-natured sarcasm, as if she’s saying: “C’mon now. Watermelon? Seriously?” Haggins’ speaks of the figure in Stereotype: Watermelon as a role, a character to play. She jokes, “I like watermelon, but not that much!” In that respect, her work could be said to emulate the performative aspect of Cindy Sherman’s photographs, in addition to Kara Walker’s historical consciousness. Like Walker, Haggins seeks to confront issues of identity with her art. Haggins describes her work as destroying racial stereotypes by reinforcing their ridiculousness with the visual image. Haggins is young and idealistic, to be sure, but if these few pieces are an indication of things to come, I think we’re in for a treat. Jalisa Haggins is a New Media sophomore at OU’s School of Art and Art History. SilverShots ran March 8-14, 2011. n Heather Read is a freelance writer out of Norman, where she teaches art history at the University of Oklahoma.