Essay Reading Racial Fetishism: The Photographs Of Robert Mapplethorpe

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Photography and portraiture is a powerful medium for art. Through photography and portraiture we are able to capture the essence and being of individuals and moments. Many artists that primarily work within these genres do so for that very reason. Famous photographer Robert Mapplethorpe was no different, using his photographs to capture portraits of the various characters that made up the fabric of his social existence as a gay white male living in New York City. Robert Mapplethorpe, as a member of a fringe lifestyle and culture within America, wanted to utilize his work to bring to the public conscious, recognition and appreciation of these fringe groups and cultures, even if it required shocking depictions and imagery. Most of Mapplethorpe’s work included erotic imagery with xxx. Many critics have assessed Mapplethorpe’s work in a variety of contexts, including scholar Kobena Mercer in his essay “Reading Racial Fetishism: The Photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe”. In this essay Mercer tries to explore Mapplethorpe’s controversial Black Book photographs, a collection of portraits that often depicted nude black males in styled poses, sometimes with their penis exposed. In this essay, Mercer discusses several themes and interpretations of Mapplethorpe’s …show more content…

Mapplethorpe though has completely reversed this concept to new extremes. By portraying a nude black male, such as in Thomas, Mapplethorpe is evoking an emotional response in the viewer that results in either desire or fear, depending on the viewer’s own bias and prejudices. This is actually a very important theme within Mercer’s essay that he reflects upon. Mapplethorpe’s goal with the portrait is to elevate the black male figure to an aesthetic ideal, just as with classical Greek sculpture. For Mapplethorpe, Thomas is a study in the human form, figure, and aesthetic, but with a representation from the ‘fringe’

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