The discussion involving Nikki Lee’s works brought up a great deal of ideas that I hadn’t considered previous to the class.  What I found most interesting was how we perceive people just by viewing a photograph of them.  It’s bazaar how quick we can create the person just by viewing a single second captured on a photograph.  I think that this idea is an integral part of Nikki Lee’s works as a whole.  We create this identity of a person by viewing a photograph, but is this creation correct.  Lee assumes these characters for her works, but we know that they’re fictitious.  It seems as though she’s conveying the idea that our perceptions can be just as false.  This idea became an important aspect of today’s discussion.  The majority of the students, including me, became perfect examples of how quickly we can create and judge the identity of a person in a photograph presented today.  The photograph is none other than the gun toting honky tonk.

                                                                                    

                                                               

                                                                                       “Ohio Project”

                         When this picture came up in today’s discussion, we had instantly developed an identity of the man in the picture.  We see the rebel fleg which automatically made him a racist.  There is the potato chips, tv controller and bible which automatically made him lazy, prone to vices, and conservative.  The decor shouts trailer trash and the prominent rifle makes him prone to violence.  Almost everyone agreed that this was a man who would see at a klan meeting or a cops episode.  It wasn’t after class had ended that I realized that Nikki Lee could have been trying to emphasize the stereotyping that is so commonplace in viewing photos.  

                        One of the first and most prominent aspects of the photo which lead use to such a negative judgement would have to be the confederate flag.  When seeing this, many think that the man is a racist because he supports the confederacy.  I don’t necceseraly agree with this perception.  Assuming that the man lives in a trailer park and is relatively poor, one could suspect that he is a native to Ohio.  Unless I’m mistaken, Ohio was not a part of the confederacy.  Aside from the flag, there is nothing in the photgraph which proves that the man is a racist.  I don’t believe that any hard core racist would allow a hussed up Asian woman inside his trailer.  I believe that the flag is there as a rebellion to the federal government.  I’ve had plenty of non-racist friends from upstate New York who love the rebel flag because it epitamizes rebellion against what they believe to be a controlling government, and not the symbol for a pro-slave government.

                    The objects placed in the photograph also lead us to falsely judge the man in the photo.  In all honesty, I don’t think there’s one student in class who hasn’t eaten potato chips, drank soda, or smoked cigarettes.  But when we see that in the photograph, we can quickly assume that the man is somewhate of a vagabond because of his diet.  The presence of the rifle also leads us to believe that this man is violent.  I come from a part of New York where guns are extremely commonplace in homes.  Some of the kindest and most respectable men and women I’ve met from my home have arsenals in their homes.  The man in the photograph could very likely be kind, respectful and compassionate, and yet we instantly jump to a different conclusion when we first view the picture. 

                         The picture by Nikki Lee forces us to examine how we so easily judge and perceive someone with a single glance.  It leads me to wonder how often I come to such negative conclusions in my own life.  I find myself toying with the old idea that we should never judge a book by it’s cover.  In this case, we shouldn’t judge a honky tonk by his accoutrement.