This exhibition features work by four Texas-based photographers, who address themes related to our most basic human needs. Barriers to these resources reflect the baseline issues surrounding social justice and equity within American society and around the world (noted from <\/span>Food Shelter Water<\/span><\/i><\/a> exhibition webpage).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Exploring the Artwork (Part One) with Photography Professor Maja Buck\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n During the March 7 TAG Tuesday session, Professor Maja Buck focused on Jamie Robertson and Stephanie Duprie Routh\u2019s works. She began the session by directing the audience to look slowly through Robertson\u2019s photographs, which recognize the legacy of Black land ownership in East Texas. The images convey Robertson\u2019s family\u2019s lived experience on a group of adjacent properties, which they have owned for over 130 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jamie Robertson, Kitchen Sink<\/em>, 2020, digital photograph<\/p><\/div>\n Professor Buck then led a discussion about how the audience members see photographs in relation to the themes of the exhibition: food, shelter, and water. Both the audience and Buck described that Robertson\u2019s photographs relate closely to the idea of \u201cshelter\u201d \u2013 which is represented both through images of houses and through moments of close community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She explained, \u201cthe idea of shelter isn\u2019t always quite literal.\u201d The photographs display a literal interpretation of a house, while also \u201cembodying a family, ancestry, sense of place, and space, not just the physical location, but within family members as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Stephanie Duprie Routh, Playtime or Bath time? Both., 2021, digital photograph<\/em><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Professor Buck then directed the audience\u2019s attention to Duprie Routh\u2019s photographs, which document her ten-day trip up the Nile River in Egypt and all the intimate moments of sailing, farming, and fishing Duprie Routh encountered on this journey. The audience pointed out how \u201cwater\u201d is the main character in the photographs. In the images, water is captured being used in various ways\u00a0 people are swimming, working, and using water for transportation.<\/span><\/p>\n After opening up for audience questions, Professor Buck was asked what she looked for as a curator when choosing the photographs between the two artists. Her approach was choosing strong photographs that stood out, and helped create an overarching narrative. She explained,\u201c[the photographs] have to gel aesthetically and [have] a strong story.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Exploring the Artwork (Part Two) with Photography Professor Bret Brookshire\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Professor Bret Brookshire led the March 28 TAG Tuesday session and discussed Cindy Elizabeth and Veronica G. C\u00e1rdenas\u2019 photographs. He began the session by discussing the two sets of photographs as a whole, asking the audience how the photographs relate to the exhibition’s themes of food, shelter, and water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ver\u00f3nica G. C\u00e1rdenas, Migrants, mostly Haitians, cross back and forth on the Rio Grande to Ciudad Acu\u00f1a, M\u00e9xico and Del Rio, Texas<\/em>, 2021, digital photograph<\/p><\/div>\n The audience agreed Elizabeth\u2019s work centered around the theme of water, while C\u00e1rdenas\u2019 work focused on shelter. Professor Brookshire explained that in C\u00e1rdenas\u2019 photographs, many of the subjects are migrants \u2013 all of whom may be living without a stable physical home. However, when provided with no shelter or home, people often gather together in order to protect \u2013 or shelter \u2013 one another.<\/span><\/p>\n Professor Brookshire followed by explaining how the theme of shelter and community also play a subtle yet powerful part in Elizabeth\u2019s work. An audience member commented on the connection they recognized in his point on \u201ccommunity.\u201d Elizabeth\u2019s photographs show a safe place for a local community, while C\u00e1rdenas\u2019 photographs show a traveling community, and the shelter found in gathering with each other.<\/span><\/p>\n Cindy Elizabeth, 3ft and Rising<\/em>, 2019, digital photograph<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Brookshire then directed the attention to Elizabeth\u2019s work, which displays a family-oriented aquatic performance at Givens Pool in East Austin, inspired by the genres of Afro-futurism and Science Fiction.<\/span><\/p>\n He tells the audience that \u201cAfro-futurism\u201d stood out when reading the paragraph next to Elizabeth\u2019s work. Afro-futurism \u00adis visual art and literature inspired by Black pride and centers around Black culture, self-determination, and resilience. While Elizabeth\u2019s photographs aren\u2019t specifically futuristic,\u00a0 Brookshire interprets Elizabeth\u2019s work as telling a story of a neighborhood over time, inhabiting space that blends the past, present, and future.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf your community is bound together by stories \u2013 [specifically] stories of your foundations \u2013 I think that\u2019s also shelter. [You\u2019re] sheltered by [your] story.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Professor Brookshire then moved on to C\u00e1rdenas\u2019 work, which documents the realities of migration and seeking asylum at the southern border of the U.S. As a photographer himself, Brookshire complimented C\u00e1rdenas and their photographic ability. He shared how C\u00e1rdenas paid close attention to the quiet moments \u2013 acknowledging their choice of what to photograph. They could have easily taken pictures when chaos struck. 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