Day 1
Is there black in the Union Jack?
What is it like to be black and British in this day and age? We did discuss this as a group, and roughly came to the conclusion that black people are celebrated if they do well in sports and the music industry, but are generally left hidden, forgotten or demonised in general.
Reading historical accounts of how Africans were perceived and portrayed by certain educated white men in British society in the 18th and 19th Century. Their accounts are not favourable to black people, who are described as being very close to the ’savage’ and possessing very little intellectual capabililties.
We had outside of the classroom discussions on how we identified racially with our racial background. There were varying ideas and beliefs held within the group, ideas about how it is misleading to be identified with calling oneself ‘black’ as there is no ‘Black Land’, so calling non - white people black is and dis - empowering them by creating a sense of not physically belonging anywhere in the world. Another conversation was whether it is important or not, to have white friends or just have black friends?
We talked about different groups of people coming to live in the UK over the years, and how they had mostly been treated and thought of in a negative way from the local Bristolians.
Day 2
Bristol Records Office –
Looking at paper work from 1968 from the Voluntary Race Relations Council in Bristol, and reading that there did seem to be problems with the Black Afro - caribbean immigrants assimilating in to Bristol.
Looking at photos of white Bristolians celebrating Imperial Day held at Blaise Castle.
Black brass band marching, black history month calendars, Bamboo Night Club pictures.
Day 3
Camera and audio Recording Day,
How to use DSLR stills camera, using the video tool.
White balance, iso, shutter speed, aperture,
Audio don’t go above -6.
Camera shots, angle shots,
Watched a shot film about two sisters who are playing together, then becoming separated as they grew up a little. The older sister starts bleaching her skin, and is not so interested in playing.
No dialogue, laughing and singing rhymes backing track. My favourite shot was of the older sister bleaching her face in the bathroom, while sister looks on the other side of the glass, water drops on the glass, look like her tears as she sadly watching her sister from a far.