“Citizen” Response Proposal

I will be communicating my response to Citizen by Claudia Rankine through a series of original portraits  with quotes from the book and the people I photograph as captions, and an artist’s statement.  The quotes from the students will be on their favorite topic brought up in Citizen and why, or how it relates to them.  My focus will be on the mental destruction being treated as “less than” has on a person.  I want to express the effect words have on people and how these words can alter a person’s view of their self image and self worth.  I intend the audience to be middle and high school students who know words matter, but don’t necessarily understand why.  Or, middle and high school students who have been the victims of discrimination or whose self image has been beaten down by verbal attacks and would like a piece that can speak for them if they do not feel they are able to express their feelings at this time.