The Portraits We Keep
In this activity, students will curate a collection of portraits treasured by friends, family, or community members and reflect on their collective meaning
PHOTOGRAPHY LESSON 4:
EXHIBIT/PRESENTATION
1—2 class periods (45-90 min) + visual assignment
- Art and Culture
Medium > Visual Arts
Subject Matter > Art History
- History and Social Studies
Themes > Culture
World > The Modern World
- Literature and Language Arts
Place > Modern World
- Analysis
- Critical thinking
- Cultural analysis
- Discussion
- Gathering, classifying and interpreting written, oral and visual information
- Interpretation
- Media analysis
- Making inferences and drawing conclusions
- Representing ideas and information orally, graphically and in writing
- Synthesis
- Technology
- Using archival documents
- Visual analysis
- Visual presentation skills
- Writing skills
- ELA Reading: 7
- ELA Writing: 2, 4, 6-7, 9-10
- ELA Speaking & Listening: 1-2, 4-6
• HSS Reading: 7, 9
LESSON 4 HANDOUTS
- Invite portrait owners and subjects to take part in a public presentation of the collections (see our Information for Teachers).
- Allow additional time for peer-review, editing, and revision of collections, or for students to critique the visual arrangement, style, approach, and social impact of their finished works.
- Assign a longer essay or response paper in place of the short reflection, asking students to reference the history of portraiture or contemporary theories on photography in their writing (see Photography Unit Research handout for related texts and resources).