UW-Parkside News: “Chalk Talk Kenosha” this summer at UW-Parkside

“Chalk Talk Kenosha” this summer at UW-Parkside

By Kelsey Hoff

The chalk talk phenomenon has hit the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. A number of posters are currently on display in the Rita Tallent Picken Regional Center for the Arts, and more are on the way. An exhibition in the Fine Arts Gallery is scheduled to run from June 11 to July 28.

"Chalk Talk Kenosha: A Community Art Project" is made up of photographs taken by the Kenosha community using artist Wing Young Huie's "chalk talk" technique. The images were captured at workshops hosted by the Boys and Girls Club Kenosha, the university, and the Kenosha Literacy Council. Huie shared the open-ended questions he uses--"What are you?" "How have you been affected by race?" "What is your favorite word?" and others--for making "chalk talk" photographs with Kenosha area art teachers and students last fall while visiting UW-Parkside.
The messages in these photographs are poetic and philosophical. Sometimes they are funny. What is important about "chalk talk" photographs is that the people in the images tell us about themselves. And because they speak to us, we are less likely to create our own--perhaps mistaken--narratives about them.

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Story Status: Archived
Publish date: 5/9/2012