Digital Revolution

In this interdisciplinary project, (with Humanties/English and Multimedia technology) students will be creating photography portraits in the same style as Eleanor Antin to portray significant revolutions from history. Students will be exposed to reading, writing, art and photography. The essential questions for this project are: How can we create lasting change? How is art/ literature a reflection of history? Visa versa?

In the early part of the project, students will be grouped up and given a choice of which revolution they will study. Once they have a group, they then will also select a piece of literature that coincides with that revolution. (i.e. Russian revolution, Animal Farm by George Orwell) These groups will create a lesson plan to become the "experts" on that particular revolution. They will share with the class and present what they have found.

The next part of the project is creating an original image based on the selected revolution. Students will view Eleanor Antin's work, talk about compositional elements and reflect on how they will apply it to their photograph. In order to be a more believable piece rather than middle/high school students taking a picture, costumes and props will have to made or brought in. These details along with the location will create the snap shot in time.

Students will use digital cameras to take pictures of the revolution they are depicting. These pictures will then be captured onto the computer where Photoshop may be used to help fix any lighting mistakes or put a tint on the image.

Once the project is completed it is time to exhibit the work. A gallery space will be made in the school or classroom and students will be docents to visitors. They will have deep understanding on the revolution they studied but should also have an understanding of the other moments in history that their classmates presented on.