Atta Girl Atwood

Wing Young Huie: Schalemar Flying Horse (2001) &emdash;

Schalemar Flying Horse (2001) by Wing Young Huie 

Atta Girl Atwood 

Photograph Summary

This image is a part of a photography series, created by Wing Young Huie, that follows the life of a 15-year-old Native American girl by the name of Schalemar Flying Horse.  The series takes place in the Philips neighborhood in Minneapolis.  All the photographs are colored in black and white.  

This particular shot shows a girl on what can be assumed to be a public bus.  The other passengers situated on the vehicle  are out of the camera's focus, causing the viewers eye to be drawn to the girl.  This effect leads the girl to look almost out of place from the busy scene surrounding her.  Even with a posture and appearence usually correlates with conformity, the audience is forced to view the girl with a perceptive eye.  It is discovered that through this stylization, the girl is purposely represented as "out of place".  This is to show how even dispite efforts to conform with modern, American culture, Native Americans still stick out as different.  

The Concept of "Othering"

In my first examination of Huie's photograph, I observed examples of "othering" without even realizing so.  Othering is the concept of alienation of a individual or group through the methodology used for the portrayal.  Schlaemar Flying Horse is a victim of "othering" in the photograph because of how the scene is presented.  Even in attempt to blend in, the girl stands out within a public setting, assumably because of her identity as a Native American.  

This same concept can be seen in Maragaret Atwood's writing in The Handmaid's Tale.   Atwood uses her writing to aleinate the character Offred from the society of Gilead due to her identity as a Handmaid.  The story uses first person point of view from the perspective of Offred, in order to seperate the character's story and situation from the rest of the individuals in the society of Gilead.  This is to emphasize the hoplessness and isolation Offred feels, due to her role and situation.  

The portrayal of the character "Offred" by Margaret Atwood and the person "Schalemar Flying Horse" by Wing Young Huie features alienation through "othering".  Both use stylistic devices, specific to the creative medium used, in order to isolate an individual from a chaotic and complex situation.  This portrayal emphasizes the alienation being faced by each character.  

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