Proposal
Despite the work of Pawel Kuczynski having been awarded with more than 140 prizes and distinctions, word of his illustrations does not appear to have reached the classrooms of the Cicero-North Syracuse High School. So I present to you, readers of a blog unknown to the harsh criticisms of the world, Chess.
At first glance, the image in question seeks to comment on the relationship between black and white individuals and forces its viewers to imagine what The Queen’s Gambit would look like if it was shot on a beach. While debate, discussion, protests and riots have been waged very recently in America history over this issue (the former, not the later), it is important to remember that Kuczynski is a Polish, satire artist. This means that if the image is strictly commenting on race relationships in America, American viewers will get a rare opportunity to see an international perspective on domestic issues. On the other hand, if Kuczynski made this illustration as a more global observation of the dynamic between white people and people of color, Americans can still compare their situation to that of other countries by making it about themselves, which is something the world knows Americans are good at.
My class has already explored the power dynamic between black people and white people through analyzing Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan written by June Jordan. This coupled with the aforementioned fact that 2020 saw an outburst of racial political action prompted by the death of George Floyd and years of the arguably gross mistreatment of African Americans is why I have chosen to analyze Chess for my Unit 2 project instead of a trio of illustrations that compare books and phones.
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