Reflection 1: "The More We Know, The More We See"
Two photos of Kamala Harris are featured in Vogue. The left is the online cover while the right is the print cover that sparked controversy. (Tyler Mitchell/AFP/Getty )
In yet another heated controversy over a Vogue cover, the magazine’s February issue features Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. What stirred up so much public debate was Vogue’s choice of image. In the cover shot, Harris can be seen standing in an outfit of her choice: a casual dark suit, pearls and Converse sneakers. Behind her is a green and pink backdrop to pay homage to her sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha.
In the online cover, a medium-angled photo of Harris with arms crossed in a formal blue suit with a United States flag pinned to her lapel in front of a gold backdrop seems much more serious and appropriate, especially considering that this was her first cover after being certified as the next vice president.
Harris’s team was disappointed in Vogue’s decision to use the casual photo as the print cover. Vogue defended the choice, saying they wanted to convey Harris’s "authentic, approachable nature, which we feel is one of the hallmarks of the Biden-Harris administration.”
Perhaps Harris is authentic and approachable, but nonetheless, the photo is a poor choice on Vogue’s behalf; it’s diminishing, unfitting and does not communicate the gravity of her position. Surely, we’d hope they’d depict someone who is to be one of the most powerful people in the United States in a dignified manner.
Novelist Adichie Chimamanda explains the danger of a single story in her iconic TED talk. “Show a people as one thing, as only one thing over and over again and that is what they become.” We have a single story about American vice presidents. They’re men, they’re white and they’re old. Harris deconstructs that single story and when Vogue had the opportunity to visually portray her power in doing so, they failed.