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What is Black Art?
A landmark anthology on British art history, bringing together overlooked and marginalized perspectives from 'the critical decade'What is Black art? This vital anthology gives voice to a generation of artists of African, Asian and Caribbean heritage who worked within and against British art institutions in the 1980s, including Sonia Boyce, Lubaina Himid, Eddie Chambers and Rasheed Araeen. It brings together artists' statements, interviews, exhibition catalogue essays and reviews, most of which have been unavailable for many years and resonate profoundly today. Together they interrogate the term 'Black art' itself, and revive a forgotten dialogue from a time when men and women who had been marginalized made themselves heard within the art world and beyond.
- GenresArtNonfictionFashion
352 pages, Paperback
Published September 29, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 3, 2025
An incredible gathering of the collective publications of the loosely defined British black arts movement. the chronological ordering gives a real view on how debates surrounding not just black representation but the cultural economics of the concept of blackness manifested in late 20th century Britain.
December 25, 2023
--- "No masterpieces are being offered here, since conditions to make masterpieces do not exist. What is being expressed is more important and urgent." (Araeen: 12)
--- "He believes that she is wasted in showing with other black artists. He is wrong. With his help she could fall headlong into the trap of producing work for sale and for the eyes of a privileged white minority who completely misunderstand her work, but grab it anyway. She could be in danger of becoming a much sought-after curio: the acceptable face of black art." (Himid: 141)
--- "If we are able to do this by having adequate resources put at our disposal, we hope to share our experiences with, awaken the consciousness of and impart our strength to the whole society." (Burman: 119)
This book is a collection of essays/interviews/statements on black art in Britain. They try to explain what black art is or the problems black art artists face, which is nice. However, the latest essay/interview/statement in the last chapter is from 1989 and I wish there had been an extra one to see how things are as of today.
This book is about art but not a single image is included, which I did not like. The book does provide descriptions of some artworks but it is not enough. In my opinion not having a single picture adds to the exclusion these artists have to deal with.
I think the author could have done more in this book apart from putting together together all the essays/interviews/statements. Footnotes from time to time to update some info or to provide additional examples would have been nice. At the end this book can feel outdated despite how important the topic still feels today.
--- "He believes that she is wasted in showing with other black artists. He is wrong. With his help she could fall headlong into the trap of producing work for sale and for the eyes of a privileged white minority who completely misunderstand her work, but grab it anyway. She could be in danger of becoming a much sought-after curio: the acceptable face of black art." (Himid: 141)
--- "If we are able to do this by having adequate resources put at our disposal, we hope to share our experiences with, awaken the consciousness of and impart our strength to the whole society." (Burman: 119)
This book is a collection of essays/interviews/statements on black art in Britain. They try to explain what black art is or the problems black art artists face, which is nice. However, the latest essay/interview/statement in the last chapter is from 1989 and I wish there had been an extra one to see how things are as of today.
This book is about art but not a single image is included, which I did not like. The book does provide descriptions of some artworks but it is not enough. In my opinion not having a single picture adds to the exclusion these artists have to deal with.
I think the author could have done more in this book apart from putting together together all the essays/interviews/statements. Footnotes from time to time to update some info or to provide additional examples would have been nice. At the end this book can feel outdated despite how important the topic still feels today.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews