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A Black Gaze: Artists Changing How We See
Examining the work of contemporary Black artists who are dismantling the white gaze and demanding that we see--and see Blackness in particular--anew.
In A Black Gaze , Tina Campt examines Black contemporary artists who are shifting the very nature of our interactions with the visual through their creation and curation of a distinctively Black gaze. Their work--from Deana Lawson's disarmingly intimate portraits to Arthur Jafa's videos of the everyday beauty and grit of the Black experience, from Kahlil Joseph's films and Dawoud Bey's photographs to the embodied and multimedia artistic practice of Okwui Okpokwasili, Simone Leigh, and Luke Willis Thompson--requires viewers to do more than simply look; it solicits visceral responses to the visualization of Black precarity.
Campt shows that this new way of seeing shifts viewers from the passive optics of looking at to the active struggle of looking with , through , and alongside the suffering--and joy--of Black life in the present. The artists whose work Campt explores challenge the fundamental disparity that defines the dominant viewing the notion that Blackness is the elsewhere (or nowhere) of whiteness. These artists create images that flow, that resuscitate and revalue the historical and contemporary archive of Black life in radical ways. Writing with rigor and passion, Campt describes the creativity, ingenuity, cunning, and courage that is the modus operandi of a Black gaze.
In A Black Gaze , Tina Campt examines Black contemporary artists who are shifting the very nature of our interactions with the visual through their creation and curation of a distinctively Black gaze. Their work--from Deana Lawson's disarmingly intimate portraits to Arthur Jafa's videos of the everyday beauty and grit of the Black experience, from Kahlil Joseph's films and Dawoud Bey's photographs to the embodied and multimedia artistic practice of Okwui Okpokwasili, Simone Leigh, and Luke Willis Thompson--requires viewers to do more than simply look; it solicits visceral responses to the visualization of Black precarity.
Campt shows that this new way of seeing shifts viewers from the passive optics of looking at to the active struggle of looking with , through , and alongside the suffering--and joy--of Black life in the present. The artists whose work Campt explores challenge the fundamental disparity that defines the dominant viewing the notion that Blackness is the elsewhere (or nowhere) of whiteness. These artists create images that flow, that resuscitate and revalue the historical and contemporary archive of Black life in radical ways. Writing with rigor and passion, Campt describes the creativity, ingenuity, cunning, and courage that is the modus operandi of a Black gaze.
232 pages, Paperback
Published March 21, 2023
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496 people want to read
About the author
Tina M. Campt
8 books22 followersTina Campt is Owen F. Walker Professor of Humanities and Modern Culture and Media. Campt is a black feminist theorist of visual culture and contemporary art. One of the founding researchers in Black European Studies, her early work theorized gender, racial, and diasporic formation in black communities in Europe, focusing on the role of vernacular photography in processes of historical interpretation. Her books include: Other Germans: Black Germans and the Politics of Race, Gender and Memory in the Third Reich (University Michigan Press, 2004), Image Matters: Archive, Photography and the African Diaspora in Europe (Duke University Press, 2012), and Listening to Images (Duke University Press, 2017).
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 27, 2021
I wasn't completely sure what to expect from A Black Gaze by Tina M Campt. I was hoping for some new perspective on art, viewing art in particular, and perhaps find some new works to look at. This book delivered so much more and will, I suspect, continue delivering more as time goes on.
While there are several common uses of "gaze" in theory I was most familiar with Muivey's use and the many variations from that. While Mulvey, and others, are cited here this is not simply a variation on the usual ways of thinking about gaze. This is active, not passive, and more of a gazing with or through rather than at. My oversimplification of Campt's distinctions don't do the concept justice. The best thing a reader can do, in addition to simply reading the book, is bracket what one already "knows" about the gaze and approach this with a clean canvas. This is its own entity, not a footnote to another.
I have gone through the book twice, partly because I find it powerful and partly because I need repetition when learning something new. I am still wrapping my mind around the differences and similarities with other ways of looking at and appreciating art. While I still have a lot of questions, they seem to be getting answered with each subsequent reading.
What I also truly enjoyed was the manner in which Campt engages with an artwork and conveys that engagement to the reader. It is both simple and complex at the same time. Simple in that she states quite simply what is there. This straightforward translation of visual to linguistic brings many of the small details we might otherwise miss into conversation with the larger effect of the image(s). Yet in doing so Campt also highlights the complex interactions between parts of the work, between the work and the viewer, between the artist and the viewer, and between the work and society. I no doubt have missed some interactions, but you get the point.
I would suggest that a reader also take advantage of the internet to both learn more about these phenomenal artists and their work as well as learn more about Campt's ideas. She has both written and video available online that discusses the idea of a Black gaze, a couple of the most interesting are about 2 years old and show her thinking as she was working through the nuances of her theory.
I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in art, both the works themselves and the making of the works. In particular this is a valuable resource for anyone interested in African-American Studies or more broadly in replacing whiteness as the default dominant viewing, and thus appraising, position. My attempt to explain what I took away from this book is just a small portion of what is available to an active reader, so don't blame my inadequate explanations on the book.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
While there are several common uses of "gaze" in theory I was most familiar with Muivey's use and the many variations from that. While Mulvey, and others, are cited here this is not simply a variation on the usual ways of thinking about gaze. This is active, not passive, and more of a gazing with or through rather than at. My oversimplification of Campt's distinctions don't do the concept justice. The best thing a reader can do, in addition to simply reading the book, is bracket what one already "knows" about the gaze and approach this with a clean canvas. This is its own entity, not a footnote to another.
I have gone through the book twice, partly because I find it powerful and partly because I need repetition when learning something new. I am still wrapping my mind around the differences and similarities with other ways of looking at and appreciating art. While I still have a lot of questions, they seem to be getting answered with each subsequent reading.
What I also truly enjoyed was the manner in which Campt engages with an artwork and conveys that engagement to the reader. It is both simple and complex at the same time. Simple in that she states quite simply what is there. This straightforward translation of visual to linguistic brings many of the small details we might otherwise miss into conversation with the larger effect of the image(s). Yet in doing so Campt also highlights the complex interactions between parts of the work, between the work and the viewer, between the artist and the viewer, and between the work and society. I no doubt have missed some interactions, but you get the point.
I would suggest that a reader also take advantage of the internet to both learn more about these phenomenal artists and their work as well as learn more about Campt's ideas. She has both written and video available online that discusses the idea of a Black gaze, a couple of the most interesting are about 2 years old and show her thinking as she was working through the nuances of her theory.
I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in art, both the works themselves and the making of the works. In particular this is a valuable resource for anyone interested in African-American Studies or more broadly in replacing whiteness as the default dominant viewing, and thus appraising, position. My attempt to explain what I took away from this book is just a small portion of what is available to an active reader, so don't blame my inadequate explanations on the book.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
January 30, 2023
"a Black gaze rejects traditional understandings of spectatorship by refusing to allow its subject to be consumed by its viewers. A Black gaze transforms viewers into witnesses and demands a confrontation.”
April 6, 2024
Really enjoyed this!!
May 13, 2022
An incredible introduction to art analysis, Campt fuses theory of public view into a beautiful analysis of recent Black artists’ work.
Her ideas, focusing on the definition of black gaze, explain to the reader the importance of separating the beauty of blackness from the oppressive regime of white supremacy. She asks the readers to not only see blackness in its adjacency to white supremacy instead seeing it all n all it’s multitudes.
My description of her requests pales in comparison to her descriptions and accompanying analysis but I feel it is incredibly important for many to read as I think of the many times my viewing of black art has been limited by my own biases and internalized racism.
Her ideas, focusing on the definition of black gaze, explain to the reader the importance of separating the beauty of blackness from the oppressive regime of white supremacy. She asks the readers to not only see blackness in its adjacency to white supremacy instead seeing it all n all it’s multitudes.
My description of her requests pales in comparison to her descriptions and accompanying analysis but I feel it is incredibly important for many to read as I think of the many times my viewing of black art has been limited by my own biases and internalized racism.
March 23, 2025
A very engaging read, lightly written with deft descriptions of the artworks (some of the videos can be found online). Campt discusses some very interesting artists and uses the range of artist to propose a black gaze. The idea of a black gaze isa really interesting and generative idea. Her account of it, however, is not very developed theoretically, there's a very brief section on the gaze with a quote from Lacan but not much engagement beyond that.
June 19, 2025
Great text. Easily digestible and well developed theoretical considerations on black visual practices of production and witnessing. Love the call outs with definitions and the images are well curated. The only challenge is describing video/moving image through text.
Anyone interested in black visual arts in the style of Arthur Jafa and/or Khalil Joseph should definitely pick this up.
I’d be interested to see her writings on Hype Williams and Black music videos.
Anyone interested in black visual arts in the style of Arthur Jafa and/or Khalil Joseph should definitely pick this up.
I’d be interested to see her writings on Hype Williams and Black music videos.
January 6, 2022
Gorgeous and informative verses on Black art and the Black Gaze. Beautifully written essays are essential for anyone interested in purposeful engagement with visual arts and LIFE.
February 14, 2022
Gorgeous, insightful book. The best art book I’ve read this year (and I work at an art museum).
March 16, 2022
Gives a different, fresh perspective on how to read art.
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September 7, 2022I liked this and want to check out more of Tina Campt's work.
October 7, 2022
An excellent contemplation on the way we view the world that result in erasure and violence and a proposal to see the world through an entirely different vantage point: a black gaze.
August 7, 2023
Such a rich and yet accessible and quick read.
October 18, 2025
While similar to hooks’s concept of the oppositional gaze in Black Looks, Campt’s work here explores art to investigate what a distinctly Black gaze looks like.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews