Kara Walker Vs Thomas

The Black Arts movement refers to a period of “furious flowering” of African American creativity beginning in the mid-1960’s and continuing through much of the 1970’s (Perceptions of Black). Linked both chronologically and ideologically with the Black Power Movement, The BAM recognized the idea of two cultural Americas: one black and one white. The BAM pressed for the creation of a distinctive Black Aesthetic in which black artists created for black audiences. The movement saw artistic production as the key to revising Black American’s perceptions of themselves, thus the Black Aesthetic was believed to be an integral component of the economic, political, and cultural empowerment of the Black

Meta Warrick Fuller’s sculpture “Ethiopia Awakening” served as a metaphoric yearning for African culture, a symbolic image of emancipation, an awakening of African Americans diaspora identity, resurgence of Fuller’s artistic career and as a self-portrait of Fuller. The Progressive era, from 1890 to 1920, forms the backdrop to Fuller’s life and art. This period has come to symbolize the reform efforts of the middle class. White middle class progressives sought to reengineer industry and government, pushed for economic and social reforms. The Progressive era was also a time of intense contradictions and ambiguities. Race was the blind spot of white progressives. 1 At the turn of the twentieth-century African Americans

Lorraine O’Gradys’ unintentionally historic performances, seemingly elevate everyday life to the status of art. In her ‘exhibit’ at the Studio Museum, her work is represented through photographs, in ‘Art is…’. Thirty years ago, O’Grady presented ‘Art is’ in the form of a float in the African American Day Parade right here in Harlem. Performers pranced with empty frames, metaphorically capturing fleeting pictures of the people and places that surrounded the route of the parade. By doing so, the trappings of high art were brought out of the museum, into the street, which promotes a new way people might begin to recognize this new art form in the celebrations of every day life. The

Hank Willis Thomas’s work addresses the intersection of race, history, and visual culture. According to Thomas’ description of his own work, he states, “For me, photography was about being genuine in your approach to whoever you were trying to photograph and why. But also not being confined by notions of the truth because any time you’re dealing with photography you’re talking about the truth as something that’s subjective. Don’t limit your creativity just by what you are able to capture in the camera. Try to figure out innovative ways to work around that, if necessary” (Anonymous 112). Thomas’ innovation and creativity is apparent in Zero Hour. The artwork of the Contemporary Era is very symbolic and full of cultural importance. Through photography

Hank Willis Thomas is a contemporary African American artist who was born in 1976. His mother is also a contemporary artist as well as photographer, curator of photography, historian, author, and educator. Sanford Biggers is also an African American artist and he was born in 1970. However, his work integrates film, video, installation, sculpture, drawing, music, and performance. Mistaken for each other a lot, due to their race, they decided to work together and make a collection of art that would engage identity and racism. Both artists “engage themes of identity, history, and popular culture,” and desired to portray “racial hybridity” in their artwork (“Hank Willis Thomas”). The photograph they constructed is of Sanford Biggers portrayed as a minstrel in a top hat and tails. His face and clothing are bisected, with the right being black and the left side being white. The color contrast was man made in this photograph, alike to the racial divide that separates our world. As the viewer approaches the image and walks to the left or right the color dichotomy disappears. The viewer is in control of the perspective of the image; we are in control of the racial divide that plagues our

Renee Cox, as an African American woman and artist, uses her body and identity to start a discussion on the Black experience in America. Besides representing a population of minority artists, the female and the non-white, her art has affected society with her brazen approach to her craft. Cox’s significance comes from her open display of race and sex. In many of her pieces, nudity and the celebration of the African American experience is the focus. In addition to this, her medium of choice, mixed media and photography, is opening an outlet of art that isn’t traditionally used. In essence, Renee Cox is an artist that can pave the way for future artists by diversifying through medium, race, and sex.

My paper is an attempt to analyze the entire era of slavery and its later effects upon the lives of Africans who were brought forcefully to America as slaves and even after its abolition were treated inhumanly. My major attempt is to get an in depth insight of the struggles of these people for their survival in such an environment and the predicament of black women who were doubly oppressed; were the victims of both the whites and black men; and treated as naked savages and beasts, with Alice Walker’ masterpiece and Pulitzer prize winning The Color Purple. I have taken this project with my keen interest because the novel touched me deeply and I wanted to analyze it thoroughly.

Hughes’s descriptive writing prompts the reader to visualize strong images of oppression in America. The speaker provides an image of an extremely suppressed group of people in the statement: “I am the red man driven from the land” (Hughes 21). This simple phrase creates a picture of the Native Americans being driven from their lands and forced to live on undesirable land, and, as a result, this invites the reader to acknowledge their severe oppression. Similarly, the speaker mentions the people who were “torn from Black Africa’s strand” (Hughes 50). This generates an image of boats packed with a depressing amount of broken people, waiting to be sold into slavery. These visual examples portray the severity of the situation that many Americans found themselves in. These

African Americans are no stranger to discrimination. Children across American are taught about the horrific times of slavery. Following slavery, we learn about the discrimination African Americans face in the light of their bittersweet freedom. Due to this unstability, many amazing young African American artist emerged with breathtaking stories to reveal; the stories weren’t easy to expose because publishing companies and the alike were very

“I am black, I am black!” constantly sprinkles Browning’s 1846 narrative, “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point.” The phrase takes aim at American slavery and reminds us that its prisoners “had no claim to love and bliss,” (92) while in servitude. Boldly, the speaker asks us to bear witness to the human leftovers of this system of violence, especially in the case of a female slave at Plymouth Rock. Here, she debates existence, exposes deep emotion wounds, and murders her infant son. The act is done for “liberty,” but we find the mother’s violence difficult to digest. Starting from a point of respect, we suggest that the “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” really concerns a lack of respect for toward life that not only flaws her judgments

[1] Before I start this essay, I feel the need to remind the reader that I find slavery in all its forms to be an oppressive and terrible institution, and I firmly believe that for centuries (including this one) bigotry is one of the most terrible stains on our civilization. The views I intend to express in the following essay are in no way meant to condone the practices of slavery or racism; they are meant only to evaluate and interpret the construction of slavery in film.

I like to believe that art was a way for Blacks to express their pain, hopefulness, and love that everything Black wanted and could just outright say was put into art; therefore, art was a happy place even though it expressed pain but in pain there is its own beauty. DuBois (1925:53) stated that even though Black art has both personal and universal aspects, that those two things are “combined with certain groups compulsion.” meaning that there was a Black person that spoke for the group through art. His thoughts would lead to black Aesthetic.

Art is something that can only be achieved with the manipulation of the imagination. This is successful when using objects, sounds, and words. Richard Wright and Amira Baraka brought the power of art into the limelight. Wright’s perception of art was for it to be used as a means of guidance, one that could uplift the Negro towards bigger and better goals. Baraka’s perspective of art was for it to be used as an active agent, one that could kill and then imprint society permanently. Baraka and Wright both wanted the Negro to see that there was a much brighter future ahead of them. Both wanted art to leave a stain, a stain that could not be easily erased, washed, or bleached. Both believed that Black Art had no need to be silent but instead daring.

There has been worldwide Controversy over a painting done by Dana Schutz titled, Open Casket. Open Casket is an abstract painting of a young black 14-year old boy who was murdered and mutilated by two white men because he was mistakenly accused of sexually harassing a 21-year-old white women. The painting portrays the face of Slain Emmett Till lying dead in his coffin. The controversial painting was displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NY. The protest began when an African American Artist, Parker Bright started a harmless protest in front of the Open Casket painting wearing a “Black Death Spectacle” shirt. Since then many others have come to protest and block people from seeing the open casket painting. Protesters argue that a white women does not have the right to create art around a “black matter subject”. Dana Schutz has argued that the painting was meant to show the distress of a mother losing her son. Overall the painting does bring back an excruciating and defining moment in African American history. The painting Open Casket is very beautiful with its simple of abstract brushstrokes but because I am not of African descent so I cannot relate to the many year of being treated poorly, racism and slavery. I overall side that Dana Schutz painting should not be disapproved of. This is not the only occurrence

There has been worldwide Controversy over a painting done by Dana Schutz titled, Open Casket. Open Casket is an abstract painting of a young black 14-year old boy who was murdered and mutilated by two white men because he was mistakenly accused of flirting with a 21-year-old white women. The painting portrays the face of Slain Emmett Till lying dead in his coffin. The controversial painting was displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The protest began when an African American Artist, Parker Bright started a peaceful protest in front of the painting wearing a “Black Death Spectacle” shirt. Since then many others have come to protest and block people from seeing the open casket painting. Protesters argue that a white women does not have the right to create art around a “black matter subject”. Dana Schutz has argued that the painting was meant to show the distress of a mother losing her son. Overall the painting does bring back an excruciating and defining moment in African American history. The painting is very beautiful and simple but because I am not of African descent I’m sure I cannot relate to the many year of being treated poorly, racism and slavery. I overall side that Dana Schutz painting should not be disapproved of. This is not the only occurrence of an artist portraying a violent event in history through art. The painting does not mock the tragic event and the painting could be used as a memorial for Slain Emmett Till mother who wanted the casket to be left