Political theorist and critic hooks continues the work of Black
Looks (not reviewed), exploring the politics of representation,
aesthetics, and the place of the African-American woman artist.
This collection of 18 essays in art criticism and five interviews
with prominent black women artists is hooks's response to the
paucity of African-American art critics, particularly women.
Drawing effectively on her personal experience of art as both maker
and viewer, hooks urges that we take art seriously as a focus for
struggle, emphasizing its transformative power. At the same time,
she eschews essentialist arguments that would reduce all black art
to protest art, arguments that have repeatedly been narrowed to
discussions of "good" and "bad" images. Instead, she calls for "a
revolution in the way we see, the way we look." What is at stake
here, she says, is nothing less than control over the
representation of the self; she points to the empowering nature of
personal photography as an example. The book itself is an odd
creature. The first half is a rocky road full of academic artcrit
jargon of the kind usually found in the pages of artforum (which is
where one of these pieces first appeared), and the early dialogues,
with Carrie Mae Weems and Alison Saar, are unsatisfying, with hooks
dominating the conversations. But the second half of the book is a
return to form for one of the most astute cultural and political
writers in the country today. Essays on black vernacular
architecture, representation of the black male body, and the
creative process of women artists are powerful and concise, and the
dialogues with Emma Amos, Margo Humphreys, and particularly LaVerne
Wells-Bowie are a real contribution to our understanding of the
situation of black women artists. It is impossible to imagine hooks
writing a book devoid of interest, and the second half of this one
is excellent indeed. (Kirkus Reviews)
“As erudite and sophisticated as hooks is, she is also eminently
readable, even exhilarating.” —Booklist In Art on My Mind, bell
hooks, a leading cultural critic, responds to the ongoing dialogues
about producing, exhibiting, and criticizing art and aesthetics in
an art world increasingly concerned with identity politics. Always
concerned with the liberatory black struggle, hooks positions her
writings on visual politics within the ever-present question of how
art can be an empowering and revolutionary force within the black
community.
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