Black Visual Culture: Modernity and Postmodernity (review)

Black Visual Culture: Modernity and Postmodernity y Gen Doy London: I.B.Tauris y auris ublishers, 2000. 254 pp. The sub-t it l e Modernit y and Post modernit y t o Gen Doy's Black Visual Cult ure i s som ew hat decept ive. Doy does gl oss t hese t wo movement s i n rel at ionship t o t he black vi sual art s in scene in Br i t ai n. However, t hi s gl ossi ng is onl y in service of her ar gument t hat t hese t heor et i cal f r ameworks are insuf f icient i n assessi ng t he work of black vi sual art ist s. I n f act , post moder ni t y's at t empt t o divorce t he work of t he black vi sual art ist f rom t he mat erial and hist orical realit ies t hat of t en def i ne t he wor k, argues Doy, i s an ut t er di sser vice . As a poi nt of depart ure, Doy uses t he recept ion of The Ot her St ory, an exhi bi t i on curat ed by Rasheed Araeen i n 1989. The show was conceived as a st udy of t he devel opment of t he Af roAsi an moder ni st aest het ic t hat evol ved al ongsi de of t he European moder ni st movement . But impl icit i n t hi s f ormul at ion of black Brit ish art was t he not ion t hat it was an art predicat ed on it s ar t i st s' experience of racial oppr essi on. Many art ist s rej ect ed t hi s sensi bi l i t y and ref used t o part icipat e i n t he exhi bi t i on. On t he cont rary, Doy says t hat "t hi s hist orical evacuat ion i s of t en a necessary f irst st ep bef ore more ambi t i ous quest i ons concer ni ng t heoret ical f rameworks and int errogat ion of obj ect s of st udy can be pursued i n great er dept h. " (p. 12) It was t he hist orical , pol i t i cal and soci al cont ext i n which Araeen curat ed t he show t hat dict at ed i t s frame of reference in large part , ar gues Doy. To her credit , Doy does at t empt t o pr obl emat i ze t he t erm "ot her " by aski ng how t he t erm i s depl oyed. Is it al ways i n relat ion t o soci al and economi c pow er ? Wi l l t he bl ack ar t i st al ways be ot her ? She f i nds t he t erm as used by St uart Hall and ot her rat her narrowly def ined. I woul d argue, i n t he manner of Barbara Christ ian i n her muchant hol ogi zed essay "The Race f or Theory, " t hat we must al so ask who i s set t ing t he t erms of t he debat e and f or w hom. True, black Br i t i sh art w as not "m a i n st r eam, " but i s t hat t o say t hat t hese art ist s were not t heor i zi ng t heir experiences, evol vi ng i n t heir art pract ice, t hat t hei r works were creat ed in an art ist ic and cul t ural vacuum? For whom is t he hist orical si t uat i ng being done? Any reader will appreciat e t he st raight f orward approach Doy t akes t o her subj ect . Doy posi t i ons herself as whit...