With the issue of racial identity common fodder for the increasingly politically minded and socially conscious avant-garde movements since the mid-'60s, the theme of "Black Womanhood" has long established itself in the rhetoric of the art world. Disregarding the title's ubiquitous use, the Hood Museum's major exhibition for the Spring term makes no false promises; however, it is undeniably a departure from what I have seen before.
Barbara Thompson, the curator of the African, Oceanic and Native-American Collections at the Hood Museum credits the exhibit's innovation to its juxtaposition of historical and contemporary perspectives in exploring the "historical roots of a charged icon -- the black female body -- bringing to light how contemporary artists are challenging historic and often stereotypical images." She added, "The exhibition addresses a highly specific sliver of the identity issue to look beyond how these ideas impact women not just of African descent, but women of any race, the woman itself, even the Western woman."
This juxtaposition is displayed in a straightforward manner through three distinct segments of the exhibition: One room is filled with traditional African art as represented by both African men and African women; the next is decked in disturbing 19th and 20th century colonial stereotypes and blatant photographic evidence of past racism; and the last gallery is filled with varied manifestations of contemporary artistic subversion, which consciously play off racist images in order to critique them. Through these apparently disparate rooms, historical stereotypes across the gamut are displayed and questioned, from the eroticized "Other" to the "mammy" figure. Although I am not entirely convinced that the exhibition is cohesive in its mode of installation, perhaps it is my level of comfort with more traditionally oriented setups that is being challenged.
The selections in the contemporary segment of the exhibition range in medium from varied sculptured forms to manipulated photography to video installations revolving around the consistent theme of the black female body and its (always negative) historical misrepresentation by Western media.
Here lies the culmination of the exhibit, with a spectrum of lesser known artists to internationally celebrated superstars such as Kara Walker. Standout works include those of Renee Cox, who Thompson deemed "probably one of the more controversial African-American artists in the country ." Her works play on the concept of the traditional white nude, and the strikingly provocative "Hot-en-Tot" (1994) evokes the unsettling physical stereotype of the historically exploited Saartjie Baartman -- the "Hottentot Venus"-- by attaching plastic breasts and buttocks to her nude form. In line with the Hood Museum's consistently global bent, a broad range of works from African-descended artists based in Europe are included as well.
Perhaps the exhibition is most provocative in its efforts to bridge the growing disconnect between contemporary art and the everyday museum-goer. By fully documenting the historical foundations of the exhibit, the irony and satire of the contemporary art are fully drawn out. One could view the structure of the exhibit as a drawback -- a restriction of the definition of black womanhood in which identity is entirely defined by the dialogue with a problematic past. But that past has been forgotten by many, buried in a comfortable notion of a progressive society. This dialogue must be continued in a contemporary context, in such a way that people are forced to listen.
Berni Searle, a contemporary South African mixed-media artist, captures this notion, by explaining: "In many cases, my identity has been 'made' for me...The self is explored as an ongoing process of construction in time and place...reflect[ing] a desire to present myself in various ways to counter the image that has been imposed on me."
The exhibition will be on view from April 1 to August 10 before it moves to the Davis Museum at Wellesley College and the San Diego Museum of Art.
