In Barbara Thompson’s article Decolonizing Black Bodies: Personal Journeys in the Contemporary Voice examines artists techniques in “confronting and decolonizing the dichotomous relationship between European cultural imagination and stereotypes against the black female body” (279). Many artists describe feelings of conflicting identity due to own racial markers that are marginalized in their birth country such as Etiye Dimma Poulson who feels like a “cultural hybrid”. However, this flexibility and adaptation on behalf of these artists, their presence and signifier are often prone to misinterpretations, labeling them as the ‘exotic Other’, such as beasts, nymphs, slaves, servants and sexual commodities.

I thought it was really interesting that the artist Zanele Muholi, a South African artist used her work to expose the queer community in South Africa, and also strips stereotypical translations of the female black body. Her photography offer new definitions of masculinity and femininity within a culture that tries to undermine and ignore the existence and presence of queers in their community. 

Her work as Thompson states, “transgresses deep taboos about black female same sex practices, she offers a radical break from male dominated narratives about black female sexuality” (300). I wonder how her work has been showcased in South Africa and whether the exposure of queers has caused disruption and became a double edged sword. For the exposure of queers in this visual art form is not only a beautiful composition but may ‘out’ certain people and cause unintentional problems.

Sentences:

Thompson: Thompson argues that artists place black womanhood from a radicalized position into a discourse about complex identities.

Taylor: Documenta 11 catalogs a new global vision of art expressive of migration, colonialism, change and identity.

Pariah: In Pariah, Alike struggles with her queer identity, familial contentions, and her own self affirmation in the face of adversity.