Towards a more fluid definition of Blackness

In an important personal essay on what it means to be Black in the American art world today – as an artist, a curator, an educator, a viewer of art – Lisa Corinne Davis challenges recent orthodoxies, calling for “a broadening of the visual dialog on race.” She questions whether it is “still necessary for black curators to primarily curate identity-based shows.” Earlier this fall, Davis answered her own question with “Representing Rainbows”, a diverse group exhibition she selected at Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, her dealers. (The Shinique Smith, pictured left, was included in that exhibition.) “Just as the aspirations of the civil rights movement were reflected in the attitudes of black art and the art institutions of its time, perhaps the political climate of today is pointing us in a different direction – one that begins to transcend identity, albeit with some difficulty.” Read the essay in full at artcritical.com

http://www.artcritical.com/…/towards-fluid-definition-blac…/