Abstract

Historically made invisible there is an unseen struggle that permeates Black art and the representation of Black people within art. The brutalization and oppression of Black people is often masked via retelling, co-opting, and romanticizing. Marc Ferrez, a 19th century photographer who captured depictions of the slave trade and plantations represented violent and brutal realities as beautiful genre photos, using slaves as an artistic element of compositon, not to show the reality of plantation work. One of many, Ferrez and works like his are common when looking at the representation of Black people in fine art and its history. This representation of Black bodies changes with artists like Kerry James Marshall, whose paintings starring Black figures stand as a celebration and focus of Blackness and Black people. This research and corresponding artwork explores examples of visibility and invisibility of Black people within visual arts and the connection it has to contemporary Black artists’and their own work. Paint allows the artist to research the effects of systemic oppression and perception of Black people within fine arts through artmaking and exhibiting. The artist’s work references contemporary Black artists, like Faith Ringgold and Kerry James Marshall whose work focuses on depicting Black people as subjects and defining characters instead of background formal elements. Using self-portraiture, the artist redefines and calls attention to visibility and invisibility of Black folks in the United States South through personal accounts and historical connections. Both color and subject matter play major roles in the research surrounding these pieces and their final presentation for the thesis exhibition displaying them. 

Keywords

black fatigue, art history, afro atlantic slave trade, fine arts, american art, african american art, black art, visibility

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