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The Post-Black Aesthetic And Meanings Of Blackness Through The Collage Narratives Of Kara Walker And Fred Wilson, William Hill

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The 1990s spawned a new generation of African-American artists who worked to understand and deconstruct meanings of blackness within the context of the post-black aesthetic. Their conceptualized installations resulted in various discourses on the nature of race, culture and identity within the framework of exhibition and collection. Considered 'post-black' by critics, these artists sought to reexamine black aesthetics through the dialects of disenfranchisement, desire and hegemonic forms of representation in American culture. From this perspective, I will investigate the installation art of Kara Walker and Fred Wilson, illustrating how these practices inform and challenge racial stereotypes prevalent in visual culture. …