Art as sanctuary: conjuring an Africana aesthetic

Uittreksel

"In Art as Sanctuary, Michael D. Harris considers literal and metaphorical uses of sanctuary in the Black experience and African diaspora art, including locales of spiritual expression, self-renewal, and cultural celebration. Harris pushes the boundaries of thinking about Africana art history and aesthetics, offering an alternative to the Duboisian philosophy of double consciousness, which he believes is no longer fully adequate for evaluating and analyzing African American visual culture or music. His new model explores cultural elements and signifiers embedded consciously or unconsciously in African diaspora art. Within work by diasporic artists, we find insider cultural references which are meaningful to audiences authenticated by membership inside those protected spaces. In that way he reveals the richness of black interiority. While acknowledging the presence of the white observer's gaze, Harris wishes to relieve the black interior from the panoptic assumptions of that gaze and its disciplines. This work explores art as "autobiography of cultural identity and experience," including embedded cultural codes and cues, to provide a clearer reading of African American art beyond racial designations of the artists' identity"-- Provided by publisher.

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Editors' introduction. Michael D. Harris : cultural theorist of Africana identity, art, and spirituality / Dianne M. Stewart and Theophus H. Smith -- Introduction. Sanctuary and the Black interior -- The moan : calling forth culture -- Etymologies and Black love -- From The Banjo Lesson to The Piano Lesson : reclaiming the song -- Fish fry music : a blues aesthetic -- Gospel, tongues, and bearing witness -- Undone : bottle trees, charms, and flashing spirits -- Talking in tongues : revisiting/reflecting Kara Walker -- Bebop ghosts and freedom songs.