Alisha Robinson, Post 4, 5 Women Artists.

Alisha Robinson

Professor Cacoilo

28 November 2017

Post 4

The five artists I will be discussing are Renee Cox, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Kara Walker, and Carrie Mae Weems. All of these women are African American artists who all have fought for equality in race, gender, sexuality and many other things in their work and outside of work. All of these women are activists, they all want equality for all minorities and especially both genders. “Women artists,” more specifically, African American Women Artists, are often looked over and not given enough credit. It is already hard being a female in the field of art, but being an African American in the art world make it even harder. Despite the constant struggles and depreciation from other moguls in the art world, all of these women fought and persevered. These women used their talents and honestly their artwork speaks for itself. All of their artwork, whether it be printmaking art pieces, photography, drawings, or anything; all speak out for the African American community and expose the ugly truths of the racist society we live in today. The work of these women challenges viewers to think deeply and understand the hardships many African Americans still face today. Although some of the harsher practices of racism are over, the underlying prejudices and some acts of discrimination are continued to be practiced today. All of the artwork from these artists, especially the examples in the post, help bring up discussion about the racial, gender and disparities amongst minorities.

Renee Cox

Renee Cox, Chillin’ with Liberty, 1998

Renee Cox, Baby Back, 2001

To begin, Renee Cox is a famous photographer whose work is deemed very controversial due to her openness and “no fear” type of attitude. She is a Jamaican-American photographer who is considered a big part of the feminist art movement. A lot of her work is provocative which exemplify her Black Feminist background. Her work provokes discussion about cultural work, activism, gender, and race. Cox uses different forms of technology and her own signature view to create great artwork. It is well known that Cox has centered her career about destroying stereotypes and reconfiguring old views about the black woman’s body. She uses herself as the primary model in most of her work to promote the concept of loving your own self. Cox is motivated to created new but positive visual representations of African Americans. Cox’s work is fascinating to me and actually makes me feel good to see women of color in a good light. Her work is politically engaging and it brings up the necessary conversations that need to be held in the field of art.

Renee Cox, Liberation of Lady J and U.B, -

 

Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold is a Harlem born artist and is best known for her narrative quilts. Ringgold went to the City College of New York and perfected her art skill even more. Ringgold was exposed to creativity from an early age due to the Harlem Renaissance. Her childhood neighborhood was full of vibrant arts that sparked her creative hand. Her work was extremely broad and diverse and included paintings, sculptures, quilts and even performance art. All of her work tell some sort of story that exposes the racial tensions that exist. Ringgold has been an activist since the 1970s and she participated in several feminist and anti-racist organizations. One famous collection of Ringgold's’ is the French Collection and it deals with historically African American women who dedicated themselves to the change of the world, the change of the male gaze, and also the art of storytelling.

Faith Ringgold, Dancing at the Louvre, 1991

Betye Saar

Betye Saar, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima

Betye Saar is an African American artists known for her amazing art pieces that come in the form of assemblages, or collages, that usually tell stories. Saar, like the other women, is an activist and was apart of the Black Arts Movement of the 1970s. The movement brought out the racially charges stereotypes and also the concept of feminism. Her work is considered great because is challenged and charged political discussion and also the negative ideas about African Americans. Saar spent many of her years in Los Angeles, CA. Saar also went to college and studied art, and received a bachelor’s degree in design. After, she continued her studies at a graduate level. She is well known for her fight for the liberation of the famous, stereotypical image of “Aunt Jemima.” In the 60s, Saar collected images of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, Little Black Sambo and other stereotypes from the Jim Crow era; she took those images and transformed them into statements of social and political protest.

Kara Walker

She is an African American artist, whose art consists of paintings and printmaking works of art. Her work explores race, more specifically African American history and the social problems that also comes with it. Her work resembles derogatory, stereotypical concepts of black people in the western culture. Her most modern work consists of silhouette pieces. In her younger years, Walker received much fame over a few of her early exhibitions. Along with the fame also came some critical remarks about her artwork and many of those remarks came from other African American artists. Walker faced a lot of opposition because of her use of racial negative stereotypes. Betye Saar was among those opposing artists against her work and claimed that Walker’s use of these racially charged, negative stereotypes did more than bring up the conversation. Saar stated that Walker’s work really set the clock back on representations of race in America.

Kara Walker, “The moral arc of history ideally bends towards justice but just as soon as not curves back around toward barbarism, sadism, and unrestrained chaos” (2010), graphite and pastel on paper, 72 x 114 inches

Carrie Mae Weems, The Kitchen Table Series

5)  Carrie Mae Weems is an African American woman artist who works with text, audio, video and digital images. She is well known for her works of photography.  Her award winning works of art have been displayed in over 50 different exhibitions in the United States and they all focus on the the issues within the African American community and the issues the African American community deals with outside. Her work touches on issues of racism, sexism, politics and personal identity. The goal of her work is to make African Americans more socially included and experience the same human experience as other races

To conclude, all of these women in some way have affected the conversation of racial equality, not only in just art, but overall in general. Their work exposes the truths of racism and allows discussion on certain negative topics in the African American community. All of these women will leave a major legacy for the future African American women artists.